An Invisible Victim: The Eliza Samudio Case

- Bruno called today? - No.

What if he does?

I won't answer. If he calls me, I'll call the police.

He threatened her several times.

Everyone warned her to be afraid of him, to be careful.

Sometimes he would hit her, and she said, "He does it because he loves me."

He threatened me on the phone.

He told me he would beat me up, that he would have me killed.

He said, "You don't know what I'm capable of."

She was chasing after her dreams.

She was... a dreamer.

And her dream was to be a goalkeeper.

She thought she was gonna be a professional goalkeeper.

She wanted it.

- -

Eliza was a big dreamer. She dreamed of leaving the country,

of becoming... someone.

Police are investigating the disappearance of 25-year-old

Eliza Samudio,

ex-girlfriend of Bruno, the goalkeeper for Flamengo.

Bruno was the captain of Flamengo. The team was famous.

They won every game.

Everyone loved him.

Imagine this goalkeeper being accused of a crime.

I pray for her to show up and bring an end to this situation.

Because it's gone on long enough, and it makes me upset.

I think he thought that he was king of the world.

Eliza... She really believed

and trusted... in Bruno.

Eliza did everything right. She sought justice.

She asked everyone for help.

But Eliza was not heard.

"Fear" was a word that didn't exist in her vocabulary.

She fell for the wrong man.

He said, "If you go to the police or anywhere else,

I'll come after you. I'll kill you."

"I'll kill your family and friends because I know where they all live."

"I know every single one of them."

Where's the body? There isn't one. Obituary? None.

Coroner's report? None. She must be alive.

We have a big offer, so attention, Brazil.

One million reais

to the person that is able to bring back here,

Eliza Samudio, alive.

Where's Eliza?

That is the question that millions of people

would like to know the answer to.

THE ELIZA SAMUDIO CASE

MARACANÃ STADIUM

And Flamengo are officially national champions!

Six time champions of Brazil!

Bruno was an exceptional athlete.

Tall, strong, agile...

BRUNO'S FORMER COACH

...with an excellent ability to react quickly. An incredible talent.

He was born to be a goalie.

Bruno makes an absolutely sensational save

at Maracanã Stadium.

At the time...

BRUNO'S DEFENSE LAWYER

...the Flamengo team was known as the Empire of Love.

Vágner Love, Adriano Imperador...

The Flamengo supporters feel very nostalgic for that team.

And you had Bruno as goalkeeper, so the team was unbeatable.

And Flamengo are the champions of Rio!

And he is the greatest champion of all time!

Bruno would catch 600 shots per day.

SPORTS JOURNALIST - EXTRA

He needed a trainer and three assistants to help him.

And we thought, "How does this guy do it?"

AUGUST

We reached out to Bruno for a special edition

of "Have Lunch With Your Idol."

JOURNALIST - EXTRA

It was a column in a magazine for the Extra newspaper.

It came out on Sundays.

The column was a way for people to get to know celebrities.

They wanted Bruno.

On that day, Bruno brought Ingrid with him.

He took pictures with her and showed everyone his fiancée at the time.

BRUNO'S FIANCÉE

They were together for almost a year.

GOALKEEPER SUPERSTAR

And Bruno's relationship with Eliza was happening at the same time.

The problem was that Eliza didn't know about Bruno's relationship.

She didn't know Bruno was engaged.

And from that article,

in which Bruno lunches with his fans and Ingrid,

perhaps that was the starting point for this whole story.

24 YEARS OLD

He was treating me really well,

but then I saw an article in the newspaper about him

that said he had a new girlfriend.

That's when I got mad and decided to come out

and tell the press that I was pregnant.

We met at a barbecue here in Rio

through my friend and some mutual acquaintances we had here.

And then we got together.

Tell us more about it. What was it like?

Earlier you said that he approached you.

Was that it? Were you alone? What happened?

Yeah, I arrived at the party, he was there, shirtless, by the way.

He has an attractive physique.

But I didn't speak to him.

I told my friend that I thought he had a good body.

