Law&Crime Sidebar - Fatal Rope Jump Case Explodes with New Arrests

Episode Date: June 23, 2026

The investigation into the tragic rope-jumping death of 21-year-old Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas in Brazil has intensified following shocking allegations of destroyed evidence and deleted digital data. Law&Crime's Jesse Weber breaks down the latest developments in the case alongside Brazilian criminal defense attorney Adrielli Barca.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea, Alex Ciccarone, & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrimeTwitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

More reported arrests in the tragic death of a young woman apparently tossed off an abandoned bridge in Brazil in a rope-jumping incident gone horribly wrong. Now, there are allegations of deleting and hiding evidence. Welcome to Sidebar. Presented by Law and Crime, I'm Jesse Weber. Okay, so we got more updates for you in this Brazilian rope-jumping case that we've been on top of since the very beginning. This is the one in which 21-year-old Maria Eduardo Rodriguez defra. plunged to her death in a roping incident. She was allegedly tossed off an abandoned bridge,

wasn't attached to any ropes or any cords, 130 feet down. This is a horrific, horrific death. And it all was apparently caught on video that is circulated on social media. You have three instructors, Luis Felipe Feliziano Egeroff, 32 years old, Vitor de Freitas, Gonzalez, 27, and McConaughan, Fernandez, Cintra, 42.

they were arrested, they were charged with homicide, with eventual intent or eventual malice. Two of them allegedly fled the scene before they were captured. And according to NBC News, Brazilian law characterizes these charges as killing someone, not necessarily with the intent to kill, but by engaging in a dangerous act that carries a known risk of death, assuming the risk. And they reportedly claimed that they were in shock, that they blacked out. They don't remember whose job it was to secure Maria Dwar. that's based on the reporting that we're seeing. In fact, defense counsel associated in this case,

also reportedly told the G1 outlet that these individuals were highly experienced. Delegate Andrea Dantes Levy told the outlet Globo that the company operating this rope jump, quote, didn't even have authorization to be there. So there's already a lot to get into. There's already a lot to think about. But as I said, we have new developments that we've got to talk about. So it just came out. First, there are new images, new images that came out about this. There was a video that posted on EPTV on YouTube, different angle of the incident. It again appears to show the instructors are carrying Maria Dwarda, Superman style, airplane style over the platform, and that is when they allegedly toss her over. But in the video, you can seemingly hear the person recording this saying,

look at this. And then someone else say, oh my God. And then after Maria Dwarda is apparently tossed over the platform, you hear the person recording this. saying, no, no, stop, stop, stop people, a rope broke. You can see how the instructors are reacting, seemingly looking shocked, almost frozen in place. And now, now the big update, three more members of this team have reportedly been arrested. And according to the New York Post, they had roles or alleged roles in planning and carrying out this activity. Apparently the arrest happened over the weekend on Saturday, June 20th. According to Globo, they are Eval. Dost Santos Gonsalves, allegedly responsible for the informal company that performed the jumps,

Joao Antonio Pivotta Ribeiro de Silva, who was reportedly positioned down on the ground below the bridge, and Gabriel Barros Martens, who allegedly left the scene after the fall, allegedly wasn't cooperative with police. This is according to Bacci Nottecias. And there's now this. There's this accusation that either all of them or some of them, there's an accusation of deleting digital material, like the social media pages for the company, Antre Cordas. There's also suspicion that they may have been involved in taking the camera, this possible GoPro camera, that Maria Eduardo had allegedly been holding during the rope jump. In fact, MSN reports that an eyewitness to this incident, Rafael Gullar, who was apparently

next in line to jump after Maria Eduardo told the media he saw an employee remove this camera, remove the GoPro from Maria Eduardo's neck strap as she was lying on the ground, said he viewed it as, quote, either they were worried about the equipment or wanting to hide evidence. According to 9.com.com.a.U, a court order has been issued for the search and seizure of phones and electronic devices and other evidence. According to New Daily, temporary arrest warrants were issued for a five-day period. There was reportedly suspicion of knowingly accepting the risk of Maria Dwarda's death and obstruction of justice. Now, it's not entirely clear if they were temporarily arrested or if they've been charged officially, but I'm going to bring on a Brazilian

