A man has been arrested for physically abusing and murdering his wife after keeping her locked up for two years in Brazil.

Douglas de Carvalho Avellar was detained near the Campo de Santana park, in downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Saturday, 22nd October, 2022.

The arrest came after Avellar allegedly strangled his wife Ana Carolina de Conceicao Azevedo, 26, to death and then told authorities she had committed suicide.

Avellar had kept the 26-year-old woman and mother of three children locked in a private prison in the city of Belford Roxo for two years, media reported.

He even allegedly prohibited her to get in touch with her family, according to investigations.

He had furthermore continuously abused her before he strangled her to death on Friday, 9th September 2022.

Following the crime, he brought her to the Emergency Care Unit (UPA) and claimed that she had tried to kill herself by ingesting a large amount of drugs.

But hospital staff immediately noticed the strangulation marks around her neck.

They then performed a detailed check and found out that the victim had died from internal bleeding.

Eliana da Silva said: “What he [Douglas] claimed in the hospital was that she had taken drugs.

“It was found by the doctor that it was not suicide, that she had many strangulation marks.”

Detectives from the Civil Police immediately initiated an investigation against Avellar the hospital report was issued.

Then while examining Ana Carolina’s eight-year-old son they discovered that the offender had even denied her food for two days.

Avellar was initially arrested for 30 days on Sunday, 11th September 2022.

But after having realised that he had other criminal records for theft, the police issued a preventive arrest warrant against him in October 2022.

The investigation continues.