She embraced life, but her death was marked by horror.
Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas, the 21-year-old Brazilian woman killed in a failed rope-jumping stunt on Saturday, has now been laid to rest in a public grave in the Sao Paulo area.
The Daily Mail can reveal that Freitas was buried in a city-owned plot in Jandira, the working-class suburb where she lived. Such graves are used on a rotating basis for families who are often unable to afford a private burial site.
She was buried on Sunday in a space that had only recently been cleared following the removal of another person’s remains.
Under local arrangements, her grieving family will have four years before they are required to exhume her body and secure another final resting place.
Freitas was taken to the municipal cemetery a day after the fatal accident, in which she was thrown from a 130-foot abandoned bridge in an “airplane-style” jump without being connected to a rope.
Four large floral bouquets lie on the mound of freshly-dug and richly-hued red earth covering her, which is surrounded by a well-worn tiled frame.
Loosely translated, a message on one reads: ‘The memory of your smile will remain in our memory’. Another says: ‘Your family misses you.’
Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas, 21, plunged from the forbidding concrete structure in Sao Paulo state on Saturday without a bungee rope
Under local rules, her family will have just four years before her remains must be exhumed to make room for another burial
The plot lies in the well-tended five-acre hillside cemetery shaded by rows of pine trees and overlooking a crowded and ramshackle mixture of homes and bustling streets.
A worker there who saw the funeral said: ‘There were a lot of people. What happened to that girl is so sad.
‘Her grave is one of those owned by the city that is used for different bodies. Each one has four years before the body must be removed and placed somewhere else to free it up for another burial.’
The Daily Mail has confirmed that is the practice at the cemetery and others throughout Sao Paulo because space is so limited.
Exhumed remains are typically transferred to a public ossuary – a chest or small vault.
Bodies buried in one of the many private plots at the officially named Cemiterio Municipal de Jandira remain untouched.
Members of Rodrigues de Freitas’s family have so far not spoken publicly about the tragedy, which happened on the menacing Ponte do Esqueleto (Skeleton Bridge) outside Limeira, 100 miles northwest of Sao Paulo.
However mother Valdenia has paid tribute to her daughter in a heart-rending Instagram post that read: ‘My beloved daughter, today alone I wanted to hug you more than a thousand times.’
A message on the ribbon loosely translated reads: ‘Your family misses you’
The modest burial plot at Velorio Municpal De Jandira is one of hundreds operated by the city on a rotational basis because of limited cemetery space
Rodrigues de Freitas had apparently asked to be launched ‘airplane style’ from the bridge, with a horrifying video showing the moment two of three instructors hoisted her above their shoulders
In another she wrote: ‘That damn rope took you away from me forever.’
Rodrigues de Freitas was among a large group of thrill seekers on Saturday putting their lives in the hands of some of the unregulated rope and bungee jump companies who set up shop on the bridge for years.
She paid $56 for the experience. But the group handling her pendulum-style rope jump failed to attach a cord to her harness.
A horrifying video shows two men hoisting her above their shoulders as she spreads her arms and is tossed over the side of the bridge. A third man looks on in the viral footage.
Slightly less than three seconds later her smashed body lay on the ground while the rope meant to catch her remained coiled on the bridge.
Miraculously, she was still breathing for a short while before dying at the scene.
A group called Entre Cordas was running the event on Saturday, while video footage also showed operatives wearing t-shirts with the branding Ih Voei.
Luis Felipe Feliciano Egoroff, 32, Maicon Fernandes Cintra, 42 and 27-year-old Vitor de Freitas Goncalves have been charged with homicide with eventual intent. It means they did not intend to kill, but are accused of a dangerous act that carried a fatal risk.
Local officials are moving to destroy the notorious structure once and for all, with demolition work beginning in the area early Wednesday morning
Heavy machinery moved in on Wednesday as authorities began the first phase of securing the Ponte do Esqueleto bridge ahead of its planned demolition following the fatal rope jump
An aerial view of the abandoned bridge that is a 130 foot drop to the ground
Now the bridge is to be blown up to prevent further tragedies, as exclusively revealed by the Daily Mail.