criminal defense attorney to talk about this, explain to us what's going on here, because I know it can get confusing. It's confusing for me. The Office of the Secretary of Public Security of Sal Paolo in a statement said, I've seen many deaths, crimes, criminals. I practice. extreme sports, I have never seen such a disgusting and emblematic case of disregard for security and the lives of others as this one. That's quite a state. Another statement, quote, the civil police are continuing their investigations to fully clarify the dynamics of the events, identify all criminal responsibilities, and locate the camera used by the victim at the time of the jump, considered an important element for reconstructing what happened. Well, how to talk about

this camera. I want to get into that too. Now apparently, this is interesting too. There was a social media influencer on scene that day, reportedly acted as a form of technical support. This is a guy named Luis Gustavo de Oliveira, according to Bacci Notetias, the outlet reports that he had been working with this team for about a year. And that day, he was about four meters away from the platform, but had his back to what had happened because he was apparently preparing a jump for the next participant. This is what he reportedly told authorities in a statement that was translated to English. He said, quote, I have received many messages in recent days about the case of the tragedy in Lumerra. For now, I have chosen not to publicly express myself on the subject,

as there are still ongoing procedures and investigations in the case. I'm not omitting myself or being indifferent to what happened. At the right time, I will speak clearly. I appreciate everyone's understanding. By the way, Maria Dwardes family released a statement that said, quote, It is essential that all responsibilities are rigorously ascertained and that all those involved are duly held accountable for their actions and omissions. Okay, I want to bring you back on here on sidebar, Adrelli Barka, who is a Brazilian criminal defense attorney. She was on with us last time when we're covering this.

Thank you so much for coming back on to talk about it. So am I accurate that, are we accurate when we're seeing the reporting that three more people were arrested? Yes. But have they been charged? Not officially, but yes. They're on temporary prison right now, which is the type of imprisonment

where you stay there for a amount of time to make sure the investigation went smoothly. So do you know what charges or what suspicion of charges they are arrested and detained on? I was seeing that it could be potentially, I don't know if it's the same charges that the instructors are facing.

I don't know if it's an obstruction charge, but what are they being detained on? What charges or suspicion of charges? The charges are the same as the ones that were caught in the act, which is homicide with intent. And by the way, just to clear up, is it still homicide with intent or homicide with eventual intent? And homicide with eventual malice.

Is that what it is? Yes. The eventual part is only important to make sure that they can classify this as intent, but officially is homicide with intent. Let me ask you, the people that were just arrested, why do you think they were arrested, why do you think they were arrested now? Because clearly they had different alleged roles, right? They weren't the people in the video, but it seems to me that they had a role in this whole rope-jumping activity. They were in different places that day. And there's also this

allegation that they might have been hiding evidence? Yes. The accusation is that they were part of the team that was making sure that this road jumping was happening. One of the people that were arrested is the one that was at the bottom of the bridge, which is accused of hiding the camera, which wasn't found yet. But a witness says that they saw him pick up the camera from the body. But I guess I'm a little confused. If they weren't the ones that actually helped prepare the rope and allegedly threw her all. the platform, how could they be potentially charged with homicide?

At this point, the judge is going to pick up everybody that is involved in this act. Later on, when it comes to the judgment, this is going to be dealt with very differently. The last time we spoke, I talked about the difficulty that it is to make sure every individual action is pointed out in the trial. President of law, you have to point out individually which part everybody did, which is the action or a mission that everybody was responsible for. At this point, I don't see them evaluating this part. I just see them involving everybody that was in the company as a potential criminal. When they're detained, what happens with the investigation?

