January 20, 2004
Brazil cops baffled by `hideous crime'
Full story: Chicago Tribune
Barra de Tijuca is an affluent suburb of gated $700,000 condos, beachfront high-rises, palm trees and so many American expatriates that the locals call the neighborhood Miami Beach. But the full weight of how extraordinarily different this homicide was from the estimated 4,000 murders that occur each year in Rio became jarringly clear on Nov. 30 when detectives entered the second-floor bedroom of a luxurious condo. A Utah executive, Todd Staheli, lay dead in his bed alongside his wife, Michelle, who was fatally wounded. Their bodies were mutilated by repeated blows from what appeared to be an ax or meat cleaver. Detectives noticed Todd Staheli's gold Rolex watch on a bureau, a few feet from the bodies. From the window they could see the couple's Land Rover in the driveway. This, the detectives quickly concluded, was no robbery, according to Brazilian authorities who provided extensive details on the case. This was rage. Seven weeks after the grotesque slayings, the investigation of the killings remains inconclusive. No arrests have been made, no charges filed, and Brazilian and American officials have traded criticism over differences in the way they deal with criminal investigations.Posted by stupefied
09:27 PM