A suspected paedophile who allegedly abused his 11-year-old niece since the age of six before gang raping her with four others and throwing her off a cliff has been found hanged in his prison cell.

Elinho Arevalo, 34, was one of five arrested on Tuesday, 10th August for the gang rape and murder of Raissa da Silva Cabreira in the Brazilian municipality of Dourados two days earlier.

The uncle, along with another man named Leandro Pinosa, 20, and three minors, two aged 14 and one aged 17, lured the underage victim from her home to a quarry, where they plied her with alcohol and sexually abused her.

After repeatedly raping her, the suspects then threw her off a 22-metre- (72-ft-) tall cliff. Her naked body was found the following morning.

According to the investigators, she died from the injuries sustained in the fall. The post-mortem report also revealed she suffered lacerations to her genital organs.

The five suspects were arrested for aggravated homicide, femicide and statutory rape and they were taken into preventive custody.

Before his arrest, Arevalo had actually gone to the police station himself to seek news on the investigation, playing the part of the concerned relative.

However, he soon found himself arrested based on the other suspects’ testimonies, and he ended up confessing to participating in the crime.

He also told the police he had raped the victim since she was six years old.

Arevalo was found hanged in his cell, where he was being held alone, on the afternoon of Thursday, 12th August.

The police suspect he committed suicide with a noose he fashioned himself from pieces of cloth, but they will investigate his death.

Pinosa remains in custody in the same prison, and the three teenage suspects are in custody in a young offender institution.

The victim and suspects belong to the Guarani-Kaiowa tribe and lived in the Dourados Indigenous Reserve.