A man who confessed to raping and killing a six-year-old girl was convinced to turn himself into police after his young son saw him on CCTV footage tossing the girl into a river.
According to the Sun, Alexandra da Silva Alves is accused of raping a six-year-old girl, locking her in a suitcase, and then tossing the luggage into a river in Engenho Novo, Brazil.
Brazilian law enforcement reportedly believes that Agatha Nicole Silva, 6, was playing with a group of children in her neighborhood when Alves approached and asked the girl to come with him. The victim reportedly knew the suspect as he was a neighbor and she sometimes played with his daughter.
Alves, who recently separated from his wife, allegedly brought the little girl to his home where he raped and assaulted her. Investigators believe he locked her in the suitcase while she was still alive and tossed it into the river.
WARNING: DISTURBING VIDEO
The victim’s grandmother told the Sun that a witness who saw Alves allegedly toss the trunk into the river at about 10 p.m. on Wednesday night told Agatha’s mother what she had seen and that she was worried about what might have been in the suitcase.
Agatha’s mother then reportedly went searching for her near the spot where the suspect tossed her in and called out her name, about an hour after the witness told her about the suspicious man. It appears the girl was still alive at the point.
“My daughter ran to look for the trunk and when she called her daughter’s name she could hear the child respond very faintly,” Agatha’s grandmother told the Sun.
“But she couldn’t reach the suitcase in time and we believe Agatha was too weak to survive the impact and her injuries.”
A Brazilian TV news station played surveillance footage of the suitcase being tossed into the water, presumably to help identify the person of interest in the video, and Alves’s ten-year-old son reportedly recognized his father in it. His family then convinced the suspect to turn himself in.
“He was arrested and charged with the murder and rape of a minor,” a Rio de Janeiro police chief told the Sun about Alves.
“He has been detained in police cells and will face more detailed questioning as we continue our investigations.”
Feature photo: YouTube screenshot
