Story By:  Ana Marjanovic, Sub-Editor: Michael Leidig, Agency:  Newsflash

A girl who took a selfie in zombie makeup has been found dead and buried in her neighbour’s garden.

The shocking incident took place in Mage, in the Greater Rio de Janeiro area, in south-eastern Brazil, on Monday, 2nd May.

Victim Thuane da Silva Machado, 20, had been sent by her mum, Simone Carla da Silva, to the shops to buy some vegetables at around midday.

When she failed to return home, her mum became worried and went out into the street to see if she could find her and to ask neighbours if they had seen her.

Horrifyingly, Simone said she heard a girl screaming for help but did not realise it was her own daughter until it was too late.

She explained: “When I passed by with a neighbour, I heard someone shouting ‘mum, help!'”

“I went home. Half an hour later, the penny dropped.”

She returned to the residence and asked the occupant to let her in to search for her missing daughter.

He agreed and Simone did not find anything – but noted that a pornographic film was playing on his television.

The man later fled the scene on motorbike.

Simone explained: “The police arrived, they sealed it off. After night fell, I don’t know how, they found her buried outside his door.”

She was reportedly found with signs of sexual violence. Her body was sent to the morgue in nearby Duque de Caxias.

Simone said the suspect is an ex-convict and a known wife-beater. She said he had been living at the residence for less than a month.

Simone said of her daughter, who, like her, was a churchgoer: “My daughter was such a perfect girl, a young girl, a family girl.

“My daughter didn’t go out, she just stayed on her mobile phone, on social media, a calm girl.”

The police are searching for the suspect – whose identity has not been reported – and they continue to investigate the crime scene.