“Mari is not who she says she is.” The story of Margarida Bonetti, the woman from the abandoned house who escaped from the FBI

In Higienópolis, one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in São Paulo, a mysterious figure draws the attention of passers-by. The woman introduces herself as Mari, she lives in an abandoned mansion and covers her face with a layer of white ointment.

“But Mari is not who she says she is.” The discovery was made by the journalist Chico Felitti, from Folha de São Paulo, who decided to tell the story of Margarida Bonetti in the podcast “A Mulher da Casa Abandonada”, which already has five episodes, which are broadcast weekly.

Behind the mysterious figure who lives in a mansion without a sewer, hides a woman who has been on the run from the FBI for more than 20 years. The reason? She is accused of having committed “a heinous crime” in the United States, where she held a domestic worker in illegal prison in Gaithersburg.

Margarida Bonetti and her then-husband, Renê, applied various punishments to the victim, such as forcing her to sleep in the basement of the house, not paying her salary, throwing hot water in her face, or locking the refrigerator to prevent her from eating. , describes the newspaper O Liberal.

In order not to be convicted of the crime, the woman fled to Brazil, a country that does not expatriate national citizens to be tried in other regions of the world. In turn, Renê -a Brazilian naturalized American- was sentenced to six and a half years in prison in the United States and had to pay compensation of US$100,000 to the US State and US$110,000 to the victim, according to Brazilian O. Povo. The latest information about Renê Bonetti is that she worked for an American technology company that provides services to NASA.

The story of “Mari”, the name chosen by the woman to introduce herself to her neighbors, quickly became popular on social networks. Instagram pages have even been created that follow the case and update fans about it.

Curiosity led tourists to visit the abandoned mansion, but since the podcast went viral and became the most listened to on Spotify in Brazil, the woman was never seen again. Margarida Bonetti is believed to have fled, leaving her two dogs behind. The animals were rescued over the weekend by the Brazilian NGO Instituto Luísa Mell and police officer Bruno.