A neurologist has been arrested for allegedly ordering the murder of a pharmacist so she could take custody of the woman’s daughter.
Claudia Soares Alves was detained on Wednesday (5 Nov) on suspicion of orchestrating the killing of Renata Bocatto Derani.
The 42-year-old knew Renata’s daughter because both women had been married – at different times – to the girl’s father.
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Police chief Eduardo Leal told local media that Alves “began dictating how the child should dress and behave.”
He alleged she even filed criminal complaints against the mother, claiming she might be abusing the child.
“She made false police reports in an attempt to have the mother lose custody so she could take over as the girl’s parent,” he said.
The father met Alves shortly after separating from Renata.
They married within two months, but split just two months later over her obsessive and disturbing behaviour.
Once Renata realised how dangerous Alves seemed, she banned her daughter from seeing her father when he was with the new wife, it is said.
“He realised she was unstable and wanted a divorce,” the cop said.
“He was afraid of being killed and would sometimes hide a knife out of fear of her.”
Police say Alves enlisted the help of a neighbour and his son to carry out the killing in Uberlândia – a city roughly halfway between Brasília and São Paulo.
The pair were arrested on Wednesday (5 Nov) and police are now investigating whether they were paid, as reported by Need To Know.
Alves, a former lecturer at the Federal University of Uberlândia, was already facing serious charges.
In 2024, she was arrested after kidnapping a newborn from a local maternity ward – the baby was found the next day.
She allegedly used fake documents to try to register the infant as her own. Released on bail, she was later dismissed from the university.
She is also accused of identity fraud and human trafficking over the case.
According to police, Alves was obsessed with becoming the mother of a girl, despite already having a son.
She reportedly underwent fertility treatments without success, then turned to illegal adoptions using forged papers, and even offered money to buy a newborn.
When officers arrested her in Itumbiara, they found a pink-painted room filled with children’s clothes, a cot, and a lifelike baby doll.
Renata, 38, was shot dead on 7 November 2020 as she arrived for work.
She was hit at least five times – in the chest, neck, shoulders and buttocks – after begging for her life.
The gunman left behind a letter full of insults aimed at the victim.
Police believe Alves plotted the murder in an attempt to win back her ex and gain custody of the girl, who was nine at the time.
Bizarrely, during her forensic medical examination, Alves appeared calm and showed no remorse – even breaking into “Take On Me” by A-ha.
“She hummed the tune at first, but then started singing part of the lyrics,” Leal revealed yesterday (6 Nov).
The police chief summed it up: “She had this fantasy of a perfect family – that’s why she wanted the pharmacist’s husband and daughter.”
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