Thought to be living in the United States, she killed husband for the money
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Heloísa Gonçalves Duque Soares Ribeiro, 61, known as the Black Widow, was sentenced in absentia Friday to 18 years in prison for the death her second husband, in February 1992. The fugitive was also not present for her trail last month in a downtown Rio de Janeiro courtroom.
According to the Assistant District Attorney handling the case, Interpol believes that the fugitive is living in the United States but they do not have enough information as to her location to facilitate an arrest. The Rio de Janeiro crime tip hotline is offering an $8,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the Black Widow—the largest reward yet offered by the hotline, according to Radio CBN.
The prosecution contended throughout the trail that the woman's motivation for the killing was to inherit her husband's property, which she ultimately did. An attorney representing the victim's estate tried unsuccessfully to prevent the woman from inheriting the property.
An attorney appointed to represent the widow in absentia tried unsuccessfully to prevent the trail, initially scheduled for July, arguing that the alleged crime would have been committed prior to the law allowing trail in absentia—without the defendant present—was passed. The lawyer did successfully win a delay of the trail until this month so that the defendant could be summoned to the pending trail.
The Black Widow had already been sentenced to four years imprisonment for another killing. She has yet to face trail in two other deaths and an attempted murder. Among the victims are two ex-husbands and one ex-boyfriend.
Read also: More Articles from Brazil Dispatch
Brazilian online news source for this article: O Globo
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