He was handsome.

I remember my friend said he wanted to meet me, but I didn't do anything.

But both of us were interested, so we got involved.

I began to feel sick from drinking, so I took a test.

Right after, I told Bruno, and he asked me what I wanted to do.

I told him I was gonna keep the baby. We continued seeing each other.

Until 15 days ago everything was fine. It was wonderful.

Then out of the blue he lost his mind.

So what's happening? He's not answering your calls?

I call him and he won't answer, or he tells me to fuck off.

I just don't know what to do.

THIS WOMAN IS CRAZY. I'M NOT THE BABY'S FATHER - BRUNO FLAMENGO GOALKEEPER

He came out and said he wasn't the father.

In fact, he denied having a relationship with her.

He had a committed relationship with Ingrid,

but he wouldn't admit to having a relationship with Eliza Samudio.

And a year after that article came out, Eliza disappeared.

AUGUST

JUNE

The investigation into the disappearance of student Eliza Samudio,

who had a relationship with Flamengo's goalkeeper Bruno,

continues to gain new information.

This Tuesday, the police resumed their search

on the player's ranch in Esmeraldas,

in the metropolitan region of the Capital.

This all started to come to light on Thursday of last week.

LEAD DETECTIVE

We received information that Bruno,

the goalkeeper of the Flamengo soccer team,

had violently assaulted Eliza

at his private ranch.

We were informed of the fact that she was missing

and that the baby, their son, was with the ranch's staff.

PRESIDING JUDGE

I was contacted by two police chiefs at the time,

informing me that they were investigating the disappearance of a child.

And also the disappearance of the child's mother.

And... the request was for a search and seizure

to be carried out at the ranch.

I looked at the request.

I saw that it was well-founded,

and I granted them the search and seizure.

BEGINNING OF INVESTIGATION 2 WEEKS AFTER ELIZA'S DISAPPEARANCE

And so, the saga of this case began.

POLICE

A police officer found a suitcase that had been completely burnt,

and in that suitcase were many items of note.

They found a baby's belongings,

such as diapers and clothes,

and also items that would belong to a woman.

After that discovery,

a full-fledged investigation was launched,

because at the same time, in Rio de Janeiro,

there was also news from Eliza's friends that she had gone missing.

Eliza's father believes that many people connected to the goalkeeper

have important information and can contribute to the investigation.

DATENA SPEAKS LIVE WITH ELIZA SAMUDIO'S FATHER

I ask them, with all my heart as a father to come out of their hiding

and denounce it.

So that this doesn't happen again to anyone else's daughter.

When she vanished...

ELIZA'S FATHER

...a friend of hers

got in touch with me... right away.

She called me and she told me,

"Eliza is going down a path

that we all warned her not to go down."

"And her life is in danger."

THIS DOCUMENTARY'S PRODUCTION TEAM HAD ACCESS TO ELIZA SAMUDIO'S PERSONAL LAPTOP

WHICH WAS SEIZED BY THE POLICE IN 2010.

CONVERSATIONS AND TEXT MESSAGES

THAT HAD NEVER BEEN RELEASED TO THE PUBLIC BEFORE WERE FOUND.

LOVEANDHATE

HE WAS ALWAYS WORRIED ABOUT ME

WE USED TO GO OUT TO DINNER ALL THE TIME, HE USED TO SPOON-FEED ME.

HE NEVER LET ME DRINK ALCOHOL

BECAUSE HE SAID IT WAS BAD FOR THE BABY

HE KEEPS SAYING I WANT FAME, MONEY!

I NEVER WANTED TO GET PREGNANT BECAUSE OF THAT

Tell us a bit about your connection with soccer.

You used to play too? What is that story?

I've played indoor soccer for ten years.

I used to be a goalkeeper.

When I met Eliza, we played on our local soccer team.

She was the goalie, wearing number one. I was number ten, the scorer.

ELIZA'S CHILDHOOD FRIEND

She was a really excellent goalkeeper.

She had all the skills needed to play abroad.

And she was incredibly passionate.