I was reading that search and seizure, I believe, warrants of their electronic devices. and other evidence has been issued. Is that what's happening right now? Yes. Their materials are being searched? Yes. And what- And what-

But I will point out that that could have been done without them being arrested. There was no need for them to be arrested at this point. So let's just back up. Why do you think they were arrested at this point? The justification of the court is that those arrests are made to make sure the investigation is not interfered with, but they were not interfered with the investigation. so far. Well, they're accused of hiding evidence and destroying video

and allegedly taking the GoPro camera. So I think I can understand that. Yes, this camera is very important to the investigation. I hope they find it sometime because the camera was with the victim the whole time. And the camera is going to show if she noticed that she had no road, she has to stop, if she was aware, if they were aware that she had no room. I imagine if she had the camera on her before they picked her up, right? It would capture the conversations they had about the rope and whether or not she's looking around

if they ever secured it because there still seems to be confusion as to how this even happened. And there still seems to be confusion as to whose responsibility it was to actually secure her, right? Exactly. There was an allegation about maybe social media pages being scrubbed about the company. all I've been reading from the reporting is that there was digital content that might have been deleted. Is that obstruction under Brazilian law? It's obstruction if they deleted something from the actual jump, from Marie-Euarda's jump. Hey, guys, real quick. So the weather's getting nicer, means it's time for a little spring reset

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Is there something in Brazilian law where they would get immunity to testify? There is this institute that could get into immunity if you testify in some crimes, but it doesn't apply here. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. I just want to back up, because it's a little computer. When I read the reporting on this, go back to the charges that the three are facing. They still say homicide with eventual intent, homicide with eventual malice. But the theory from the prosecution you're saying is it's going to be with intent that they deliberately, intentionally killed her or that they were so reckless.

They were disregarded the risk that that's the intent. I just want to clarify about the three people who have been charged. What exactly do you think the theory of the case is going to be from the prosecutor? The theory is not that they were so reckless that they didn't mind, but they didn't care if she lived or died. That's going to be a hard thing to prove because the statement so far say that they really didn't know she didn't have a role. What do you make of what the defense has been saying so far, at least in the media, that they're experienced, they blacked out, they didn't know what was going on.

They're in shock. They've done these jumps before. They don't know who was responsible for securing her. Those are some of the initial statements we're seeing from, I believe, defense lawyers that are associated with the case. Here's what I make of this. The last time you asked me about the regulation of this activity, and mistakenly, I said that rope jumping and bungy jumping were not regulated.

That was wrong. Bungy jumping is regulated. officially regulated in Brazil, but road jumping isn't. But the tricky part is the fact that it is not regulated doesn't mean it's prohibited. So there's no actual regulation to say who is responsible for what, how this could have done, which are the equipment, who's responsible, who's not. And when it comes to a criminal case, as I said, you have to be able to point out exactly who did what. And if this activity is so unregulated that even if there were no statements, you wouldn't be able to point out who was responsible for what.

In their statements, you're not going to find it because they don't know. And they can't know. There's no regulation. So let me ask you about that. I was reading, according to Baccien Notacias, Evangelo Schutz, who's this technical manager of the Brazilian Association of Ecotourism and Adventure Tourism Companies, basically said that. Brazil has requirements for these kinds of activities that were talked about, these adventurous activities. He said in an interview with SBT News, quote, Brazil is a world reference in technical standardization for adventure tourism activities.

We have 51 technical standards of very pertinent legislation to the realization of commercial leisure and adventure activities. But he highlighted how there are specific rules regarding communication, safety equipment, the skills of the professionals. And he warned that episodes like what we're seeing here on this skeleton bridge that it's still going on saying, quote, it's not an exclusive case. This happens every weekend in Brazil illegally and irregularly. So it does become a question, I think, who is responsible here? If they really didn't have authorization to be doing these jumps, I mean, is it the government's fault? Are police cracking down on other organizations, particularly after this event? In my point of the woman, in my personal point of view, everybody involved is responsible for this.