Preliminary work started early Wednesday with heavy earth moving equipment blocking off entrances after officials from Sao Paulo state signed paperwork for its destruction.
The decision was taken after Rodrigues de Freitas’s devastated uncle Luis demanded action in a text to a local politician who has campaigned for years against rogue bungee companies using the bridge.
The relative was forced to identify hie niece’s body. He wrote to councilor Bruna Magalhaes: ‘We’re recovering our strength as best we can.’ He added he was spreading ‘the word about the bridge… so that it gets demolished as soon as possible’.
Magalhaes told the Daily Mail in front of a crew securing the site: ‘This will be done in three phases. The first is today as the earth movers block it off and stopping anyone gaining access.
‘Next, walls will be built to secure the barrier. Then the bridge will be blown up. I don’t know exactly when because that will take a lot of planning due to its size. But hopefully this year.’
The bridge has been the wild west of bungee jumping for this southwestern corner of Brazil for years – plus a notorious suicide spot.
On hearing of Saturday’s tragedy, Magalhaes immediately went to a police station to physically confront the men accused of killing Rodrigues de Freitas – as revealed in exclusive Daily Mail video.
Two thin strips of faded and rough cloth crudely fixed to the low parapet in an apparent attempt to stop ropes chafing and breaking as they go over the side
A flimsy hook sis crewed into the concrete, with a piece of wire looped through it to hold a rope
She then went to the scene and made a selfie video with the young woman’s body draped where she fell in the background.
Magalhaes raged about being ignored over the danger, saying in the video obtained by the Daily Mail: ‘I was called crazy. Look at the situation here.
‘This young lady here, to me, was a homicide. They threw this lady without a rope. This case is not going to be unpunished, these people will go to jail.’
For whatever reason, Magalhaes said Rodrigues de Freitas’s body was not removed until 2pm.
In her office on Tuesday, she said: ‘I’ve been saying for many years we have to stop this. These groups are totally unregulated.
‘What has now happened has proved my point but made me sad and angry.’
Startling interrogation footage reveals Feliciano Egoroff, who carried Rodrigues de Freitas at the front, telling cops he and Fernandes Cintra were responsible for attaching the rope.
‘It’s him or me who does that,’ he said in the clip, reported by EPTV.
Three men, Luis Felipe Feliciano Egoroff, 32, Vitor de Freitas Gonçalves, 27, and Maicon Fernandes Cintra, 42, were arrested for homicide with eventual intent
Speaking to the Daily Mail from her office on Tuesday, local councilor Bruna Magalhaes said for years she had been urging against the dangerous rope jumping activity but her warnings fell on deaf ears
But then Feliciano Egoroff repeatedly insisted he could not recall other details of what happened in the lead up to the tragedy.
‘I went to the front first,’ he said. ‘After that it erased from my mind. I can’t remember.
Fernandes Cintra said he had been the instructor at the young woman’s feet. ‘In the procedure, sometimes I’m the one who places the rope, sometimes it’s Felipe,’ he said.
It was difficult to understand how the mistake leading to the tragedy happened, he added.
‘It’s us three on the job. I can’t understand at what moment I didn’t see the rope,’ he said. ‘I simply cannot understand.’
According to a police report seen by the Daily Mail, Rodrigues de Freitas was given a GoPro camera to hold and record her descent.
But it is understood the camera, which could hold further clues to the horror, has mysteriously vanished.
Asked where it was, de Freitas Goncalves told police: ‘Right, yeah, we don’t know’.
Rodrigues de Freitas’s very final moments were relived by off-duty nurse Rayza Dias, who told Brazilian TV she rushed down to help when she witnessed the horror.
Dias said the young woman was breathing heavily and still had a weak pulse when she began battling to save her life.
One adventurer who jumped from the same bridge that day has claimed ‘standards’ slipped as organizers tried to clear a huge backlog of jumpers.
A man, identified only as Emanuel, told Brazilian influencer Diego Schueng: ‘It had rained, there were delays and there were many people waiting to jump.
‘In my perception as a participant, the organization left a lot to be desired.’
