The Garanhuns Cannibals: A Chilling Tale of Murder and Cannibalism in Brazil

13/11/2024

A depraved trio of lovers, who believed they needed to consume human flesh to cleanse the world, committed a series of brutal murders that sent shockwaves through Brazil.

Their victims, aged between 17 and 31, were not random selections but were deliberately chosen as what the group considered "impure" women who spread evil and chaos. In their warped belief, these women had to be eliminated for the "greater good."

The perpetrators—Jorge Beltrão Negromonte, his wife Cristina da Silveira, and his mistress Bruna da Silva—formed a deadly alliance to lure unsuspecting young women into their home. Once there, they would drain their victims' blood and dismember their bodies, treating them like animals in slaughter.

The group’s chilling spree came to a violent end following a grave mistake, leading Brazilian police to their home, where they uncovered a horrifying scene. From feeding one of the victim's flesh to her daughter to selling pies filled with human meat to unsuspecting neighbors, the case became one of the most macabre in the country’s history. The trio would later be dubbed the "Garanhuns Cannibals."

The Trio

The twisted trio at the center of this horror consisted of Jorge Beltrão Negromonte da Silveira, his wife Isabel Cristina Torreão Pires da Silveira, and his mistress Bruna Cristina Oliveira da Silveira. Negromonte, born on December 14, 1961, to Portuguese immigrants, grew up in Brazil. His early life was marred by violence, starting with the murder of a 17-year-old, Luciano Severino da Silva, for which he was acquitted due to a lack of evidence. Later, he attempted to murder his elderly mother and stole a large sum of money to buy a house.

In the years that followed, Negromonte formed a cult called "The Cartel," which he claimed would help "purify" the world and protect Earth from overpopulation. As part of his purification ritual, Negromonte insisted that the group consume human flesh, killing victims in alignment with the four natural elements: air, earth, water, and fire. He also believed that by completing these acts, a "portal to paradise" would open, allowing them to ascend to another realm.

Diagnosed with schizophrenia later in life, Negromonte wrote a book, *Revelations of a Schizophrenic*, documenting his delusions and hallucinatory experiences, which included seeing ghosts, shadowy women, and headless figures.

Isabel, born in 1961 like Negromonte, had a challenging childhood marked by poverty and limited education. After meeting Negromonte through the local Mormon church, the couple married in 1984. Their wedding, however, was marred by Negromonte’s violent outburst.

Bruna Cristina Oliveira, born in 1986, met Negromonte at a gym when she was just 16. Despite his marriage, Oliveira entered into a relationship with Negromonte and his wife, creating a deadly love triangle.

The Murders

On May 2, 2008, the trio lured 17-year-old Jessica Camila da Silva Pereira, a homeless teen, to their home in Olinda. Offering her a job as a nanny, the group took advantage of her trust. Once inside, Pereira was struck on the head, dragged into a bathroom, and had her jugular vein cut. After draining her blood for two hours, they dismembered her body, skinned it, and stored the pieces in their refrigerator.

The next day, the group seasoned Pereira's flesh and baked it into meat pies, which were then distributed to unsuspecting neighbors, schools, and hospitals, with many believing the pies contained chicken or tuna. Some of the flesh was even fed to Pereira’s young daughter, whom the group took in after killing her mother. The remaining body parts were buried in the garden, while other fragments were discarded.

Negromonte later justified the murder by claiming that Pereira's rebellious nature and provocative clothing made her deserving of death.

After a four-year hiatus, the trio resumed their gruesome acts in 2012. In February, they killed 31-year-old Giselly Helena da Silva, a woman they had promised a nanny job. She was murdered, dismembered, and buried in the garden, with parts of her body kept for consumption. Just 17 days later, the group killed 20-year-old Alexandra da Silva Falcao similarly, making pies from her flesh and selling them to locals.

The Capture

Police began investigating Giselly's disappearance after her family reported her missing. They discovered suspicious credit card transactions made by the group, which led to their identification from store surveillance footage. On April 9, 2012, the trio was arrested. At the time, Pereira's now five-year-old daughter revealed the gruesome details of the murders, implicating her "father" and the other members of the household.

The police uncovered the victims’ remains in the garden, with Giselly’s face disfigured and her body dismembered. Investigators also found Negromonte's handwritten book documenting his delusions and the group's murderous activities.

Following the arrest, locals set fire to the house in disgust, but authorities continued their work. The young girl was placed in care, and further remains were positively identified.

The Trial and Conviction

In 2014, Negromonte, Pires, and Oliveira were convicted for the murder of Jessica Pereira, receiving sentences of 21-and-a-half years for Negromonte, and 19 years for Pires and Oliveira. Four years later, they were put on trial again for the deaths of Giselly and Alexandra, where they were found guilty and received long prison sentences: Negromonte and Oliveira each received 71 years, while Pires was sentenced to 68 years.

During an interview, Negromonte explained that he believed he was following orders from voices in his head, and that his actions were for the "purification" of the women, whom he claimed to have eaten to cleanse them.

In 2019, the court increased the sentences for the first murder, extending Negromonte's term to 27 years, while Pires and Oliveira's sentences were reduced to 24 years. (AP)