Gruesome Murder in University Laboratory
20-year-old Louise Ribeiro was lured to her death by her ex-boyfriend
Louise Maria da Silva Ribeiro was a cheerful and polite middle daughter. She grew up in Brasília, Brazil, and her sympathy and commitment to studies gave her friends and a place at the University of Brasília (UnB), one of the most important universities in the country. At 20, she was attending the 4th semester of Biology and doing an internship at the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA). Unbeknownst to Louise, her rising career would be interrupted by 19-year-old Vinícius Neres with whom she had cultivated a friendship and a supposed eight-month relationship.
Louise Ribeiro met Vinícius Neres at the University of Brasília. They were both Biology undergraduates described as dedicated students and soon began to get along well, leading them to engage in a relationship in 2015. The relationship, however, lasted only a few months. Louise eventually started to distance herself from Vinicius while they were still together until she finally opened up and cleared that she just wanted to be friends.
The murder
Louise had agreed to meet Vinícius at the chemistry laboratory of UnB in the late afternoon of March 10th, 2016. He had lured her saying he would give her lab coat back.
As they met, Vinícius threatened to commit suicide. Louise grew worried and made efforts to hug him as she said she would miss him. But her gesture of affection was not well seen by Vinícius. “That was a lie, she had ignored me for a long time,” he later said. He put Louise in a chokehold and suffocated her with a cloth moistened with chloroform. Once she fell unconscious, he tied her to a chair and she was forced to swallow 200ml of chloroform. He put a bag over her head after her nose began to bleed as a result of the chloroform.
At that point, Vinícius already knew that Louise was dead. He then locked the laboratory door, borrowed her car, and went on a ride nearby. An hour later, he returned to the laboratory after discovering a bush area situated near the university. He then undressed Louise to fulfill his desire to “see her one last time,” in his own words, and considered sexually abusing her, but decided to dress her in her underwear instead. Her clothes wouldn't be found.
Vinícius wrapped an inflatable mattress around Louise’s body and put it in the backseat of her car. He drove back to the bush area, dumped her, and set fire to her face and genitals. Vinícius then drove back to the university and took a bus home, leaving Louise’s car in the parking lot.
The trial
Vinícius Neres called the police and turned himself in the next morning. He led officers to the place where he had dumped the body and callously confessed details of the crime. According to him, his true intention wasn’t to murder Louise, but to commit suicide by drinking chloroform. Louise was allegedly his best friend and the only person with whom he had imagined a future together. They allegedly dated from April to December 2015. Nevertheless, when Louise started to ignore him after their breakup, he grew enraged and couldn’t overcome the fact they wouldn’t be getting together again. Vinícius was indicted for aggravated murder and concealment of a human corpse.
Louise’s murder trial took place on April 3, 2017. Vinícius’ defense attorney argued that he is not a cold-blooded person, but acted irrationally in a situation in which he found himself without emotional support from the person he loved, Louise. He admitted to acting impulsively after Louise hugged him “coldly.”
The prosecution stated that Vinícius had premeditated the crime and lured Louise to the laboratory solely to kill her. According to a teacher, the defendant had asked the laboratory keys a week before the murder stating he would make an experiment with photosensitive materials in which he would have to cover the windows. He had also warned classmates not to enter the lab on March 10th between 8 and 9 pm. The prosecutors didn’t believe he had suicidal thoughts and questioned:
“If he intended to kill himself, why didn’t he? What were two liters of alcohol for? To set fire to himself?”
Vinícius Neres was first sentenced to 25 years in prison, but it was later reduced to 23 years and 10 days because he was a first offender, pleaded guilty, and was younger than 21 at the time of the murder.
