The Civil Police are investigating as feminicide the death of Priscila Lacerda Custodio, a 24-year-old digital marketing entrepreneur who was shot at kilometer 463 of Rodovia Cândido Portinari (SP-334) in Rifaina, São Paulo. The suspect is João Roberto Bolelli, 62, a cattle rancher. His defense said it was analyzing the case and had not yet had contact with him.
According to the available information, Priscila traveled about 100 kilometers from Perdizes, Minas Gerais, where she lived, accompanied by her brother and a friend, to return a pickup truck that belonged to Bolelli. She wanted to end the relationship with him. At the entrance to a rural property, during an altercation, Bolelli drew a weapon and shot her, according to witnesses. Her brother, Geovane Santana, who was at the scene, told EPTV: "It was very fast, in a fraction of seconds." Hit in the abdomen, Priscila was rescued and taken to a health unit in Rifaina but did not survive.
The suspect fled in the pickup truck that had just been returned, according to the report. A court in Pedregulho, São Paulo, ordered his preventive detention on Wednesday, 28. He was considered a fugitive at the last update. In the decision, judge Luiz Gustavo Giuntini de Rezende highlighted the suspect's violent profile and described the flight as an "act of cowardice" that justified detention to ensure the process could proceed without coercion of witnesses.
Priscila was from Perdizes and worked as a digital marketing entrepreneur. She began working at 16 as a bartender, opened her own company and covered events in her hometown and the region, helping support her family, according to her brother. "She never needed anything from anyone," Geovane Santana said. She had been dating student Samuel Ramos, 26, since June; they lived together for about a month in Perdizes and planned to move to Uberlândia, Minas Gerais. She also had a casual relationship with Bolelli since July and had tried to end it, but he did not accept, according to the report.
Samuel Ramos said in a statement that Bolelli made constant threats to Priscila, saying that if she was not going to be his, she would not be anyone else's, and that he hired a private detective to monitor her. A friend told the Civil Police that Priscila was physically assaulted by the rancher on Friday, 23, four days before the killing, and had visible injuries. The witness also said the suspect had threatened to shoot her in the head and to hire people to watch her in Minas Gerais.
Fearing the recent threats, Priscila asked her brother to drive the pickup to Rifaina on Tuesday, 27, while a friend followed in another vehicle to guarantee the return trip. At the entrance to the rural property along SP-334, Bolelli arrived in a white car accompanied by other people. There was an argument when he demanded the return of a cellphone that had been given to Priscila. She replied that she would only hand over the device if she received her own phone back, which the suspect refused. During the disagreement, Bolelli drew a gun and shot her, then pointed the revolver at her brother before fleeing in the pickup.
The Civil Police opened an inquiry under delegate Fábio Branquinho. Witnesses were heard, the crime scene was examined and Priscila's cellphone was seized for forensic analysis. The motivation under investigation is related to jealousy and the suspect's unwillingness to accept the end of the relationship. The report also says Bolelli has a judicial history of violence against women: in June 2018 he was preventively arrested for violating a protective measure in favor of an ex-partner and spent six days detained before being released on bail. In December 2021, he was sentenced by the court in Franca, São Paulo, to three months and 15 days of detention in an open regime for the same crime, a decision confirmed by the São Paulo state court in 2022. He also had a prior conviction for a misdemeanor related to aggressions in 2017. EPTV found that he has been involved in a court dispute over an inheritance from his father for at least 15 years, involving the Rifaina property where the shooting occurred.
Sources: G1.