An influencer with nearly 1.5 million social media fans was found strangled to death in a car that was then set on fire.
Beatriz dos Anjos Miranda’s ex-boyfriend, who she recorded many of the videos she posted online with, has been accused of the horror crime. The 24-year-old mom-of-two was found dead in the burnt-out vehicle owned by Antonio Licio Morais da Costa in the early hours of Saturday morning in the city of Maracanua in the north-eastern Brazilian state of Ceara.
Detectives suspect he strangled Beatriz with a seat belt before setting fire to the car following a row.
The couple often joked about their supposedly “toxic” relationship in the videos they posted together.
The footage they published, described as “sarcastic and humorous” in local media reports, turned sinister when Antonio recorded the moment Beatriz allegedly stabbed him after she claimed to have discovered messages on his phone he had been exchanging with an ex.
The murder suspect, said to have handed himself in after allegedly confessing the crime to his mom, released the video himself showing him with a bloodied leg and hand.
A post-mortem showed Beatriz died from strangulation before the car she was in was set on fire in what is thought to have been a crude attempt by her killer to dispose of evidence.
Beatriz’ largest fan base was on the Kwai social media platform for short videos although she also published on Instagram. Antonio, who was remanded in custody after appearing before a judge, was already known to police.
In February Beatriz recorded him being knocked to the ground during an altercation with traffic cops who stopped the 20-year-old and discovered his motorbike shouldn’t have been on the road.
It is not yet clear what the couple argued about before Beatriz’s life was cruelly and violently cut short.
