A woman’s death at a site long linked with dark rites shocked São Paulo in 2012 — but years later, investigators reached a very different conclusion.
When the body of Geralda Lúcia Ferraz Guabiraba, 54, was found near a roadside landmark in the city of Mairiporã in January 2012, it was hard to believe anything other than the worst.
The homemaker, wife of a commercial director at Grupo Estado, was discovered in the early hours of January 14, stretched out in a cross-like position beside the Pedra da Macumba, a site long associated with religious offerings and whispered stories of dark rites.
Her eyes were missing, her face had been stripped of skin and muscle, and her neck bore a deep wound. To many, it looked like ritual sacrifice.
The Pedra da Macumba itself only fuelled that impression. Set just off kilometre 8 of the Estrada da Santa Inês, the entrance to the surrounding Trovão farm was often littered with bottles, broken glass, fruit remains, candles, flowers, animal parts, and other offerings used in Afro-Brazilian religious practices.
Neighbours described the place as unsettling. “We feel something different when we pass by here,” said Oscar José Siqueira, 53, who lived nearby and was one of the first to see Geralda’s body.
On that January night, witnesses reported seeing Geralda’s car along the road. A local shopkeeper told police he spotted a well-built man behind the wheel at around 1.30am, followed by another vehicle. The unsettling detail seemed to suggest abduction.
Geralda’s own home computer was also seized for investigation, after it was found that two days before her death someone had searched online for chumbinho – a potent rat poison often misused in suicides.
At first, however, forensic analysis pointed in another direction. The initial medical examiner ruled out suicide and animal activity, concluding that Geralda had been killed with a sharp instrument. Her neck wound and bruising on her back suggested she may have been struck while kneeling.
With her body discovered beside a site linked with mysticism, early theories included ritual murder, revenge, or even that she had been lured there under false pretences.
The case was handed to the Departamento de Homicídios e Proteção à Pessoa (DHPP) , who interviewed Geralda’s husband, son-in-law, and other family members. They also seized her computer and phone, and examined objects from her home for further clues.
Despite the disturbing presentation of the body, detectives struggled to find evidence tying anyone to her death. No enemies, no disputes, no clear motive. Over time, alternative explanations emerged.
Geralda’s neurologist told investigators she had been battling severe depression, and three months before her death was already “totally propense to commit suicide.” On the day she left home alone, she carried with her a container that police later linked to the ingestion of poison.
Toxicology tests confirmed the suspicion – her blood contained lethal levels of chumbinho. The amount was described as more than sufficient to cause death.
That discovery reframed the most shocking details of the scene. The missing eyes and facial damage were not deliberate mutilations, the final report concluded, but the result of scavenging by wild rats after death. The strange positioning of her body was accidental. The supposed signs of a ritual killing were in fact tragic coincidences of circumstance and decomposition.
The second autopsy contradicted the first examiner’s view that a sharp weapon had been used, and determined there was no evidence of a violent struggle.
After two and a half years of inquiries, the DHPP publicly ruled out homicide. “All possibilities of finding some adversary, some person who could have done this to her, were exhaustively explored. There is no doubt it was a suicide,” said delegate Rui Antonio Karan Filho when the findings were released. The courts accepted the conclusion, and the case was formally archived.
By then, though, the damage had been done in the court of public opinion. The symbolism of the Pedra da Macumba, the disturbing state of Geralda’s body, and the long gap before the case was closed had already entrenched the story as one of São Paulo’s most unsettling modern mysteries.