Law&Crime Sidebar - Woman’s Horrific Fatal Rope Jump Triggers Homicide Charges

Episode Date: June 16, 2026

A rope-jumping excursion at the abandoned Skeleton Bridge in Limeira, Brazil, turned fatal when 21-year-old Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas was allegedly thrown off the 130-foot structure without being attached to a safety rope. Three instructors have since been arrested and face criminal charges. Law&Crime's Jesse Weber breaks down the shocking footage and ongoing investigation with 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.

It is the video that has left social media and the world in shock. A young woman seemingly being tossed off an abandoned bridge in Brazil without a safety cord in a rope jumping incident gone horribly wrong. She falls 130 feet and dies. Now, three people have been arrested in charge. The federal government is also being blamed. We are bringing on a Brazilian criminal defense attorney to determine whether anyone will be held responsible and to ask how on earth could something like this happen. Welcome to Sidebar.

Presented by Law and Crime, I'm Jesse Weber. I'm sure you've seen this on your social media pages, unfortunately. This horrible, horrible video from June 13th of a woman being thrown off an abandoned bridge 130 feet down to the ground and she ends up dying in this rope jumping incident gone terribly wrong. And now three people, three apparent instructors, have been arrested. They are facing criminal charges. This is the story. This is the case of 21-year-old Maria Eduardo Rodriguez de Fretas,

plunged to her death on Saturday at the Ponte do Esquiletto. Now, this is a bridge in Lima. It's a city over 90 miles. north of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Now, this is known as the Skeleton Bridge. It hasn't been an operation for about 30 years. It was apparently part of a rail line. When you see the video, okay, she appears to be wearing a helmet, a harness, but she wasn't attached to any safety equipment or rope, while the instructors, based on reporting, and maybe arguably you can see in the video, do seem to be attached to a safety rope. And if that is true, that's true, that's a,

That's going to be a key component in this legal case. Maria Eduardo had apparently asked to be tossed from the bridge in this airplane Superman pose, so two instructors allegedly carry her onto the diving platform and then allegedly threw her over the edge. The video that is circulating is just awful. People in the background can reportedly be heard screaming, the rope people, the rope, or guys, the rope. The video is posted on social media by the group. allegedly organizing some of the jumps, Antre Cordas, show what was supposed to happen. Persons attached to a rope with a harness is either tossed or jumps off the bridge, swinging

back and forth. There's a parent eyewitness. Igor Denez told outlet EPTV that he was on the bridge, saw people panicking after they let go of Maria Eduardo. Quote, there were a lot of people there, not just a few. There were many people at the site. There were children there too, and they saw it happen. Some of the children were only six years old.

It was a very intense scene. People panicked. Some who were further back, grabbed their belongings and started leaving. In fact, according to the media outlet, thought cataloged. Denez said it was supposed to be him, not Maria Dwarda, who was up next. And I got to call this out, too. It's just incredibly sad. Before this happened, Maria Dwarda posted to her Instagram showing herself on the bridge, writing in the caption,

who was the crazy person who let me come jump off a bridge? She also posted a sign near the bridge that warned of dangerous conditions, highlighting that the area was not a safe one. According to MSN, Brazil's military police claimed that two of the suspects here ran from the scene into a wooded area once it became apparent what had happened. They were apparently found by helicopter. Another had been arrested as well. So you're talking about three people here.

Outlet 30 UOL Anos reports that two of the suspects changed their clothes to. According to G1 Globo, they have been identified as Luis Felipe Feliciano Egoroff, 32 years old. Metropolis reports that, according to the military police, he is a civilian firefighter. There is Vitor de Freitas Gonzalez, 27 years old. Metrabez reports that his work permit indicates he's a tour operator. And then there's McCone, Fernandez, Centra, 42 years old. Again, this outlet reports he works with a film post-production company. to O Globo. They didn't have a reason why this young woman was apparently not secured properly.

G1 Globo reported that the suspects also appeared disoriented. They couldn't say whose job it was, whose responsibility it was to attach the rope or explain why a safety check, a safety inspection apparently wasn't done beforehand. Now according to Bachi Notasias, one of these individuals arrested, allegedly told police he didn't realize that Maria Adwarda hadn't been secured. and only understood what had happened when he heard the people screaming. That's when he claims he left the platform, saw what happened, claims he repels down, sees police, sees a health care professional performing life-saving measures. Actually, that's another chilling aspect of this story.

