A top-flight footballer who murdered his model ex-girlfriend has been jailed again after spending two months on the run having breached parole rules
A killer footballer who murdered his model ex-girlfriend has been sent back to prison after spending two months on the run for breaching parole rules.
Former Flamengo goalkeeper Bruno Fernandes das Dores de Souza was convicted of orchestrating the murder of model and actress Eliza Samudio after she demanded that the Brazilian ace recognise the paternity of their son.
Eliza disappeared in 2010, and her body has never been found. Prosecutors said she was strangled, dismembered and parts of her body were fed to dogs, with the remainder allegedly buried under concrete. Bruno – as he is best known in Brazil – handed himself in nearly a month after she disappeared, but denied involvement.
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However, investigators said a teenage cousin had testified that Bruno admitted taking part in her kidnapping and killing.
It was claimed the former star keeper – who had had an extramarital affair with Eliza resulting in a child – wanted to avoid paying child support for his son Bruninho – who was only four-months-old at the time.
Bruno was convicted in 2013 of homicide, kidnapping, unlawful detention and concealment of a body. The case caused outrage across Brazil and internationally because Bruno had been one of the country’s best-known footballers at the time.
He was sentenced to more than 22 years in prison, yet following a legal battle over an appeal was released in February 2017, having served just over six years behind bars since his initial arrest. Shockingly, he then signed a two-year contract with second division football club Boa Esporte.
The decision to free the killer keeper sparked widespread fury but it was overturned in April 2017 when he was sent back to a closed prison regime, where he remained until 2019, when he progressed to a semi-open regime.
In 2023, he was granted conditional release under court-imposed restrictions. But the former goalkeeper lost his conditional release after travelling to Acre, in northern Brazil, without judicial authorisation on February 15.
He had gone there to play for Vasco-AC in the Copa do Brasil, despite being banned from leaving Rio de Janeiro state without permission.
A warrant for his arrest was issued on March 5 after the Criminal Enforcement Court ruled that he had failed to obey the terms imposed by the justice system.
Bruno then failed to present himself to the authorities and remained at large for around two months. Police said he was found in the Porto da Aldeia neighbourhood of Sao Pedro da Aldeia.
He was detained at a house in Sao Pedro da Aldeia, in the Lakes Region of Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, late on May 7.
The former goalkeeper reportedly did not resist arrest and cooperated with officers throughout the operation. Brazilian media reported that the arrest followed a joint intelligence operation involving police in Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais.
Bruno was first taken to the 125th Police Station in Sao Pedro da Aldeia, where the arrest warrant was formally carried out.
The case was then transferred to the 127th Police Station in Buzios for further legal procedures. He was later transferred to the Jose Frederico Marques prison in Benfica, in the north of Rio de Janeiro, on May 8.
Prosecutors also argued that Bruno had failed to update his address for three years, broken curfew rules, attended prohibited places, including a football match at the Maracana, and made other unauthorised trips.
Eliza’s mother, Sonia Fatima Moura, said after the arrest that the new imprisonment would not bring back her daughter’s body.
She told Brazilian media: “I regret it because he did not need to be going through this. If he had complied with all the measures, he would not need to live through this moment. I leave a message to other people: do not give up on justice. It may take time, but justice exists.”
Sonia added: “Now it is for justice to do its part. I still believe in the judiciary.
“The new arrest will not bring back my daughter’s body. The best thing would be if I had my daughter’s body. My daughter was discarded like rubbish.”