Brazilian teen dies after woman cuts open her womb and steals baby

A young teen in Brazil was killed after a woman allegedly cut her preborn baby out of her womb.

Civil Police Chief Caio Albuquerque of the city of Cuiabá held a press conference March 14 to report that 16-year-old Emilly Beatriz Azevedo Sena went missing on March 12; her body was found the next day buried in the backyard of a home. Sena was nine months pregnant at the time of her disappearance, but when her body was found, her abdomen had been sliced open and the baby was missing.

A report from the New York Post indicates that “[t]he victim’s body was found with cuts and she was strangled and hanged with internet cables, Police Chief Caio Alexandre said. ‘T-shaped’ marks on her abdomen indicated that she was still alive when the baby was taken with a ‘bladed weapon,’ he said.”

Albuquerque explained that on March 13, married couple Nataly Pereira, 25, and Christian de Arruda, 28 showed up at a local hospital to register the birth of a newborn which Pereira claimed was her own. However, officials became suspicious after noticing that she displayed no signs of having recently given birth. Police were called and began to investigate, which eventually led them to the couple’s home and the discovery of Sena’s body.

Though Pereira and De Arruda both brought the baby to the hospital, Pereira confessed to murdering Sena alone. She is being charged with homicide, concealment of a corpse, and registering someone else’s baby as her own. Authorities say she had experienced a miscarriage about six months prior, but hid it from everyone, including her family. It was reportedly Pereira’s second miscarriage.

De Arruda reportedly did not know about the miscarriage, and believed his wife had given birth to their baby. The New York Post noted that “[h]e had even shared a photo on social media after the birth, announcing he had just become a dad.”

READ: Newborn baby survives being stabbed and left in plastic bag in Argentina

Pereira allegedly connected with Sena through WhatsApp, luring Sena to her home with the promise of free baby clothes. “She said she had received a lot of baby clothes and wanted to donate some to Emilly,” explained Sena’s mother, Ana Paula Meridiane.

“I didn’t just lose a daughter, I lost a friend, partner and companion,” she mourned during a memorial service. “Only those who lived with her know how wonderful her heart was.”

This is not the first case in which a pregnant woman has been lured to her death with the promise of baby clothes from a stranger she met online, only to then have the baby cut from her womb and stolen. In 2016, Dynel Lane was sentenced to 100 years in prison for a similar crime.

Police emphasized that the investigation into Sena’s murder is not over.

“The investigations are ongoing and all information is being checked to identify elements that may indicate the participation of other people in the execution of the victim. Those whose participation has been identified will be duly identified as having participated in the crime,” a police spokesperson said.

According to The Nightly, Meridiane says the baby is “under the care of family and is being monitored by pediatricians.”