According to TMZ, a nurse identified as Reza Diaz, who apparently tried to save Maria Eduardo told local news that she was still alive after hitting the ground. And we've seen other reports that Maria Eduardo was. was pronounced dead at the scene, that her body was transported to the legal institute. This is according to the Daily Mail. So six people were ultimately detained at first. They were questioned. Three were released.

And then the three that I just mentioned before, they were ultimately charged. Now, I've seen this one of two ways. I've seen them being charged with homicide with implied malice. 30 UOL, Anos reporting that that means there's no direct intention to kill. But the risk of death is assumed. So I'm wondering, and we're going to talk about this, a little bit later on. I'm wondering if that's kind of like when you look at second-degree murder in certain cases where it's like, you know, there's an extreme indifference to human life or

manslaughter. It's a reckless disregard for the apparent risk, for the known risk. I want to, again, talk about that with a Brazilian lawyer we're going to bring on. But Outland G1 said that they were charged with homicide with eventual intent. So that's another way of looking at it. It's possible there's some variance in translation. It's possible there's some variance in translation. But these are the three reportedly in the video. And G1 reports, though, that the three cases have now been converted to preventive detention. Seems the men are currently detained, currently locked up. Again, we're bringing on this Brazilian lawyer who's going to make sense of this in just a moment. To be clear about something, I don't know if there's been misreporting about it, but this is not

bungee jumping. Okay, this is rope jumping. It's different. Bungee jumping uses elastic cords that result in a bounce up and down motion. Rope jumping is this extreme sport that uses different cords, ropes, and it creates this horizontal pendulum swing at the very end. According to 30 UOL, Anos, only bungee jumping has a protocol that's registered with ABNT. This is Brazilian Association of Technical Standards. There are strict requirements regarding who can sell or purchase bungee cords. Delegate Andrea Dantes Levy told the global outlet that the company operating this rope jump, quote, didn't even have authorization to be there.

and that this was the result of a failure to verify and supervise the placement of the rope on Maria Eduardo's jump. G1 reports that in the video, the men carrying her appear to be wearing shirts that are emblazed with the brands, Antre Cordas and Evoi. Authorities say these are informal groups of rope jumping practitioners. There's no official company behind this operation. According to Thought Catalog, the tickets for this rope jumping experience range from about 130 to 180 riz, of roughly $25 to $32. There were even future dates that were scheduled at even higher prices. And on the day that Maria Adwarta died, it was expected that about 100 people would jump. Now, in the aftermath, thought catalog reports that both organizations have deactivated their social media accounts.

There is a lawyer for the operators that said, while rope jumping isn't regulated, like I said, in the same way that bungee jumping is, it's not illegal per se. It's not against the law per se. Now, lawyers for the suspects told the G1 outlet that these individuals were, highly experienced that this had been the organization's only death in years. According to NBC news, a defense lawyer said the suspects are in shock at what happened. Also, we talk so much about the video, right? The video that's circulating around social media. According to 30 ULanos, Maria Dwarda was reportedly holding a camera as well, but it hasn't been found. Some reports indicate it was a GoPro-style camera. Interesting when you think about what evidence there could be

there. According to G-1, a witness claims the instructors had failed to perform the proper safety check. Reports say that the thick rope that was supposed to be used to secure Maria Duarte was tangled up on the ground. And you can arguably see it lying there in parts of the video. There is also another legal development in this case we have to talk about. According to 30 UL Anos, the municipality of Limer may file a legal action against the federal government over alleged negligence in maintaining and controlling access to the skeleton bridge. The city government reportedly said it had previously sent letters to the federal government requesting security inspections of this bridge. Mayor Murillo Felix reportedly stated that the risks of this bridge were already known to authorities,

that this bridge reportedly has a history of accidents, including a cyclist falling from the bridge and dying in 2024. Last year, two other people were reportedly injured. By the way, the mayor posted on social media, and this is per reporting from Fox, quote, a young woman of just 21 lost her life in a tragedy that should never have happened. than sorry, action must be taken so that no other family has to go through such pain. Hey guys, real quick. So the weather's getting nicer means it's time for a little spring reset on the closet. And I'll tell you for me, it is always about quality over quantity and going for

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This is the metropolitan region of Sao Paulo. She was a recent graduate with a degree in physical education and sports management. She was very into fitness and physical activity. She was active on social media. According to Thought Catalog, she had a fiancé as well who reportedly became physically ill when he found out what happened to her. Family, friends, they have described this tremendous loss online. A family member reportedly posted on Instagram, until now I don't believe it. I love you so much.

