The abandoned house is the biggest cliché, the most obvious allegory in horror films, and this one is no exception. It all started on Christmas Eve 2021, when Folha de São Paulo journalist Chico Felitti was strolling through Ighienopolis, one of the richest neighborhoods in São Paulo. On a street corner, a woman tried to stop city officials from cutting down a tree. According to the lady in an interview with a journalist, “cutting down the tree was a fraudulent scheme of the mayor’s office, since environmental legislation did not allow it.” After that, the two continued to communicate. This may be a normal situation. However, on another day, walking along the same street – past an abandoned house among large and luxurious buildings – the journalist’s attention was attracted by a bright face, “like the moon reflecting the light of street lamps.” . As he approached the ground, Chico noticed that it was the face of the same woman who had spoken to him about the ecological situation and with whom he had already exchanged several phone calls: Marie, as she insisted on being called.
Felitti quickly realized that “something was wrong.” A huge abandoned house in one of the richest areas of Sao Paulo? The woman who lives in it? A face full of ointment? Will neighbors marginalize a woman for being “eccentric”? Would you have mental problems? Was she abandoned by her family? The journalist decided to investigate and did not take long to wait that all paths would lead to one story and a name different from the one he knew: behind this mysterious figure, living in a mansion without sewerage, there are two dogs and tile defects, hides a woman, who has been on the run from the FBI for over 20 years, her real name is Margarida Bonetti, the granddaughter of Barao de Bocaina, who belongs to one of the richest families in São Paulo. Because? For being accused of committing a “heinous crime” in the United States, in the small town of Gaithersburg, where she kept for several years with her husband Rene Bonetti, a domestic servant, in a private prison. Realizing this, the journalist decided to tell his story in the podcast A Mulher da Casa Abandonada, which already has five episodes weekly, and which has become completely viral not only in the country, but also in different parts of the world. The work is considered “a report based on the minutes of a high-profile case of public interest”, and, a half-year investigation, in addition to passing through this area in São Paulo, “travels” around the suburbs of Washington, as well as to a company that manufactures rockets and satellites for NASA. where Marie’s ex-husband currently works.
Investigation “A mansion, a brick house that occupies an entire block (…) In addition to the property, which has over 20 rooms, the abandoned house also has a football field-sized backyard full of avocado trees. This is one of the last building-free lots in the building-dominated area, where a two-bedroom apartment costs two million reais,” begins with Chico Felitti’s description in the first episode, titled “Mulcher.”
As he said, “the spirit of a real estate broker hovers over him”, he asked himself: “How is it that they have not built a building here yet?”. And then the investigation began. In this episode, Chico introduces us to Mari by showing us tapes of the conversations he had with her until she found out he was a journalist. The records also include reports from some neighbors who describe her as a “witch” and confess to having known the true story behind the dilapidated doors for many years and therefore never approached her. Except for one person: Felipe, a gentleman who sweeps the streets of the area and helps the residents with any work. This is the only one in all of Igienopolis who, despite knowing history, never stopped caring about you. “I’m sorry. When I pass, we talk. She loves plants very much, and so do I,” says the worker. In addition, Felipe admits to the journalist that he was the only person who Margarida gave permission to enter the land. he went out to the backyard, which looks abandoned. He asked me to cut down a tree for him. She is very suspicious, but she seems to like me. I let you talk. I’m sorry that I’m such a lonely person, “complained the so-called ” caretaker”, who also warned of the deterioration of the mansion. “There are large holes in the roof. One day I noticed that she stacks umbrellas in piles so that water does not flow through them. During heavy rains, we see how she takes water out of the rooms with a bucket” Felipe also said that one day a woman explained to him that the ointment on his face would be because of a skin problem he had.
