Less than a month after the murder of store owner Miriam Hatsue Abe in north Santa Catarina, the motives were revealed and left even the police perplexed. Miriam was killed by mistake on September 10 in the flower shop where she worked and on the land where she lived.

Miriam was killed while working at her flower shop on September 10th. Photo: Reproduction/Internet

“I can say without fear of being mistaken that Miriam was killed by mistake. It was assumed that it was another member of her family. We were puzzled by the outcome of the investigation,” said Delegate Eduardo Defaveri in charge of the case.

He explains that the motive for the crime may have been a legal dispute over land in the town of Contenda, Paraná state. “After several days of investigation, we came to the conclusion that the cause of death was a plot of land in Contende, Parana state. After checking some of the procedural information, we found a seizure process, a discussion of who will be the owner of this land. The conversation was between a member of Miriam’s family and a man who, as we later found out, was the brother of a man who was arrested in recent days,” he says.

The arrest took place on 21 September during an operation carried out in Paraná. In addition to investigative and documents, during the operation, a pistol and other items that placed the man at the crime scene were seized. “We checked that there is other information that directed the entire plot and motivation in favor of this person and justified that he was the killer. He used his partner, who is on the run, who shot,” he explains.

Delegate Eduardo Defaveri explains the murder of a merchant in Garouva – Photo: Felipe Bambasa/NDTV

Also, according to Defavery, Miriam’s family moved from Contenda to Garuvu and used the dealer’s address in the process of seizing ownership. “The person consulted the file, checked the address and concluded that she was there. That is why the shots were fired at the wrong person,” he says.

After clarifying the motives, work continues on the search and arrest of Jessica Alves dos Santos Martins, who remains at large.