Woman who used dead ‘uncle’ to get bank loan arrived by taxi

Weird But True

By Snejana Farberov

It should have been a dead giveaway.

The Brazilian woman who took her dead uncle into a bank to sign a loan in her name arrived there by taxi — with video even showing the driver helping her move the corpse from his car.

Érika de Souza Vieira Nunes was arrested Tuesday after taking the body of her 68-year-old uncle, Paulo Roberto Braga, into a bank and then moving his hand to sign a key document to get her a $3,400 loan.

Newly emerged video now shows Nunes — who reportedly told cops that she didn’t know her uncle was dead — arriving at the bank by taxi, with her motionless uncle in the front passenger seat next to the rideshare driver.

The footage, which has no sound, shows Nunes placing a wheelchair outside the car door and reaching inside to grab her late uncle.

The driver then helps her pull him out and into the wheelchair, where the uncle slumps with his head tilted to the right.

At one point, a man walks by and does a double-take. He turns around and appears to speak with Nunes while motioning to Braga, but then continues on his way.

Nunes then wheels Braga into an elevator, before another CCTV camera captures her making her away along a hallway.

Another video, taken the day before, showed Nunes bringing the visibly alive Braga to an emergency room.

Nunes insisted she did know her relative was dead when she took him to the bank to sign documents that would have allowed her to take out a $3,400 loan.

Braga’s autopsy found that he died between 11:30 am and 2:30 pm local time Tuesday, with his cause of death being determined as respiratory aspiration of stomach contents and heart failure.

Police Chief Fábio Luis said the way the man’s blood had pooled within his vessels suggests that Braga did not die seated but rather lying down.

Braga’s toxicology tests are still pending.

Nunes is now facing charges of theft by way of fraud and desecration of a corpse.

Her attorney claimed that Nunes suffers from mental health issues and might have experienced a mental breakdown.

“Érika undergoes psychological treatment and takes prescribed medications,” lawyer Ana Carla de Souza Correa said. “I believe she was having a breakdown at that moment because of the medications. She appeared visibly disturbed.”

In a viral video recorded by a bank employee Tuesday and first aired by TV Globo, Brazil’s largest broadcaster, Nunes was seen talking to the dead man and lifting his drooping head.

“Uncle, are you listening? You need to sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, because I can’t sign for you,” Nunes says in the clip, while thrusting a pen between his limp fingers.

“Sign so you don’t give me any more headaches, I can’t take it anymore,” she adds.

When a bank staffer notes that Braga’s color looks off and he appears unwell, Nunes replies. “He is like that. He doesn’t say anything.”