Brutal killer who strangled walker with shoelace caught due to vacationer snaps
WARNING, DISTRESSING CONTENT Catarina Kasten, 31, went for a swim at around 7am on Friday – but she never returned and her body was found later that day in a remote area of the Matadeiro trail in Florianopolis, Brazil
A man suspected of strangling a woman to death with a shoelace was apprehended after two tourists snapped his photo.
Catarina Kasten left her home around 7am on Friday (21 Nov) for a swimming class but never made it there. Her partner raised the alarm when she didn’t come back. Around 1pm, her body – naked and bearing signs of violence – was found by tourists in a secluded part of the popular Matadeiro trail in Florianópolis, Brazil. The suspect was nabbed the same day, partly due to two other tourists who had noticed him peering into the forest.
Deeming his behaviour odd, the women took his picture and later handed the images over to the police. Giovane Corrêa Mayer was arrested on Friday night and reportedly admitted to sexually assaulting Catarina, 31, and strangling her with a shoelace.
Forensic experts have confirmed she died from asphyxiation, as reported by NeedToKnow. Originally from Viamão, Mayer, 21, has lived in Florianópolis with his family since 2019 and was known to frequent the trail.
He told police he had been returning from a party where he had consumed alcohol at the time of the attack. Mayer remains in custody and will also be investigated for allegedly raping a 69-year-old woman in her home in 2022. At the time, aged 17, he worked at the woman’s house as a gardening assistant.
He claimed to the police that he knew nothing about the crime, and the victim was unable to identify her attacker. The case was previously archived due to a lack of evidence.
Catarina worked as an English teacher and was pursuing a postgraduate degree in Linguistic and Literary Studies at the Federal University of Santa Catarina. She had planned to go on to do a PhD.
Last week a tourist visiting the island of Menorca tragically died after his car plummeted into the sea while driving off a ferry. Stunned onlookers reported that the vehicle “appeared to deviate” and tumbled off the side of the road by the ferry into the icy water.
The unfortunate incident is now being probed by the police and the port authority to determine why the car failed to halt at the edge of the docks. The man was 67 years old, but his nationality has not yet been disclosed.
Divers retrieved his body from the water and attempted resuscitation for over half an hour, but to no avail. He was found in cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead at the scene. Initially, there were concerns that two other individuals might have been in the car, but his booking ticket confirmed he was the only occupant.
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