Story By: William McGee, Sub-Editor:  Joana Mihajlovska, Agency: Newsflash

A husband suspected of murdering his wife and her nine year old daughter before burying them under a patio has been charged with their murders.

The indictment follows the conclusion of the investigation into the deaths of Cristiane Pedroso dos Santos Arena, 34, and her nine-year-old daughter, Karoline Vitoria dos Santos Guimaraes.

The pair were found buried under the concrete patio of their home in the Brazilian municipality of Pompeia on 2nd February.

Cristiane’s husband, the psychologist Fabricio Buim Arena Belinato, is currently in preventive detention in the municipality of Trembembe, and the police announced his indictment for femicide and concealment of a corpse on 25th March.

The penalty for femicide in Brazil ranges from 12 to 30 years and concealment of the corpse from one to three years. The police investigation has been sent to the public prosecutor’s office.

The investigation revealed inconsistencies in the 36-year-old psychologist’s statements to the police following his arrest.

He confessed to killing the pair, originally telling the police he stabbed his wife dead in self-defence during a fight. He said he asphyxiated the second victim a month later, as she was questioning her mother’s absence.

However, autopsies on the victims told a different story, the evidence suggested Karoline died of head trauma, and investigators believe the pair may have been sleeping when they were killed.

Karoline and her mum had been missing since November of last year. On the day their bodies were found, Cristiane’s 16-year-old daughter was arrested on suspicion of participation in the crime.

She is currently being held at a youth detention centre in the municipality of Aracatuba.

The police’s main line of investigation was that the arrested teenager was romantically involved with her stepfather.

Police believe this began several years ago, and Fabricio is being investigated for statutory rape.

The teenager has denied involvement in the crime, but officers believe she covered for her stepfather and helped him to bury the bodies.

It was the teen who told the police the exact location of where her younger sister was buried.

Fabricio was arrested while working on a construction site in the municipality of Campo Grande, some 7.5 hours away by car from the crime scene, on 8th February.

He was transferred to the municipality of Marilia the next day, where he told the press he regretted his actions.

According to the police officer in charge of the investigation, during his time on the run, he had asked for shelter in a church, claiming he was homeless.

He received all of his daily meals and showered at the church.

A trial date has not yet been given.

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