Add The New York Post on Google Three bungee-jumping instructors have been charged with the death of a young student who was thrown off a 130-foot bridge without a rope attached — as mystery swirls over a handheld camera she was carrying during her horrific final moments.
In total, six people have been taken into custody and questioned about the death of Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas, 21, in Limeira, near Sao Paulo, on Saturday, O Globo reported.
Of them, three instructors — Luis Felipe Feliciano Egoroff, 32, Vitor de Freitas Goncalves, 27, and Maicon Fernandes Cintra, 42 — were charged with homicide, the outlet said.
They are understood to be the three seen in a now-viral video as they lifted up the young student to launch her off the 130-foot “Skeleton Bridge” — with her plummetting to her death as the safety rope was then seen lying unused on the platform.
Two of the instructors fled the scene once they realized what had happened to de Freitas as her horrified fiancé watched on.
They were then tracked down by a military helicopter to a nearby wooded area, the repot said.
Two of the primary suspects said they had a “blackout” and didn’t remember attaching the ropes, the deputy responsible, Andréa Dantas Levy, told O Globo.
“They said they can’t remember where and when the fault occurred, who would have to have put it, and didn’t. The third, who held his legs, said he was only called in to help with the throw,” Levy said.
Three others, who were in a tent next to the jump-site handing bracelets to customers, were later released.
Before she was hurled to her death, de Freitas was seen carrying a 360-degree camera, which the unlicensed bungee jumping company provided for an extra $30 on top of the $36 for the jump.
That camera was not located at the base of the bridge, according to Brazilian media.
All three primary suspects were placed in pre-trial detention at a court hearing Sunday, on the grounds that they had tried to escape, and that “their freedom could lead to the repetition of equally dangerous conduct,” according to Judge Paulo Henrique Stahlberg Natal.
No information was given on their next court date.
If found guilty, they face between 6 and 30 years in prison.
De Freitas, whose funeral was held Sunday, had shared an Instagram post moments before jumping, asking, “Who was the crazy one who let me come jump off a bridge?”
Skeleton Bridge, erected 30 years ago for a now-defunct railway line, gets its name because it was never completed and has become a site for extreme sports enthusiasts.
