Cause of death announced for influencer, 24, found dead in burnt out car after 'joking' about 'toxic relationship'
A 24-year-old influencer who was found dead in a burnt out car was allegedly strangled to death with a seatbelt by her boyfriend.
Beatriz dos Anjos Miranda, who was a mum-of-two, was found in a car that had been set alight in the early hours of Saturday March 29.
It’s now been revealed that she died from suffocation before she was set alight in her car, according to the medical examiner's report.
The star, and mum-of-two, was reportedly killed by Antonio Licio Morais da Costa during an argument in his car in Maracanau, a city in the northeastern Brazilian state of Ceara. She leaves behind two daughters, aged 1 and 7, from a previous relationship.
20-year-old da Costa was arrested the same day of the crime and allegedly confessed to the Ceara Civil Police that he had choked Miranda with a seat belt while they fought in the back seat of the car. He claimed that Miranda had threatened to “do something” to him before he got scared and attacked her out of “impulse”.
He then abandoned the vehicle with Miranda inside and set it on fire before firefighters attended and put out the blaze. While that was happening, da Costa returned home and supposedly told his mum what he had done.
After advice from his mum, he voluntarily turned himself in at a local police station. He allegedly also released a video himself with a bloodied leg and hand.
Social media star Miranda had almost 1.5 million followers on social media. She often included da Costa in her videos when the pair were together - and in one recent video they even joked about their supposedly "toxic relationship”.
The footage they published, described as "sarcastic and humorous" in local media reports, took a turn when da Costa recorded the moment Miranda allegedly stabbed him after she claimed to have discovered messages on his phone from his ex-partner.
One of the last viral videos that the couple appeared together in was posted by da Costa on March 27 and showed the couple arguing inside an apartment after Miranda had hit him with scissors. After the footage went viral on social media, he filed a police report accusing Miranda of assault.
Miranda responded with a social media video in which she claimed she had been the victim of domestic violence. It’s thought that they may have broken up prior to the fatal incident.
The couple's one-year relationship was described as rocky and violent due to jealousy, Miranda's father, Francisco Miranda, told Brazilian news outlet G1. “They were very jealous of each other,” he said. “He had already hit her many times. And I didn't know, I found out later. She hit him, he hit her.”
Da Costa has been charged with femicide and also concealment of a corpse.