Police suspected Ana Cláudia Flor had two motives for the crime; she had allegedly been conducting affairs behind her husband’s back and was alleged to have wanted to inherit her husband’s business and assets
Image: Jam Press)
A widow has been arrested on suspicion of coordinating her husband’s fatal shooting via a videochat on WhatsApp.
Toni da Silva Flor, 38, died after being shot five times outside a gym that he owned in Cuiabá, Brazil, on August 11 last year.
His wife, Ana Cláudia Flor was arrested last week, a little more than a year after her husband’s death, after police say they uncovered evidence that she ordered the killing on WhatsApp.
Detectives claim the businesswoman agreed to pay three suspects a total of 60,000 Brazilian Real (£8,190) for the hit on Toni.
Her husband was shot after being approached by a man at the gym, who called his name before opening fire.
He managed to flee into the gym and rushed to hospital where medics desperately tried to save him, but he sadly died two days later.
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Image:
Jam Press)
He and Ana Cláudia had been married for 15 years and shared three daughters aged four, eight and nine.
Igor Espinosa, 26, was arrested this week and confessed to being the gunman involved in the shooting, police say.
Investigators say he told them he did so on the orders of Cláudia.
According to a statement from Marcel Oliveira, from the DHPP (Specialized Police Station for Homicide and Personal Protection in Cuiabá), two motives have been identified for the killing.
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Image:
Jam Press)
Oliviera alleged the suspect had been having affairs, which her husband had discovered.
The other motive allegedly identified was Ana Cláudia’s supposed desire to inherit her husband’s business and assets.
Police said that she initially told them he had been mistaken for a Federal Police agent, and organised protests for justice and gave press interviews following Toni’s death.
Ana Cláudia, who had 30,000 followers on Instagram, regularly posted tributes to her slain husband.
On Valentine’s Day she wrote: “We will always be together, one way or another, nothing will separate us.
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Image:
Jam Press)
“Whether in prayers, thoughts, memories, I will always keep it in me, my eternal love!”
Five months after Toni’s death, she said: “In those five months without you, I experienced the greatest pain that human beings can know: the longing. I felt and miss you every day and every night, in every moment”.
Since her arrest, the account has been deleted.
Ana Cláudia has denied any connection with the crime.
