The civilian police arrested this Friday morning (2) Jander Vinicius da Silva Braga, one of the suspects in the murder and burial of the body of actor Jeff Machado from Santa Catarina. The arrest took place in the Santissimo area in the western part of Rio de Janeiro.

Jander Vinicius da Silva Braga was charged with triple murder and concealment of a corpse – Photo: Record TV/Reproduction/ND

The defense argued that Zander did not participate in the murder, only in hiding the corpse.

Police are executing two temporary arrest warrants issued by a Rio court for Gander and Bruno Souza, the second suspects in the crime. This definition is in response to a request from the State Ministry of Rio de Janeiro and the civilian police.

Two confessed to involvement in the crime and were charged with triple murder and concealment of a corpse. They named a third party responsible for the murder.

Assassination of Jefferson Machado

State Ministry prosecutors note that the crime was pre-planned by Bruno with the help of Zander. To investigate, the duo took advantage of the moment they had sexual intercourse with the victim to put the plan into action.

Actor Jeff Machado was found dead in the trunk – Photo: @leolima.ph/Instagram/Reprodução/ND

There is a suspicion that Jeff was strangled. After that, the body was placed in a chest, concreted 2 meters in a house in Campo Grande, west of Rio.

An investigation revealed that the property was rented to Bruno last December, a month before Jeff’s disappearance.

Four months later, the body was found in an advanced stage of decomposition. The victim was identified by fingerprints, and a telephone cord was wrapped around his neck. The forensic report was inconclusive, but revealed signs of strangulation.

One line of investigation is that the actor was killed after discovering he was the victim of an alleged financial scam with the promise of a television role.

The victim’s family’s lawyer stated that Bruno even helped the relatives register Jeff’s disappearance at the police station. In addition, the man who claimed to be a friend of the actor had the keys to his house and his car.

Bruno’s defense admitted that they were involved in hiding the body, but denied involvement in the actor’s death.