Érika de Souza Vieira Nunes has been charged with theft by fraud and abuse of a corpse after allegedly wheeling her deceased uncle into a bank to sign for a loan.
Surveillance Footage/Jam PressCCTV footage showing the woman wheeling her deceased uncle into the bank.
Bank workers in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, received the shock of their lives after a woman brought her deceased uncle to a bank to sign for a loan on April 16, 2024.
The woman, who claimed to be the man’s niece, allegedly wheeled him into the bank and attempted to force a pen into his hand. Workers noticed the bizarre scene and called emergency workers. A medical examination later confirmed that the man had been dead for at least two hours.
Now, investigators are trying to determine the full story of how this disturbing incident unfolded.
Érika de Souza Vieira Nunes’ Attempt To Use Her Uncle’s Corpse To Commit Fraud
On April 16, Érika de Souza Vieira Nunes entered the Itaú Bank branch in Rio de Janeiro. In tow was her 68-year-old wheelchair-bound uncle, Paulo Roberto Braga.
The two came to the bank to take out a loan equivalent to $3,250.
While the duo signed for the loan, the bank employees noticed the oddity of the scene. For one, Braga did not move at all, and Nunes seemed to force a pen into the man’s hand, stating:
“Uncle, are you listening? You need to sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, because I can’t sign for you. Sign so you don’t give me any more headaches, I can’t take it anymore,” a video of the incident aired by g1 showed.
Evidently, bank employees told Nunes that her uncle appeared unwell, to which she responded:
“He is like that. He doesn’t say anything.”
But the strangeness of it all was too much for the bank workers. They quickly called for an ambulance, and when the doctors arrived, they confirmed the worst — the man was dead.
The Ongoing Investigation Into Paulo Roberto Braga’s Death
g1/YouTubeSurveillance footage of Érika de Souza Vieira Nunes and her deceased uncle, Paulo Roberto Braga.
According to a medical examination, Paulo Braga had been dead for over two hours when Nunes brought him to the bank. His cause of death was respiratory aspiration of stomach contents and heart failure. However, the situation became muddied when both Nunes and her lawyer claimed that her uncle was alive when he arrived at the bank.
“The facts did not happen as they were narrated. Mr. Paulo arrived at the banking unit alive. There are witnesses who, at the appropriate time, will also be heard. He started to feel sick, and then he had all these procedures. All of this will be clarified and we believe in Mrs. Érika’s innocence,” Ana Carla de Souza Correa, Nunes’ lawyer, told TV Globo. Just a day before, Nunes had taken Braga to the emergency room.
Despite these pleas, police arrested Nunes on two separate charges of theft by fraud and abuse of a corpse.
Now, authorities are conducting an investigation into Braga’s death. So far, doctors know that Braga must have died lying down, evidenced by the way blood pooled in his vessels. He could not have died sitting in the wheelchair.
Authorities know that Nunes took a taxi to the bank, so they are now trying to determine if Braga could have died lying down in the back of the cab.
“The main thing is to continue the investigations, identify other family members and find out if, when this loan was made, he was alive,” Fábio Luiz Souza, a police officer on the case, told O Dia.
For now, Nunes will remain in custody until the investigation concludes.
After reading about how a woman took her uncle’s corpse to the bank to sign for a loan, dive into five true stories of people who were buried alive. Then, learn about the Guanajuato mummies in Mexico and how their faces are permanently frozen in terror.
