The three bungee jump workers accused of throwing a 21–year–old Brazilian woman off a bridge to her death have been seen being interrogated for the first time following their arrest for their role in the fatal fall.
Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas, 21, plummeted to her death at the Skeleton Bridge in Limeira, São Paulo, on Saturday, with shocking video showing the moment the aspiring physical education teacher was allegedly killed by her instructors.
In newly–released interrogation footage, the three men discussed their alleged involvement in Freitas’ death and lamented the incident.
They varied in demeanor, from downcast to noncommittal, and one of them still sported braces as he insisted he had nothing to do with her death.
Luis Felipe Feliciano Egoroff, 32, the instructor carrying Freitas’ front, told authorities that he and Maicon Fernandes Cintra, 42, were responsible for attaching the rope.
‘It’s him or me who does that,’ he said in the interrogation, which was reported by EPTV.
But then, Egoroff repeatedly insisted that he could not recall any other details of what transpired leading up to Freitas’ fatal fall.
‘I went to the front first,’ he said. ‘After that, it erased from my mind. I can’t remember.’
Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas, 21, was tossed off the Skeleton Bridge in São Paulo on Saturday to her death by three workers who have since been arrested, charged and deposed
One of the instructors, 32-year-old Luis Felipe Feliciano Egoroff, insisted that he did not remember what happened before Freitas’ death
Cintra told authorities that he had been the instructor at Freitas’ feet at the time of the incident.
He explained that the the group’s roles varied when it came to their rope jump operation.
‘In the procedure, sometimes I’m the one who places the rope [on the person], sometimes it’s Felipe,’ Cintra told authorities.
Cintra appeared to be looking towards the ground for most of his interrogation.
The instructor said the jumping equipment was ‘visible’ and that it was difficult to comprehend how the mistake leading to Freitas’ tragic death had not been spotted.
‘It’s us three on the job,’ he said. ‘I can’t understand at what moment I didn’t see the rope.’
Moments later, he added: ‘I simply cannot understand.’
Another instructor, 42-year-old Maicon Fernandes Cintra, told authorities that he ‘simply cannot understand’ how the equipment error that led to Freitas’ death had not been sighted
Vitor de Freitas Gonçalves, 27, said during his interrogation that he had only ben called over to assist with lifting the woman
Vitor de Freitas Gonçalves, 27, claimed he had only been called over to help with lifting the woman.
Freitas was apparently given a GoPro camera to document her descent just moments before her death.
When he was asked where the camera that Freitas was holding in her hand was, Gonçalves said: ‘Right, yeah. We don’t know.’
The Brazilian woman was sporting a helmet and appeared to be wearing a harness, but she was completely unattached to the structure and a rope when the workers tossed her over the edge.
Authorities believe that the missing camera could have the footage leading up to Freitas’ fatal fall over the weekend.
Local pedagogist Rafael Goulart, who was waiting in line when Freitas was tossed to her death, claimed one of the workers had approached her motionless body after the fall.
‘They were worried about the equipment, either to hide evidence or because of its financial value,’ Goulart told TV Globo.
Andrea Dantas Levy, the police chief in charge of the case, said Monday that the GoPro carried by Freitas may have been taken.
She explained that no one had offered an explanation for where it was while being interrogated.
Investigators are looking for a GoPro camera that Freitas had on her at the time of the fall which could show footage of the fatal incident
Freitas was unattached to the bridge when she was hurled over the edge of the bridge, resulting in her death
‘Honestly, I don’t think it’s still there, given the number of people who came to the bridge later to look for it,’ Levy said.
‘I believe that, unfortunately, someone may have taken the camera,’ she added.
Levy claimed the camera belonged to the organizers of the dangerous jump, which she said ‘cannot be called a company.’
‘It’s likely that during the fall, it slipped out of the victim’s hand, even though it was strapped to her wrist,’ Levy said.
Egoroff, Cintra and Gonçalves have been charged with with homicide with eventual intent.
While being interrogated, the instructors said the jump group had been operating in the area for about one year, according to CNN Brasil.
On the day of Freitas’ fatal fall, the group planned to carry out approximately 100 jumps.
The jumps cost a flat fee of R$180 (about $35.40) with the GoPro camera footage incurring an additional charge of R$110 (about $21.64), per the outlet.
At the end of the day, the organizers would have made out with more than R$15,000 (about $2,950).
Brazilian authorities are now discussing a potential demolition of the bridge where Freitas plunged to her death.
