- We’re not sure how we would’ve handled this morbid incident if we were bankers.
A while back, we reported on two women who took a dead man to a bank in an attempt to withdraw money from his account. That was such an unusual story, we didn’t think we’d run into another one like it.
Yet, here we are.
A Brazilian woman has been arrested for a bizarre and macabre stunt she pulled at a local bank. When Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes arrived at the branch, the staff grew concerned about whether the old man with her was feeling alright.
The man was Vieira’s uncle, Paulo Roberto Braga. And he wasn’t feeling alright — or anything else for that matter.
The 68-year-old was dead.
Vieira nonetheless behaved as if her uncle was still alive, talking to him and assisting him to move. It was all so she could use his lifeless hand to sign off on a loan for a whopping $3,240.
The show wasn’t very convincing, however, and the bank called the cops. Vieira has now been arrested and is awaiting trial.
‘That’s Just What He’s Like’
The work day had begun normally for the staff at an Itaú Unibanco branch in Rio de Janeiro’s Bangu neighborhood. They were doing your usual bank stuff — helping people make deposits and withdrawals, reviewing loan applications, and so on.
Things took a weird and, frankly, creepy turn when a woman walked in. It was Vieira and she was pushing a wheelchair with an older gentleman in it.
In itself, there wasn’t anything weird about that. But something about the man looked off, and very much so.
“I don’t think he’s well. He doesn’t look well at all,” one staff member recalled remarking according to The Guardian.
The man in the wheelchair appeared very lethargic and… Well, limp. Yet, Vieira kept talking to him, asking whether he could hear and understand her.
When the duo was called to counter, the woman informed the attending that the man was her elderly uncle. She explained that she was his caregiver and was there to help him secure a loan for 17,000 reais (roughly $3,240).
As she talked, the man himself sat motionless in the wheelchair. Whenever Vieira propped his head up, it would flop to the side a moment later.
By this point, the bank staff had grown extremely suspicious. They called the police and one staff member began to film the events for evidence.
We won’t link the video because it’s honestly incredibly uncomfortable to watch. It shows Vieira instructing her uncle to sign the loan papers, trying to place a pen in his limp hand.
At one point, a staff member asks Vieira about her uncle’s pallid appearance and lifeless demeanor.
“That’s just what he’s like,” Vieira replies.
Obviously Deceased
Indeed, that’s what Mr. Braga was like because he was no longer counted among the living. The police arrived at the bank with a doctor, who checked on the old man’s condition.
The medical professional declared that Braga was dead — and had been for at least a couple of hours.
In hindsight, it was quite obvious that the man had deceased. He had no pulse, wasn’t breathing, and his corpse was entering livor mortis (the state where circulation stops and gravity pulls the blood into the lower extremities).
That was enough for the cops. They arrested Vieira and got to work investigating the case.
Vieira’s story wasn’t completely bogus. The police have discovered that she is indeed related to Braga, but that’s where the truth likely ends.
Vieira’s lawyer argues that Braga was alive when he entered the bank and Vieira wasn’t aware he had passed on. That said, the state of his corpse at the counter would indicate otherwise.
The investigation is still ongoing as the police try to understand how exactly Braga died. Meanwhile, Vieira is awaiting charges. Under Brazilian law, some things she could be charged with include fraud, embezzlement, and — unsurprisingly — desecration of a corpse.
All this for three grand.