Rancher João Roberto Bolelli is found dead after Rifaina murder By Luís Henrique Costa
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The body of João Roberto Bolelli, a 62-year-old cattle rancher and suspect in a shooting, was found lifeless on Monday morning in a rural area of Rifaina, in the interior of São Paulo state. He had been on the run and was named by the Civil Police as the gunman who killed digital marketing businesswoman Priscila Lacerda Custodio, 24, on October 27, 2026.
The shooting happened at kilometer 463 of Cândido Portinari Highway (SP-334), at the entrance of a farm owned by the suspect’s family. Priscila, who lived in Perdizes, in the Triângulo Mineiro region of Minas Gerais, had driven about 100 kilometers to return a borrowed pickup truck and end a casual relationship with the rancher. Her brother and a friend went with her.
Shot fired during a dispute over a cell phone
The argument started when the rancher asked for a cell phone he had given to her. Priscila said she would hand it back only if he returned her own personal phone, a condition he refused. During the quarrel, he drew a revolver and shot her in the abdomen.
Priscila was taken to a basic health unit in Rifaina, a public clinic, but she did not survive her wounds. After the shot, the suspect aimed the gun at her brother and drove away in the pickup truck the group had just delivered. “It was very fast, in a fraction of seconds,” said the victim’s brother, Geovane Santana, who watched the attack on the highway.
Police seized the cell phone used by the businesswoman and sent it to the Forensic Science Institute for examination. The Pedregulho court had already issued a preventive detention order, a pretrial arrest without trial, the day after the shooting, when officers began searching for the rancher on the border between São Paulo and Minas Gerais.
See also: Mayara Varela dies after making hand signal for help before shooting in Brazil Federal District
Earlier threats, assault and criminal record
According to the Civil Police, the case is being investigated as femicide, the killing of a woman for reasons tied to her gender. The inquiry is led by police chief Fábio Branquinho, of the Pedregulho police station. Witnesses told investigators the rancher made constant threats, saying she would not be with anyone else if she did not stay with him.
Four days before she was killed, Priscila was physically assaulted by the suspect and had bruises across her body. He had earlier criminal records tied to domestic violence. In December 2021, the Franca court sentenced him to three months and 15 days in an open regime for breaking protective orders against a former partner, a sentence the São Paulo Court of Justice upheld in 2022.
Priscila lived in Perdizes with her boyfriend, Samuel Ramos, and planned to move to Uberlândia, in Minas Gerais. The rancher was also in a legal fight with relatives over the division of property that had dragged on for 15 years in São Paulo courts.
Key dates from the 2018 arrest to the suspect’s death
- June 2018: The suspect was held under a preventive arrest for disobeying protective orders in favor of a former partner.
- December 2021: The Franca court sentenced the rancher to three months and 15 days of detention in an open regime for assault.
- July 2026: The victim and the suspect began a casual relationship, meeting on the border between São Paulo and Minas Gerais.
- October 23, 2026: The victim was physically assaulted and threatened with death by the suspect in Minas Gerais.
- October 27, 2026: Priscila was shot on kilometer 463 of SP-334 while returning the pickup truck.
- October 28, 2026: The Pedregulho court formally ordered the suspect’s preventive arrest after a police request.
- November 2, 2026: The rancher’s body was found by his son-in-law in a wooded area in rural Rifaina.
Body found on a rise near where the pickup was abandoned
The body was spotted by the rancher’s son-in-law on a rise on a rural property, close to where the pickup truck had been abandoned days earlier. Military Police were called to isolate the site and preserve any physical evidence until forensic experts arrived.
The exact cause of death depends on necropsy reports requested by the Scientific Police. Those reports are needed to conclude the ongoing police inquiries, and until they are ready, the cause has not been confirmed.
