Police investigating the death of a model in a bungee jumping accident believe she was wearing a GoPro camera that may have been hidden after her fatal fall. Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas, 21, died last week after jumping off Skeleton Bridge in Limeira, Brazil, without a rope, falling 130 feet.
Missing Camera and Arrests
Authorities are searching for the missing GoPro, which they believe was attached to a neck strap worn by the model during the jump. Three bungee workers—Luis Felipe Feliciano Egoroff, 32, Maicon Fernandes Cintra, 42, and Vitor de Freitas Goncalves, 27—have been arrested on homicide charges after allegedly forgetting to clip on Maria's harness. Three additional suspects have also been arrested, including a 29-year-old woman from Rio de Janeiro and two men aged 25 and 27 from Limeira and Indaiatuba, respectively. Police suspect one of them removed the camera and deleted crucial evidence.
Witness Account
Witness Rafael Goulart told news outlet EPTV that he saw an employee removing the camera as Maria lay dying. He said: "The first scene I remember when I saw the girl on the ground was seeing one of the employees removing the GoPro camera from the neck strap of the body that was already on the ground, either worried about the equipment or wanting to hide evidence."
Investigation and Social Media Footage
São Paulo State authorities are investigating possible "suppression of evidence… especially related to the disappearance of the image capture equipment used by the victim during the jump." While Maria's camera remains missing, footage of the fall has circulated on social media. One clip shows her being helped onto a ledge, held in a Superman pose by two men, and thrown head-first off the bridge.
Other footage from 2022 shows Egoroff and another man throwing a body bag off the same bridge, captioned "hiding the body" on Instagram. Additional videos show Egoroff performing bungee stunts with children clinging to him. A lawyer representing the three arrested workers has denied that Maria's death was intentional.
