The body parts were used to confirm the victim’s identity earlier this week and it emerged her cause of death was likely due to a blunt-force injury on the skull
Horrified sewage plant workers found the severed head and legs of a 36-year-old woman but her other body parts remain missing.
The head of Thalita Marques Berquo Ramos, identified in part by her blond hair, was found by horrified caretakers at the waste plant in the Federal District of Brazil as they were cleaning safety railings. Her legs were found in the plant the next day during a police search.
But the rest of her butchered body parts are still missing, authorities have said. The partial remains was found on January 14 but the victim’s identity was only released by police on 18th March after DNA tests and a search of dental records.
Civil Police say Thalita, who lived at nearby Augus Claras, was killed by a massive blow to the head.
They explained: “The cause of death was traumatic brain injury caused by blunt force on the skull.”
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The woman’s face was badly bruised and investigators are working on the hypothesis that she was severely beaten, possibly with a wooden pole, before being dismembered.
Thalia’s body parts were cremated in a family funeral after her father asked police to release them.
Police, who are understood to have no suspects and no idea where the rest of Thalia’s body is, would only say: “We will make a comment when the time is right.” Femicide – the killing of women – has been a major concern in Latin America.
According to the Harvard International Review, 4,000 women died as a part of gender-based violence in Latin America in 2021.
This was attributed to a weak justice system regarding the rights of women and a reluctance from government officials to implement policies and training programmes to educate citizens and employees about femicide.
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Brazil has once of the highest femicide rates in Latin America with about 3.5 per every 100,000 women falling victim to gender-based violence.
In 2019, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights shared a statement regarding femicide in Brazil, emphasising the role of what it said was deeply rooted sexist values both in fuelling the violence and in obstructing efforts to slow the rate of it.
