The Elize Matsunaga Case — Murder and Dismemberment in São Paulo

The Case

The Elize Matsunaga case is one of the most widely discussed criminal cases in modern Brazilian history — a homicide involving a fatal shooting, the dismemberment of the victim's body, and a confession that made a jury trial almost inevitable. Elize Matsunaga shot and dismembered her husband, Marcos Kitano Matsunaga, at their apartment in the Vila Leopoldina district of São Paulo in May 2012. Marcos was an executive and heir connected to the Yoki food business group, a household name in Brazil. The case drew intense national media coverage from the moment the body parts were discovered, and it continues to be revisited by journalists, legal scholars, and documentary filmmakers more than a decade later.

The Crime

On the night of May 19–20, 2012, Elize Matsunaga — then 30 years old — fatally shot her husband Marcos inside the apartment the couple shared in Vila Leopoldina, São Paulo. According to her own confession, she used a .380 caliber pistol and shot him in the head at close range. What followed was an act of calculated concealment: Elize dismembered Marcos's body and placed the remains in suitcases, which were then distributed at various locations across São Paulo.

The motive, as it emerged through the investigation and trial, was rooted in a deteriorating marriage. Reports indicated that Elize had discovered that Marcos intended to end the relationship, and tensions between the two had been escalating. The couple had a young daughter together, a fact that would later become the subject of separate legal proceedings regarding custody and guardianship.

Elize had been described in the Brazilian press as a ex-garota de programa — a former sex worker — before she met and married Marcos. Their relationship and the social distance between their backgrounds became a prominent narrative thread in press coverage of the case, though legal proceedings focused strictly on the facts of the crime itself.

The Victim

Marcos Kitano Matsunaga was a business executive and heir associated with the Yoki group, one of Brazil's best-known food companies. He was a figure of considerable social and economic standing in São Paulo, which contributed to the intense public interest the case generated from the outset. Marcos was reported missing before his remains were located, and the discovery of dismembered body parts in suitcases scattered around the city shocked Brazilians and placed the case immediately at the top of the national news agenda.

Beyond his professional profile, Marcos was the father of a young daughter with Elize. The fate and welfare of that child became a separate and painful legal chapter after the conviction, as reported by O Globo in later years.

Investigation

São Paulo police moved quickly after Marcos Matsunaga was reported missing and human remains began to be found. Elize was taken into custody within days of the crime and, crucially, provided a full confession to investigators. That confession became the cornerstone of the prosecution's case, supplemented by extensive forensic and crime scene evidence gathered from the apartment and the locations where the suitcases were found.

The investigation also examined whether any third party had assisted Elize — whether in the killing itself or in the disposal of the body. After years of parallel inquiry, that line of investigation was formally archived in 2018, with authorities concluding that Elize had acted entirely alone.

Throughout the pretrial period, Elize remained in custody. The Superior Court of Justice (STJ) denied a request for her to face proceedings as a free person, confirming her pretrial detention. Forensic evidence from the crime scene and the recovered remains later became the subject of appellate litigation, with defense arguments contesting aspects of the physical evidence presented at trial.

Trial and Verdict

On December 5, 2016, after more than four years of pretrial detention and legal proceedings, Elize Matsunaga was convicted by a São Paulo jury. The sentence handed down was 19 years, 11 months, and 1 day in the regime fechado — the closed, most restrictive regime of the Brazilian prison system. The breakdown of the sentence was 18 years and 9 months for the homicide charge, plus 1 year, 2 months, and 1 day for the destruction and concealment of a corpse.

The trial drew extensive media coverage, with journalists and cameras outside the courthouse and live updates from inside. Elize's defense had argued, among other things, that the crime occurred under circumstances that should mitigate the sentence — claims the jury ultimately rejected in favor of the full charge. Following the jury verdict, appeals were filed, and the sentence was subsequently reduced by a higher court, though the conviction itself was upheld.

The case is frequently discussed in Brazilian legal circles alongside other high-profile intimate partner homicide cases, including Isabella Nardoni Case and Suzane von Richthofen Case, which also involved defendants convicted of killing family members and received comparable levels of national media attention. Legal analysts have pointed to the Elize Matsunaga trial as a reference point in debates about jury decision-making and sentencing in Brazilian courts, similar to discussions prompted by Case of Alexandre Nardoni.

Today

As of 2026, Elize Matsunaga is living in the city of Franca, in the interior of São Paulo state, at the age of 44. She is serving the remainder of her reduced sentence under the open regime — the least restrictive phase of the Brazilian penal progression system, which allows convicts to live outside prison under certain conditions and obligations.

The case has not faded from Brazilian public consciousness. In 2021, Netflix Brazil released Elize Matsunaga: Era Uma Vez Um Crime, a documentary series that revisited the events in detail, including interviews and archival footage, and sparked a new wave of national discussion about the case, the marriage, and the justice system's handling of the proceedings. The series was widely watched and reviewed across Brazil and Portuguese-speaking audiences internationally.

Elize's daughter — whose welfare was a recurring concern throughout and after the legal proceedings — has remained a private figure, with Brazilian media showing restraint in coverage of the child. The broader questions the case raises about domestic violence, class, media treatment of female defendants, and the circumstances that can lead to extreme violence within intimate relationships continue to be debated in Brazilian journalism and academia.