In January 2023, Brazilian journalist and actor Jeff Machado was killed in the Campo Grande neighborhood, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, at the age of 44.
[4][5] In January Machado met Vinícius on a dating app and the call boy started to frequent the actor's house.
He also sent word that he would be moving to São Paulo to work and when his mother asked about the dogs, he replied that he would leave the animals with friends.
(...) The last person who saw him, who supposedly was with him, never gave support when we were looking for Jeff", said Cintia Hilsendeger, a friend of Machado and the family, to the program Melhor da Tarde.
[14][4] The Whereabouts Discovery Police Station (DDPA) began investigations, and, upon hearing witnesses, such as the owner of the NGO that rescued the dogs and was a friend of the actor, ended up suspecting that the disappearance was not voluntary.
Another friend received a message from a man who identified himself as Giovani saying that Machado had abandoned the dogs, but he also did not believe the story.
", raising suspicions from fans and friends, especially because the answers in some comments contained spelling errors, which was not common according to people close to Machado.
The victim had been buried and concreted two meters deep inside a trunk, which, according to police findings, was the same as the one at Jeff's residence, which increased suspicions that the crime had been committed by someone known to the actor.
[13][15] The police already had evidence that Rodrigues had extorted Machado for 20,000 reais by promising him a role in a soap opera on Globo.
[9][8] Hours after being arrested, on June 2, Vinicius changed the version of the story and said that Rodrigues had drugged and killed the actor and that both had hidden the corpse.
He was finally found on 15 June, hiding in a building in Morro do Vidigal, in the South Zone of Rio de Janeiro.
He would have been denounced by drug dealers, according to G1, despite the fact that the police had been monitoring him for 5 days at the scene, after he was located for using a Wi-Fi network.
[3] On 27 October 2023, the trial of defendants Bruno de Souza Rodrigues and Jeander Vinicius da Silva Braga began with 18 witnesses, including Machado's mother and brother.