Gabriela Muratt, a 13-year-old girl, lived in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Outgoing, intelligent and approximately 1.80 m tall, she excelled at volleyball and had a keen interest in music.
The daughter of an upper-middle class family, she studied at a private school and, encouraged by her parents, began attending a music school, where she took piano lessons with Marcos Maronez Júnior, 31, who was also the owner of the music conservatory.
Forbidden love
Initially, the lessons went on as normal, but over time, the relationship between Gabriela and Marcos went beyond the conventional limits of a teacher-student relationship. They started communicating via text messages and phone calls, which led to an inappropriate closeness, especially considering the age difference between them.
Gabriela then began to withdraw from her friends, dedicating herself almost exclusively to contact with Marcos, which worried her family and close friends.
As the months went by, Gabriela’s obsession with Marcos intensified. In August 2006, she confided in a close friend that she planned to run away with him. The worried friend told Gabriela’s parents, who became desperate and decided to take drastic measures.
They took away her daughter’s cell phone, forbade her to go out alone and interrupted her music lessons. However, Gabriela found ways to communicate with Marcos by borrowing cell phones from schoolmates.
Ready to flee
The parents, realizing the seriousness of the situation, sought therapeutic help, both for their daughter and for themselves. Marcos, for his part, was also in therapy, although the specific reasons for this were unclear. On Friday, November 17, 2006, Gabriela went to school, but something seemed different.
She cried several times during the morning, drawing the attention of teachers and classmates. At one point, she went to the bathroom, where she spent hours locked in. When her mother came to pick her up, Gabriela said goodbye to a friend in an intense way, as if she was saying goodbye forever.
That same day, at around 2pm, Gabriela disappeared. The family searched desperately for her until, at 4pm, her father filed a police report, informing the police that his daughter had probably run away to find Marcos.
Fatal pact
On Sunday, November 19, staff at a motel in Porto Alegre found it strange that a couple who had entered the room on Saturday afternoon had not yet left. When they entered the room, they found Gabriela and Marcos half-naked, covered in blood, each holding a revolver. Both were still alive, but in critical condition.
Gabriela was on top of Marcos, both naked on the bed and in agony from the blood, with a bullet in their heads. They both had notes in their hands saying “Gabriela and Marcos were here”.
Gabriela died before reaching hospital, and Marcos a few hours later. In the motel room, the police found phrases written in chocolate on the walls, such as “together forever”, as well as letters showing that the couple believed they were being misunderstood by society and their families, who did not accept their relationship.
The investigations showed that the two had planned a death pact to be “together in eternity”.
The police initially considered the possibility that Marcos had murdered Gabriela and then committed suicide. However, the most accepted hypothesis is that they both committed suicide together as part of a love pact.
The details revealed that Gabriela and Marcos had met on Friday afternoon and stayed at the motel on Saturday. The fact that Gabriela was tall and appeared to be older made it easier for her to enter the establishment without being asked for any ID.
Before getting involved with Gabriela, Marcos was already separated and had a two-year-old son with his ex-wife, who reported that their relationship deteriorated significantly after Marcos met Gabriela. On social networks, especially Orkut, Marcos’ profile was full of hateful messages after the tragedy.
This case shocked not only Porto Alegre, but the whole of Brazil. Although it happened more than 15 years ago, the brutality and tragic outcome are still striking. Both were buried in the Jardim da Paz cemetery in the capital of Rio Grande do Sul.
