A wife accused of killing her husband after years of abuse and stuffing his corpse into a freezer has been sent back to jail to await trial two years after confessing.
Accused Claudia Tavares Hoeckler, 42, had admitted to suffocating Valdemir Hoeckler with a plastic bag after a violent argument.
Following the killing in 2021, she stored his body in a chest freezer at their home in Anchieta, in the Brazilian state of Espirito Santo, for five days.
Claudia Tavares Hoeckler (right) poses with her husband Valdemir Hoeckler (left) in an undated photo. She allegedly killed her husband in Lacerdopolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil, Sunday, Nov. 13, 2022. Note: Picture is private (@claudia.tavares.hoeckler/Newsflash)
She was only caught when a neighbour, who sometimes shared the freezer, told the police she was puzzled because it was suddenly full.
When officers searched it, they made the macabre discovery of 52-year-old Valdemir Hoeckler's body under layers of frozen groceries.
The accused was released from custody after she told police she had snapped following 30 years of violent abuse and could not bear one more beating.
Picture shows Claudia Tavares Hoeckler before turning in, undated. She turned herself in voluntarily in the Chapeco Women's Penitentiary, Brazil, on May 31, 2025. Note: Private photo. (Newsflash/NX)
She claimed her husband had once raped her while he was throttling her and even battered her violently while her daughter was on her lap.
Judges had initially said she could await her trial on bail as she was not a threat to anyone else.
Now Brazil's Superior Court of Justice has overturned the earlier bail ruling and ordered her return to custody.
Picture shows the freezer in which Claudia Tavares Hoeckler hid the body, undated. She turned herself in voluntarily in the Chapeco Women's Penitentiary, Brazil, on May 31, 2025. Note: Image is a screenshot from video. (Newsflash/NX)
Justice Joel Ilan Paciornik said the brutality of the act warranted pre-trial detention.
He described the murder as committed with "extreme cruelty" and said allowing her to remain free posed a risk to judicial integrity.
Prosecutors told the hearing that before she suffocated her husband, Hoeckler had doped him with sleeping pills, showing that the killing was callous and calculated.
After the hearing, Hoeckler surrendered herself to Chapeco Women's Prison, where she will await trial.
Claudia Tavares Hoeckler (left) poses with her husband Valdemir Hoeckler (right) in an undated photo. She allegedly killed her husband in Lacerdopolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil, Sunday, Nov. 13, 2022. Note: Picture is private (@claudia.tavares.hoeckler/Newsflash)
In a tearful social media video before she gave herself up, she said: "I'm going to do what the court has ruled."
Hoeckler's lawyer, Matheus Molin, who plans to appeal, said after the hearing: "What is at stake at this moment transcends the limits of criminal proceedings.
"It is the right of a woman to rebuild her own life after decades of violence."
Valdemir Hoeckler poses in an undated photo. He was allegedly killed by his wife Claudia Tavares Hoeckler in Lacerdopolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil, Sunday, Nov. 13, 2022. Note: Picture is private (Newsflash)
He added: "Claudia was free for almost two years – from August 2023 to May 2025 – strictly complying with all the precautionary measures imposed by the courts, working three shifts to support her family, attending to all acts of the process and living with dignity alongside her daughter.
"During this period, she did not commit any criminal offence, did not violate any condition imposed by the judiciary, nor did she present any risk to society."
(MJ Leidig/newsX)