I'll never forget you. from our jokes. I'll always remember you. I love you so much, princess. Another friend posted on Instagram that Maria Eduardo was a, quote, beautiful young woman full of dreams and now interrupted plans. According to NBC News, Maria Dwarda's mother posted a statement on social media too. This is per local reporting. Quote, my beloved daughter today alone, I wanted to hug you more than a thousand times. How much your departure hurts me. I love you eternally, my princess. And thank you so much for being a part of my life for these 21 years. What an honor it was to hear you call me mom. God, thank you for this privilege. Panobianco Academia, the physical fitness center where Maria

Eduardo had taught where she worked, said, quote, today we said goodbye to a very special person, to our Panobianco Silverstone family, Maria Eduardo left her mark through the dedication, affection, joy, and respect with which she treated everyone around her. Your presence illuminated the environment and your memory will remain forever in our hearts. In this moment of deep sorrow, we join together in prayer and solidarity with family, friends, and colleagues wishing strength and comfort to face this loss. May the good memory shared moments and the love left by her be a source of peace and comfort. Rest in peace, Maria Eduardo.

And then there was a later post that said this gym, this fitness center, would suspend its activities, quote as a sign of respect and mourning. Maria Dwarda was reportedly buried on Sunday. All right, so I want to bring on somebody who has expertise in the law in this region. I'm joined once again by Adrelli Barka, Brazilian criminal defense attorney. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk about this. First of all, this is a story that everybody is now talking about it. It went on social media.

So many people have seen the video. A lot of major outlets here in the states are talking about it. How many people are talking about it in your area? Is it a story that in Brazil is getting a lot of attention? attention? Yes, everyone is talking about it. Not only because of the accident, but because of the commentary on the victim's body after she passed.

So it's been talked about a lot. When you say that the commentary on her body, what do you mean? There has been a lot of sex, sex commentary about the fact that she was a young girl and people talking about how they wanted to see her body. Really? That's what people are saying? Yes. A lot of men talking about it, it's awful.

That's, that's an element that I didn't even comprehend. That's an element that I didn't even know was going on. That's disgusting. That's disturbing, to say the least. In light of everything that now our family and friends have to deal with, that's the next part. Yeah. Putting that to the side for a second.

I didn't know about rope jumping. Is rope jumping common in Brazil? Yes, it's very common. And it's legal, right? Like a lot of people do it. Yeah. When you have the proper authorizations, it's legal. But we talked about it before.

The authorization is a little bit different than bungee jumping, right? Is bungee jumping more regulated? No, they're both equally unregulated, actually. Okay. Do you know if these operators, the people who have been arrested and charged, do you know if that charge. Do you know if they had a license or they had authorization? Because I've seen commentary that they weren't authorized. They didn't. They didn't. They didn't have been a formal company for this. So is it illegal for them to be doing what they were doing?

Yes, completely illegal. Do you know how they wouldn't have been stopped or arrested beforehand if what they're doing is illegal? How is it possible they could be doing or allegedly doing these kinds of, you know, selling tickets for it, these kinds of rope jumps, and authorities didn't get involved. They would have possibly been in charge if they were caught doing this because not only they didn't have a company, they didn't have authorization, but the place where this happened was a scenario of prior accidents at this. So they wouldn't even get that authorization whatsoever. Yeah, I'm going to talk about the skeleton bridge. in a second. I want you to talk to me about what they're charged with. So what exactly are these

