Southern Brazil police are still on the lookout for the head of a 65-year-old woman who was brutally murdered and dismembered. Brasília Costa was allegedly killed by her 66-year-old partner, Ricardo Jardim, in Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul. The investigation began after the victim’s torso was found in a suitcase at the city’s bus station on August 20. Jardim, arrested in September, is accused of the murder on August 9, believed to be financially motivated as he reportedly attempted to use Ms. Costa’s credit cards.
Jardim, an advertising executive, had previously served a 28-year sentence starting in 2018 for the murder of his mother, concealing her body in concrete. He was released in 2024 under a semi-open prison regime.
Chief investigator Mario Souza expressed optimism about finding the victim’s head, stating that efforts are ongoing despite the challenges. Jardim will not be involved in the search due to past instances of providing misleading information that impeded the investigation.
Despite Jardim indicating he disposed of the victim’s head in a specific area, searches yielded no results, prompting the Public Defender’s Office to reserve comments for court proceedings. Police plan to wrap up the investigation and formally charge Jardim with murder if the head remains unrecovered in the coming days.
Jardim allegedly disposed of parts of the victim’s body in an unmonitored area of Porto Alegre before leaving a suitcase at the bus station on August 20, where he was captured on security footage without a mask. The victim’s torso was found on September 1, with her legs discovered in separate locations in the city’s South Zone in subsequent days.
Forensic reports are being compiled for submission to the Public Prosecutor’s Office.