GUARULHOS, SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – JUNE 10, 2010 Young lawyer, 28-year-old Mércia Mikie Nakashima, disappeared after visiting her grandmother in Guarulhos. Although it was only a few minutes’ drive from there to her home, she never arrived. Her family reported her missing to the police the following day.
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- Mércia Mikie Nakashima 1
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- Mércia Mikie Nakashima 2
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- Mércia & her mother
Police investigations quickly focused on her boyfriend and colleague from the law firm, Mizael Bispo de Souza. He admitted trying to contact her several times on the day she disappeared and even that he was near her grandmother’s house. However, he claimed he was there by chance and with an unidentified companion, whose identity he never revealed.
Mércia & Mizael
On June 10, police received an anonymous tip to search the Nazaré Paulista dam. Divers found her car about 20 feet (6 meters) underwater. The next day, fishermen discovered her swollen and waterlogged body.
Although the forensic autopsy ruled drowning as the cause of death, experts proved that she had been shot in the face and, with high probability, in the hand before dying. It was definitely not an accident.
Further investigation revealed that Mizael called his personal bodyguard, Evandro Bezerra Silva, several times on the day Mércia disappeared. Blood, dirt, and other biological traces matching the location where the body was found were discovered on Evandro’s shoes. Under the pressure of evidence, he confessed to helping Mizael with the murder and body disposal that day.
A warrant had already been issued for Mizael, but he managed to evade justice for two years. Eventually, his conscience caught up with him, and he surrendered to the police and confessed. In March 2013, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the murder and body concealment. In 2017, his sentence was increased to 22 years and 8 months.
The motive for Mércia’s murder was likely jealousy and her boyfriend’s obsessive need to control her. Some sources also claim she wanted to end their relationship.
