Murder of Marcos Matsunaga

Elize Matsunaga

Elize Araújo Giacomini (known at the time of the crime as Elize Araújo Kitano Matsunaga; Chopinzinho, November 29, 1981), who confessed to the crime, was born into a poor family in a town of just over 20,000 inhabitants in the interior of Paraná.^[4] Raised by her single mother, who worked as a domestic worker, Elize spent her childhood in the town and attended public schools, where she was regarded as a good student and had no behavioral problems. At the age of 18, she moved to Curitiba, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) from her hometown, to enroll in a nursing technician course and began working at a hospital. Shortly afterward, she moved to the city of São Paulo, where she became a prostitute, offering her services through a dating website. It was in this way that Elize met Marcos Kitano while he was still married.^[5] Elize holds a bachelor's degree in law.

Marcos Matsunaga

Marcos Kitano Matsunaga (São Paulo, October 1, 1970 – São Paulo, May 20, 2012), the victim of the crime, spent his childhood in the Parque Continental neighborhood and attended some of the region's most prestigious schools, graduating from Colégio Santa Cruz in 1988. He later studied business administration at the FGV. His family inherited the food company Yoki (Brazilian food company) [pt], founded in the 1960s by his grandfather, Yoshizo Kitano. Control of the company was passed on to Marcos after he completed his studies. Several years later, while already married, he met Elize through a dating website.^[5]

Meeting and arguments

Marcos met Elize in 2004 through a dating website where she advertised herself as a prostitute. She reportedly caught the attention of the Yoki chief executive, who, despite being married, began meeting with her. Elize remained the executive's mistress for three years without Marcos's wife suspecting the affair. He eventually separated from his wife and married Elize in October 2009. Their wedding, attended by around 300 guests, included both a civil and a religious ceremony at the Anglican Church. According to statements from relatives and acquaintances to investigators, the couple had a harmonious relationship and rarely argued until mid-2010. Their relationship became strained when Elize began suspecting that Marcos was being unfaithful. According to former employees of the couple's apartment, arguments became frequent from that point onward. In one account, an employee stated that Elize forced Marcos to dismiss a secretary after suspecting they were having an affair. Some time later, Elize found messages exchanged between Marcos and another woman, further strengthening her suspicions. At the end of 2010, Elize became pregnant, and after the birth of their daughter, the arguments subsided. In the months leading up to the crime, however, she again questioned her husband's fidelity, complaining about Marcos's emotional distance and the deterioration of their relationship.^[5]

Discovery of the affair

In May 2012, Elize hired a private investigator to determine whether Marcos was cheating on her after discovering emails exchanged with an escort from the Escorts Vogue website, where Elize herself had advertised her services before marrying Matsunaga. Elize later confirmed through other women from the website that her husband continued to meet escorts. During this period, she traveled to her hometown in Paraná while receiving updates from the investigator. On the night of her departure, May 17, 2012, Marcos met his lover at the Mercure Hotel in Vila Olímpia, São Paulo. The two reportedly had dinner together at the Alucci Alucci restaurant before returning to the hotel. The investigator photographed the meeting and sent the images to Elize, who returned to São Paulo on May 19, when she committed the crime.^[5] In the weeks preceding the murder, the couple reportedly spied on each other. Marcos accused Elize of returning to prostitution and maintaining another lover with his money after discovering fake profiles she allegedly used on another escort website under the names Juliana and Marielly.^[6]

Sport hunting

Elize and Marcos held registration certificates issued by the Brazilian Army allowing them to collect firearms as well as practice sport shooting and hunting. In other words, they were registered as CACs (Collectors, Shooters and Hunters),^[7] a category that grants the legal right to possess firearms.^[8] Photographs of the couple showed them participating in hunting trips. In one image, Elize and Marcos posed smiling beside a dead animal. In a television report, Elize's hairdresser stated that she enjoyed displaying her hunting trophies—the heads of dead animals—on the walls of their home.^[9]

Pretrial detention

After Marcos Kitano's remains were discovered and identified, Elize confessed to the crime. She was arrested by the São Paulo police on June 4, 2012. The following day, her attorney requested the revocation of her temporary detention, but the request was denied by the judge of the Criminal Court of Cotia.^[13] Her temporary detention was due to expire on June 21; however, the Public Prosecutor's Office requested that Elize remain in preventive detention until trial. Prosecutor José Carlos Cosenzo stated that her case "strictly met the requirements for preventive detention".^[14]

The couple's daughter

At the time of the crime, the Matsunagas' daughter was one year old. She was initially placed in the temporary custody of Elize's sister.^[15] According to both families, a legal dispute over custody of the child, who had lost her father and whose mother was in custody, was ruled out. Elize's family, through its attorney, stated that it did not intend to seek custody, while Marcos's family also considered a custody dispute unnecessary. Her daughter, Helena, is now a teenager living with her paternal grandparents (the Matsunaga family), who maintain a strict no-contact policy preventing Elize from seeing or speaking to her.r.^[16]

Conviction

The trial began at 11:16 a.m. on November 22, 2016, at the Barra Funda Courthouse in São Paulo and lasted until December 2. Nineteen witnesses testified before the jury. A relief nanny, the first witness to testify, stated that her mother, who also worked as a nanny for the family, had told her that Elize purchased an electric saw on the day before Marcos Matsunaga's death. Elize's defense argued that the tool had not been used in the dismemberment.^[17]

One of the longest criminal trials in the history of the São Paulo judiciary, lasting seven days, concluded on December 5, 2016, when the jury found Elize Matsunaga guilty and sentenced her to 19 years, 11 months, and one day in prison under a closed regime for the murder, destruction, and concealment of her husband's body.^[18] She served the final portion of her sentence in the women's wing of the Tremembé Penitentiary, in Tremembé, São Paulo, alongside other notorious convicted murderers such as Suzane von Richthofen and Anna Carolina Jatobá.^[19]

On December 4, 2016, one day before the trial concluded, Elize stated that she "was not herself" on the day of the crime when she shot Marcos and expressed remorse for having done so.^[20]

Sentence reduction and parole

On March 22, 2019, the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) reduced Elize's sentence to 16 years and 3 months, taking into account her confession to the crime.^[21]

In 2022, after serving ten years of her sentence, Elize Matsunaga was granted parole. She later worked as a ride-hailing driver in the interior of São Paulo.^[22]