Police said Ester Izabelle’s lifeless body showed signs of a potential sexual assault after the harrowing discovery on Tuesday afternoon as an investigation was launched
A four-year-old girl has been found dead inside a well next to a condom and a chocolate milk wrapper with police believing she had being kidnapped by a man while playing near her home.
Little Ester Izabelle’s lifeless body was found half-naked – with signs of beating – and submerged inside the well in Sao Lourenco da Mata, Brazil, on October 21. Ester went missing the previous day, when she was playing on a football pitch close to her house in the Pixete neighbourhood.
Her aunt, Lidiane Santos da Silva, told local media that Ester was playing with her seven-year-old brother when a strange man kidnapped her. After the girl vanished, her brother returned to tell his mother what had happened. A massive search operation was launched, and her body was found the following day by her uncle inside a well at a neighbouring house.
According to the police, the well was around 3.7 metres – around 12 feet – deep and was covered with a concrete slab. Authorities said the girl’s body was found upside down and showed signs of beating, particularly to the head. Police Chief Sergio Ricardo said her body also has signs of a potential sexual assault. A condom and a chocolate milk wrapper were discovered next to the body.
Ester’s uncle, named only as Nazario, later recalled: “It was the worst experience of my life, finding my niece upside down with only her legs up in the well.”
Two men who lived in the house where the well was located were taken to the police station to give statements. The house had reportedly been rented for about six months, according to family members and investigators. Investigations are ongoing to determine exactly how the child was killed.