three individuals charged with? Is it called homicide with implied malice? What does that mean? Yes. They're being charged with homicide. This case, it brings up a very old debate about intent or blame, which is what we call dolo or hoopa. They're being initially charged with homicide with the intention to kill somebody, which is homicidio doloso. So just to be clear, the prosecutors have to prove they had the intent to kill, or is it to say they were so reckless? They knew how risky this was and they just were negligent. They ignored the risks. I mean, what do they have to prove at trial to convict them? So here's what's going on. This case has brought a lot of media attention to it. And when this happens, sometimes,

times these cases are dealt with in a different way that they would be dealt in other cases. For example, we have many other cases, similar cases of accidents with sports. And those were always dealt with as non-intentional, as negligence, as in Pericia. In this case, because of the media attention, it's been dealt like it was intentional for them to kill these people, which as a lawyer personally, I don't think those apply. No, it seemed like it was, I mean, based on what's been presented in the reporting, it seems like a horrible, horrible accident. But there's a serious question of how did they not properly secure her, right?

I mean, there's a question of if they were seemingly secured and the rope wasn't on her, there was a mistake that was made that may be, again, it may be a form of homestine, It may be criminal liability, but I don't know if it's an intent to kill. I guess the question is what's the difference between what they're charged with now and murder. I mean, is this murder? Is that what they're not being charged with murder, right? No, actually they are.

They are, but they shouldn't be. From the reporting I saw it said it wasn't murder, but they could be charged with murder. Have they been charged with murder now? Yes. Yes. This is why they are in jail right now because when it comes to a case, you know, a case, of homicide where there is no blame with this negligence with which you call on misjudo culposo where we talk about the negligence in pedicia the duty to protect but the

absence of protection those cases they are not punishable by prison you don't get in prison because of this type of crime so when you don't get in prison for some type of crime you can't be in preventive detention that's what's going on right now, there are three people in preventive detention because of this crime. And in order to get that preventive detention, they have to charge them initially with omniscientio Dolosso. What could they be facing if they're convicted? Life in prison? No. If they are convicted in the terms which they are being investigated right now, it's from six to 20 years of imprisonment. But if this is dealt with like any other

case of accident, even with consequences like this, with grave consequences like this one, it would be one to three years of detention with a semi-open or open regime, which means they don't get arrested, they don't go to prison. Okay. Is it possible they go to trial on these charges and a jury says, no, they shouldn't be found guilty of this. They should be found guilty of a lesser crime. the United States sometimes somebody who's charged with murder, a jury will look at them and say,

it's not murder, we're going to find them guilty of manslaughter, right? It's a lesser charge. Is that something that's possible in Brazil? Yes. Okay. Okay. So what are you envisioning here in terms of a defense? You have three different people. I wonder if one is going to say it wasn't my responsibility. It was this person's responsibility. In the video, you see, I think, just two of them carrying her or allegedly carrying her out onto the ledge. What do you imagine is going to be the defense for each of these three suspects? I imagine that the defense is going to argue that this is a case of copa. This is a case of a miscidio-culposo. And why is that? There's a line in criminal doctrine, which is we have Dolo Eventual and Coppa Consensio, which is, in one side, you have the intent,

but it's not exactly clear. You know that there's a risk and you don't care that somebody might die because of that. And in Cupa Concenti, you have a situation where you know there's a risk, but you hope that is not going to happen. In your conscience, you're clear that you're trying your best to not make it, to not let that happen. And here's the catch. This is very difficult to prove in court.

So when you have any type of doubt, the court has to rule in favor of the defendant. This is why I believe this is going to fall as armacidial proposal, because it's going to be very hard to prove intent in this case. Even though there is a lot of negligence in there were a lot of things that happened in order for this accident to take place where there should be more responsibility, the government should have blocked the bridge, the police should have been seeing what is going on if they know there there's always the risk of this accident that people go there to jump.

