[6] Her father was a director of DERSA, a state-owned company which manages São Paulo's highway system, and the chief engineer for the Mário Covas beltway project.
After graduating from a German high school, Suzane studied law at the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo.
In the summer of 1999, she met Daniel Cravinhos de Paula e Silva, who had been instructing her brother in flying model airplanes.
[8][9] In the late hours of 31 October 2002, Suzane, who had planned the murder of her parents for months, disconnected the alarm system of the family's estate upon confirming they were asleep.
The Cravinhos brothers entered the parents' bedroom and struck them with iron bars before strangling them with towels, while Suzane waited in the living room downstairs.
Early in the morning, Suzane and Daniel picked up her little brother, Andreas, at an internet cafe and went home, where they "discovered" the crime scene, called the police and told them their story.
[10] However, investigating officers had doubts that the crime was a burglary and suspected that the perpetrators were known to the victims; they soon began to question the children and the employees of the Richthofen family.
Suspicions were raised not only by certain details of the crime scene and the disconnected alarm system, but also Suzane's cold behaviour – she was seen in the house's swimming pool with Daniel the day after the murder and celebrated her 19th birthday with friends just hours after the parents' burial.
[12] Suzane's parents, who initially allowed her to date Daniel, changed their opinion when they discovered he was a habitual marijuana user, was unwilling to work or attend school and came from a lower-class background.
[14] On 5 June 2006, Suzane von Richthofen, along with the Cravinhos brothers, was put on trial in São Paulo for homicídio qualificado, the equivalent of first degree murder in Brazilian law.
[16] She stayed in custody for 16 years in the Penitenciária Feminina Santa Maria Eufrásia Pelletier in Tremembé, state of São Paulo, and was released on probation on 11 January 2023.
In March 2023 Suzane became pregnant with her first child and [20] She gave birth to a son, Felipe, who was born January 26, 2024 in Sabin Hospital in Atibaia.