A man accused of strangling a woman to death with a shoelace was caught after two tourists photographed him.
Catarina Kasten left her home around 7 am on Friday (21 Nov) for a swimming class but never arrived.
Her partner alerted police when she failed to return.
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Around 1 p.m., her body – naked and showing signs of violence – was discovered by tourists in a remote section of the well-known Matadeiro trail in Florianópolis, Brazil.
The suspect was arrested the same day, partly thanks to two other tourists who had spotted him looking into the forest.
Finding his behaviour suspicious, the women photographed him and later handed the images to the police.
Giovane Corrêa Mayer was arrested on Friday night and reportedly confessed to sexually assaulting Catarina, 31, and strangling her with a shoelace.
Forensic experts have confirmed she died from asphyxiation, as reported by Need To Know.
Originally from Viamão, Mayer, 21, has lived in Florianópolis with his family since 2019 and was known to frequent the trail.
He told police he had been returning from a party where he had consumed alcohol at the time of the attack.
Mayer remains in custody and will also be investigated for allegedly raping a 69-year-old woman in her home in 2022.
At the time, aged 17, he worked at the woman’s house as a gardening assistant.
He claimed to the police that he knew nothing about the crime, and the victim was unable to identify her attacker.
The case was previously archived due to a lack of evidence.
Catarina worked as an English teacher and was pursuing a postgraduate degree in Linguistic and Literary Studies at the Federal University of Santa Catarina.
She had planned to go on to do a PhD.
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