A dead body believed to belong to this beautiful young woman has been found wrapped in bags and blankets at the bottom of a ravine in Brazil.

A passerby called the Fire Department to report a corpse under a viaduct on the BR-040 federal highway between the municipalities of Itabirito and Ouro Preto in Minas Gerais State.

When it was found on 17th February, it was already in an advanced state of decomposition.

Civil Police say it likely belongs to 21-year-old Monique Ferreira Costa, who went missing three days earlier.

Her mother told how early on 14th February, Monique had sent her a message saying something very serious had happened and she was going to the police station.

But then there was silence.

Her boyfriend, Luiz Gustavo, gave a statement at the police station and was released.

But Monique’s mother, Simone Ferreira, suspects he killed her.

Monique and Luiz had been together for three years and their relationship was troubled, according to her family.

The family – which hails from Contagem, also in Minas Gerais – said Monique’s body was badly injured.

Her distinctive tattoos are expected to help confirm identification of the corpse.

Local media described Monique as a saleswoman and a university student.

The last CCTV footage of her alive shows her leaving a beauty clinic in Belo Horizonte, also in Minas Gerais, where she had had a lymphatic drainage massage.

She was with Luiz and a female friend at the time.

Police are reportedly treating the case as homicide.