A 21-year-old Brazilian woman named Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas tragically died during rope jumping on the morning of June 13, 2026. What was supposed to be an experience of a lifetime took away her life. The horrific incident took place after the staff threw her from the high point without attaching her safety rope. It occurred at Ponte do Esqueleto (Skeleton Bridge), a well-known site for extreme sports located in Limeira, in the interior of São Paulo state.
The video of Maria being thrown without safety gear was widely circulated online, sparking widespread outrage. Amid that, a witness made new accusations against the rope-jumping instructors, claiming they tried to tamper with evidence before being caught by the police.
A witness to the Brazilian woman’s tragic death brought explosive allegations against the rope jumping instructors
A witness, identified as educator, Rafael Goulart told EPTV that he witnessed something eerie right after Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas fell to her death. He claimed to have seen her lying lifeless on the ground and said that the first thing that came to his mind while recalling the tragedy was that the rope jumping crew were allegedly trying to tamper with evidence. He alleged that the instructions removed the GoPro camera attached to Maria’s neck strap. According to the witness, the crew probably tried to “hide evidence” of their wrongdoing. Rafael stated:
“The first scene I remember when I saw the girl on the ground was seeing one of the employees removing the GoPro camera from the neck strap of the body that was already on the ground, either worried about the equipment or wanting to hide evidence.”
Who are the accused in the Brazilian woman’s rope-jumping death case?
Authorities who are investigating the bungee jumping case of Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas tried to keep her identity as well as that of her killers hidden. They did not name any of the individuals; however, Brazilian newspaper O Globo identified the three men charged in Maria’s death as 27-year-old Luis Felipe Feliciano Egoroff, 32-year-old Vitor de Freitas Gonçalves, and 42-year-old Maicon Fernandes Cintra. According to local Brazilian media, a total of six individuals were initially detained for questioning.
Two of those individuals initially fled the scene into a nearby forest but were later located by a police helicopter. O Globo reported that the men who were taken in for questioning were wearing T-shirts from the companies, Entre Cordas and Ih Voei. Their defence lawyer is currently trying to get them a reduced sentence by using the ‘first-time offender’ angle.
Were the rope jumping instructors not authorised to carry out the activity at Skeleton Bridge?
According to the local newspaper, the men guilty of throwing Maria without a safety harness didn’t even have authorisation to carry out rope jumping at the Skeleton Bridge. The reports also claimed that, besides Maria, the group was about to carry out unauthorised rope jumps for more people and that nearly 100 participants were gathered at the scene at the time of the fatal incident. Rafael Gomes dos Santos, the lawyer representing the accused, shared that the lack of authorisation wasn’t a punishable offence.
The defence attorney further stated that similar events had occurred at the site before. Although the instructions carried out the activity without authorisation, they had years of experience, as per Rafael. He further tried to defend the accused, stating that they knew their job and had no history of accidents before Maria’s case, suggesting that the tragedy was totally an accident. Rafael called Maria’s death a “sad fatality” and is currently trying his best to get his clients a reduced sentence.
What are your thoughts on the witness accusing the rope-jumping crew of evidence tampering? Let us know.
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