When it comes to the bridge itself, the bridge was built to be a path for a train line. That was a national train line that actually never crossed that bridge. The train never came. So that bridge was useless for many, many years. And these activities were happening here for many, many years. And nothing was done to stop this. They put signs up in one side, but the people were coming in through private properties that were close to the bridge. So they didn't even see a sign.

They just knew that there was a bridge and they had to get there somehow. The bridge itself belongs to the federal government, but the city halls from the two towns involved also share responsibility on this. They had to put signs. They had to make sure that they prevent people from accessing this bridge, because it has been known that this was a dangerous place for many, many years. After this all happened, the federal government is compromised to implode the bridge. They're going to demolish it. And the city's involved is going to put access to prevent people from accessing this bridge from either side.

While that doesn't happen. But this happened now, this should have happened a long time before. And it also, in spite of all that, rope jumping is not exactly. a new activity. It didn't begin to happen yesterday. So if it wasn't going to be absolutely prohibited, they should have been regulated a long time ago. Doesn't it seem to you if they're going to be demolishing this bridge after this happens? And the idea is that it would take something like this for the bridge to be demolished. But doesn't that signify to you that the government is acknowledging liability? Is that the government saying we should have demolished it? There

was a problem, we didn't acknowledge it. We didn't do this. Does it indicate to you that every allegation this bridge was a danger is true? But the other argument is maybe it looks so bad what's happening. They have no choice. But to demolish it, it's really the responsibility of the defendants right now. They're the ones who are responsible for this, whether it happened in a bridge or somewhere else. But I am curious, your thoughts on this, that if they're going to be demolishing the bridge, doesn't it seem that the government is acknowledging we were in the wrong? 100%. A hundred percent. Okay.

Let me ask you this before we wrap things up. What happens next with the criminal case? So you have the criminal case for the three instructors. What happens next in the process? And B, for the three people that were just arrested, when is the latest you can file charges against them? When they're arrested, the investigation has 45 days to conclude, which could be prerogated for 45 more days. But other than that, if you don't have an indictment until then, they have to walk free until the judgment. And for the three people that have already been charged,

what happens to them next? They're going to await for the other charges to run because this is a case with a victim and you can have two trials for one case. If you have more than one person involved, you have to trial everybody together. So that one depends on the victim. So that one depends on this. Okay. Oh, I see. There's no separate trials. So it could potentially be six people on trial together. Yes. I had one before. There was 30 people. It was also 30 people on one trial. Wow. Sounds complicated. It is. Yeah. You came on and I asked you what's been the reaction to this story. And while there is sadness and there is heartbreak, you mentioned that a lot of people online, unfortunately are commenting more on Maria Eduardo's body and her appearance than anything,

which is pretty disgusting to say the least. Yes. What is the latest you can tell us there? The ladies I can tell is that the people who made those disgusting comments about her body in the morgue and how it was going to go down. They are being investigated. We had two congresswomen who went to the prosecution and asked for these people to be investigated regarding their comments.

They could be charged with a crime? Yes. What's the crime that they could be charged with? I don't know the exact translation, but it is inciting to do something vicious with a body. Okay. And I apologize because here in the United States, we have First Amendment protections. People say disgusting things all the time, and they have a right to unless it crosses the line legally, unless it's a threat, unless it's harassment, unless it's defamation, unless it's,

inciting somebody or encouraging somebody to commit a real crime. Do you have that kind of protection in Brazil, like a First Amendment freedom of speech? We do, but it's a lot more limited than the United States. It's a lot more limited. It can be very easily responsible for a crime. You can be charged with a crime very easily. Wow. Okay, it's a separate component we're going to follow too. All right, thank you for letting us know. Really good seeing you. and I appreciate you telling us what's happening over there.

Thank you, Jesse. And that's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcast. You can also check us out on NBC's Peacock as well. If you want to follow me, X Instagram, My News Nation show, Jesse Weber Live, Monday, Friday, 11 p.m. Eastern.

See you next time, everybody.