Brazilian boyfriend admits cutting up British girl’s body

A 17-year-old British girl whose dismembered body was discovered in a suitcase in central Brazil was identified Thursday and her Brazilian boyfriend arrested for her murder, authorities said.

The British embassy in Brazil named the teenager as Cara Marie Burke, and said it was in contact with her family in London.

Police found the dismembered torso of the body in a suitcase close to a river, Major Claudio de Oliveira Silva of Goiania’s elite police squad told AFP.

The girl’s 20-year-old boyfriend, Mohamed D’Ali Carvalho dos Santos, confessed to murdering her last weekend, police said.

According to officers, Carvalho dos Santos killed Burke to prevent her telling his family, who also lived in London, that he used drugs.

His mobile telephone allegedly contained images of the girl when she arrived in Brazil by plane, and then later pictures of her cut-up body.

One image showed Burke’s body with her decapitated head placed on top, Oliveira Silva said.

The secretariat for public security in Goias state said Carvalho dos Santos and Burke were believed to have been living together in Goiania for several months.

“The crime has signs of premeditation: Mohamed Ali called Cara to his apartment, put the music on high volume and killed her with knife blows.

He then took her body to the bathroom and then he went off to a party,” it said.

“It was only the following day he dismembered the girl’s body. He took various photos of the chopped-up body with his cellphone’s camera, including photos like those of the Taliban, where the decapitated head is placed on top of the body,” it said.

Burke’s family in Britain was said to have recognized the victim from television images broadcast late Wednesday that showed the girl’s trunk found in the suitcase.

They recognized a tattoo on the body, the secretariat said.

Carvalho dos Santos allegedly told police he put the arms, legs and head of the girl in a separate bag that he threw in the river in a different location.

Authorities on Thursday were conducting a search for that bag.

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