A lawyer couple accused of hiring hitmen to kill clients so they could plunder their multi-million pound fortune have been seized by police for their murder.
Suspects Hercules Praca Barroso, 47, and 41-year-old Fernanda Morales Teixeira had been hired to shield their elderly clients' assets after a property deal went sour.
But instead, say police in San Pedro, in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, they decided to steal the lot and then bump off the owners.
Hercules Praca Barroso and Fernanda Morales Teixeira Barroso pose in undated photo. They were arrested in Sao Carlos, Brazil, on 17 June 2025 for the murder of their clients. Note: Private photo from social media. (Fernanda Barroso/Newsflash/NX)
The police said in a statement: "After all misappropriation, the lawyers ordered the deaths of their victims."
Officers arrested the couple at their luxury condo apartment on 17th June after seizing the hitmen who had blasted their victims to death with shotguns.
Police chief Juliana Ricci explained: "We believe that they planned the crime to permanently take possession of the victims’ assets, because they had no heirs.
Hercules Praca Barroso and Fernanda Morales Teixeira Barroso pose in undated photo. They were arrested in Sao Carlos, Brazil, on 17 June 2025 for the murder of their clients. Note: Private photo from social media. (Fernanda Barroso/Newsflash/NX)
"They were a childless couple. Their parents are also dead, and their assets are in the name of their lawyers. If they died, who would question that?"
Businessman Jose Eduardo Ometto Pavan and nursery owner Rosana Ferrari were found dead in their pick-up truck at their home in the Sao Pedro mountains in April.
The couple, aged 69 and 61, had hired the lawyers to shield their assets after lawsuits following a failed property development put their fortune at risk.
Photo shows Rosana Ferrari, undated. She was found dead in a car in Araraquara, Brazil, on 5 April 2025. Note: Private photo. (Newsflash/NX)
A holding company was set up in the lawyers' names, which took control of the bulk of their assets.
Police chief Ricci explained: “These assets were transferred through ‘payment in kind’ contracts, as if the victim were paying the lawyers’ fees.
"In real estate alone, the average fees were BRL 12 million [GBP 1.62 million], much higher than average."
Then, say police, the lawyers falsified documents to deceive their victims and take huge amounts for non-existent legal costs.
Ricci said: “There was even the falsification of a court decision, and it was more or less BRL 2.8 million [GBP 378,000].
Photo shows Jose Eduardo Ometto Pavan, undated. He was found dead in a car in Araraquara, Brazil, on 5 April 2025. Note: Private photo. (Newsflash/NX)
"So, the loss to the victims was around BRL 15 million [GBP 2.02 million]."
The police said they are still investigating two other suspects who were also potentially involved in the couple's execution.
The investigation is ongoing.
(Joseph Golder / newsX)