The mother of a Brazilian actor who was found dead inside a trunk has claimed he was killed by conmen.
Soap star Jefferson Machado vanished in January this year, and his whereabouts remained a mystery until his body was found buried beneath the floorboards of an outhouse in Rio de Janeiro on Monday (22 May).
He was last seen on 27 January, while his mother Maria das Dores said she spoke to him on 29 January when he told her about an interview for a new job.
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Dores said she became more worried about her son after she received text messages with spelling mistakes and no longer received phone calls from him.
She told Notícias do Dia she'd received messages that he'd dropped his phone down a toilet and was thus unable to video call his mum.
His devastated mother has now claimed that her 44-year-old son was killed by conmen who had promised him acting work at a top network while taking money from the actor.
Speaking to local outlet G1: “He believed in these false friends who led him to believe he was going to make it, even taking money [him].
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“He was deceived, totally deceived, he died thinking he was going to join [TV network] Globo.”
She claimed they killed her son so they could take his car, house and cash he was recently awarded through a successful lawsuit.
“It was a complete deception,” she said.
“I said: 'My son, this is not going to work, they can't do it, who is this guy to do it?'
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“He would answer me that they had friends and that they would make it, thinking that someone from inside would help.”
The Rio de Janeiro State Civil Police have said they believe Machado was killed after he realised he had been the victim of embezzlement.
Family lawyer, Jairo Magalhães, told the Daily Mail that cops were close to cracking the case.
In a text message, he said: “The police are hearing from two people today. They are very close to finding the perpetrators of this barbaric crime and arresting them.”
Police believe that Machado was most likely killed at home - the trunk his body was found inside had belonged to the actor - and then moved to the outhouse where he was buried six feet underground.
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Due to advanced decomposition of the body, an autopsy was unable to determine the cause of death.
Topics: Crime, World News
Claire Reid