Margarida and René Bonetti got married and initially lived together in the same house in Sao Paulo, as revealed in the second episode, A Casa. As an engineer, Bonetti received a job offer in the US and eventually moved with his wife in 1979. Prior to this, since they were from high society, the company that hired him allowed the couple to hire an employee. help with the housework and that’s what happened. An illiterate Brazilian woman who still hides her identity is eventually captured by them, not knowing what nightmare she will live in in the years to come.
crimes According to the Brazilian newspaper O Liberal, Margarida Bonetti and her husband used various punishments on the victim at the time, such as: forced her to sleep in the basement of the house, did not pay her salary, forced to work more than 12 hours a day, beat her when didn’t like something, poured hot water in her face, didn’t let her wash, forced her to wash three cars in the house regularly, locked the refrigerator to prevent her from eating and refused treatment after she took so many tares that she had left broken bones or large wounds. When the crime was solved in 2001 by the couple’s neighbor, who eventually denounced the case and helped the Brazilian avoid conviction for the crime, Margarida returned to Brazil.
In turn, according to Oh Povo, René, a Brazilian who naturalized as an American, “was sentenced to six and a half years in prison in the United States and had to pay compensation in the amount of $100,000 to the US state and $110,000 to the victim.” . .
According to Chico Felitti, in the third edition of the podcast, which he called Uma Rua em Silêncio – from where he went to the US to get more information about the process – the latest information about Ren Bonetti realized that he was working for an American. a technology company that provides services to NASA.
The journalist says that when visiting the city, residents “avoided giving information about the situation”, saying that they “know nothing.” Except for the citizen who even confirmed that she helped this man escape from the house where he was held captive. It was in a town near Gaithersburg that the journalist was able to access the entire process, which is over 300 pages long.
In the fourth episode, Uma Mulher e um Homem Livres, in addition to continuing the investigation of Rene – fifteen years after he was released from prison – the journalist Foglia also decided to find out more about the man who was exploited by Margarida Bonetti, who today lives under the protection of the US government. which allowed him to divulge some parts of the conversation he had with you. For the Brazilian, “the past is in the past” and today she tries to be “a happy woman without thinking about it.” “I’m fine!” says the lady.
But why was Margaret never arrested? According to O Liberal, according to Brazilian law, “the justice system cannot investigate the cases of its citizens in order to bring them to trial in other countries.” In other words, the Brazilian justice system could not place Marie in the hands of the FBI so that she could answer for her crimes in North America. On the other hand, her husband’s case was different as he was naturalized as a US citizen. Despite being wanted by the FBI, moving away from the journalist and not answering her cell phones, Chico says the woman always knew her case was on the podcast and even allowed the journalist to publish the story. In addition, Felitti managed to contact some family members who preferred to stay out of the situation. However, some say that for several years, after returning from the United States, Margarida lived in a mansion with her mother until she died.
After a research paper published on various digital platforms such as Youtube, Spotify or Apple Podcast went viral, Marie’s house has become a kind of “tourist place”. Many people started driving to the place, taking pictures, filming, threatening Margarida, graffiti on the walls, etc. There are even fan-made pages that collect photos and information about his life. For this reason, the journalist explains, “no one else saw the woman.” Margarida Bonetti is believed to have run away, leaving her two bitches behind. The animals were rescued over the weekend by the Brazilian NGO Instituto Luísa Mell.
other cases But this is not an isolated story. The fifth series released by Chico is called “Other, many women” and in it the journalist depicts other famous cases in Brazil. According to Diário Carioca, this case “reveals the tip of the iceberg of the reality that still exists in the country.” Over 19 years, 2,330 women have been rescued in a situation similar to that of a poor domestic worker who once sailed to the United States. “Since 1995, 57,600 people have been rescued from modern slavery in the country. Data provided by the Department of Labor and Social Security’s Inspection Unit for the Eradication of Slave Labor shows that Brazil, not only preserving the legacy of the last country in the West to abolish slavery, continues to practice the practice. daily,” the newspaper writes.
According to a Brazilian newspaper, since 2003 “the state has begun to pay unemployment insurance to rescued people, and thus a more reliable database has been created.” Since then, 2,330 women have been found working in “slave” conditions. “Of these, 61% said they were black, 36% were born in the Northeast, and 56% were illiterate or had less than five years of schooling,” Diário Carioca elaborates.