There should be some kind of sense. security there, the people that wanted to make this jump, they should have at least ordered an authorization, they should have a legal company, at least, and they didn't, every other thing that happened to make this possible, to make this horrible accident possible. But in court, which is what is going to be analyzed, actually, is only the fact in that day that led to that accident. So you have federal authorities and state authorities and the police, and the police that are going to answer this and administratively, they're going to enter this in their own companies. But as to the death itself, is going to fall only on the people that were there at the

moment, that were carrying her, that should have secured her. And for those people, it's going to be very hard to prove that they had the intent of killing her. So let me see if I understand this correctly and tell me if I'm wrong. They've been charged with murder in order to keep them detained. But if this goes to trial, there's a possibility they will not be found guilty of murder because there's not there's not that intent to kill. They could be found guilty of something less and they may not get prison time. Yes. Okay. When when would a trial happen and is it in front of a jury or is it in front of a judge? If this was from the beginning treated as omniscientio proposal, there wouldn't be a jury. They would be only a judge. But since it is being dealt with

under the omisidio Dolosu, they are going to face a jury. And is it unanimous? It has to be a unanimous jury. And how many jurors are there? It doesn't have to be unanimous. I thought one of the key aspects of this case is the allegations of escape that two of them had allegedly ran into the woods. How do you see that? Is that, oh, you know, they were panicking. They didn't know what was going on. Or can a prosecutor say, that's evidence of their guilt. That's evidence of they knew what they did was a crime.

How do you see it? As far as I can see it, I understand that, of course, they knew what happened was a crime. But I don't think that the fact that they ran away means they were guilty of something or that they planned because they didn't do it and run away rightly as it was planned. They just ran away. They were in chalk. And again, I mentioned that's what one of the defense attorneys had said. Just let me ask you, how is it possible this happened?

I mean, you watched the video and they seem to be carrying her. It seems very clear. She's not buckled in. It seems very clear there's no rope. You arguably see the rope on the ground all tangled up. How is it possible they would fail to secure her? How does something like this happen? It's very hard to believe that this would happen the way it did. At the same time, I panicked when I saw the video because I was like, you can see that she's not secured. Stop!

People scream, people shout it. She doesn't have a rope. Stop. And they didn't hear. Probably because they're accustomed to always hearing people shouting when they're doing this and they can't get distracted or they'll hurt the person. But at the same time, it's hard to believe that something like this would happen. Yeah. So the federal government, the municipality, the city, may be filing a legal action against the federal government, right, that they say they were negligent, they should have been properly securing

this bridge, no one should have had access to it. Where do you see that going? Is this going to be a lawsuit? Is this a strong lawsuit? Talk to me about what you think there. I think it is a strong lawsuit because the bridge is actually the responsibility of the federal government, so they should have secured the bridge. But they weren't the only ones who were responsible for it.

Any authority that is related to the security of the city could have done that. Not only the federal government, they should have all done it. When it comes to discussing responsibility, I think it's very clear that it falls under the federal government in its case. What would happen? If they sue them, it goes to, I imagine, a trial. What's the result? What is the federal government, if they lose, what do they have to do? Do they pay fines? Do they, is that what happens? The federal government pays fines to the city? Yes, probably a fine. Okay.

A fine or a demization. Do they have to, you know, make a change? Do they have to secure the bridge? Do they have to tear it down? Do they have to make sure nobody has access to it? Yes, that should have already been done. Okay. One more question before I let you go. So apparently Maria Eduardo had a camera. There's some reporting that it might have been a GoPro.

Authorities can't find it. I don't know if you've seen something new about that. If they find the footage, if they find the camera and they get the footage, why is that so important? How does that affect the case? That depends on what's going to be found on that footage. If she tried to stop it, because in the recording, we don't hear her saying stop. But if that camera shows that she asked to stop, that she said anything to try to stop what was going on,

that would show that they knew that she was unsecured. But I think that's very unlikely. Yeah. Look, I'm thinking if you could loudly hear people saying, she has no rope, she's not secured, she has no rope. she's not secure and they allegedly threw her over that edge, that is important for intent. But again, we're in the early stages of this. We'll see where this goes. This is a tragic, tragic situation. It is so awful that video. It is terrible to think about what she went through. It is

terrible to think about what her and her family and her friends have to experience right now. On top of what you said at the beginning commentary from people about Maria Eduardo is just awful. Adrelli Barka, thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate it. Thank you, Jesse. Thank you for having me. 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 podcasts. You can also check us out on NBC's Peacock as well. If you want to follow me, ex-instagram, my News Nation show, Jesse Weber Live, Monday through Friday, 11 p.m. Eastern.

I'll see you next time, everybody.