A four-year-old girl’s birthday party turned into a tragedy when her parents, Jeferson Luiz Sagaz, 37, and Ana Carolina Silva, 41, were found dead in a motel room in São José, Santa Catarina state, Brazil.
The pair had spent the day drinking and eating at a food park to celebrate their daughter’s birthday before going to a nightclub. Jeferson, a military police officer, and Ana, who owns a nail salon, checked into the Dallas Motel just after midnight on August 11. They left their child with Jeferson’s sister.
Results of the discovery and investigation
When the parents didn’t come back the next morning to pick up their daughter, worried family members called the police. Later, officers discovered the couple’s dead bodies in the toilet of the motel.
After looking at the room, the couple’s car, and the CCTV footage, crime scene investigators were able to figure out what happened. They came to the conclusion that the husband and wife had passed out in a bathtub full of dangerously hot water, which was measured at 122°F, while a space heater was also pouring heat into the room.
Andressa Boer Fronza, Brazil’s Chief Medical Examiner, officially said what caused the deaths: “The cause of both deaths was exogenous poisoning, favouring the process of heatstroke with intense dehydration and thermal collapse, culminating in organ failure and death.”
Investigators did 16 forensic tests and ruled out possibilities such as electric shock, drowning, carbon monoxide poisoning, or foul play. They then decided that the couple’s deaths were most likely caused by the excessive heat.
Family Concerns and the Toxicology Report
According to Globo G1, a local news channel, a toxicology report showed that the pair had very high amounts of alcohol and traces of cocaine in their bodies.
Ana Carolina’s family members denied claims that she was a habitual drug user and said that she may have been forced to use cocaine. Chief Simão said about the results, “It could be that their bodies weren’t made to handle a drug like that, especially when mixed with alcohol.”
Friends of the couple, who had been married for almost 20 years, said they were wonderful parents and gregarious people. Police said there was no history of violence between them. After the terrible things that happened, their daughter is now living with family.