How 6 Leaked Tapes Exposed the Darkest Mystery in a Nation’s History

In 1992, the small seaside town of Guaratuba in southern Brazil was shaken to its core by the disappearance and murder of a six-year-old boy named Evandro Ramos Caetano. What began as a local tragedy soon spiraled into one of the darkest, most controversial, and most enduring mysteries in Brazilian history. For decades, the case was defined by rumors of witchcraft, political intrigue, and satanic rituals. Yet it was not until six secret interrogation tapes surfaced years later that the true horror was finally revealed.

Those tapes didn’t expose witches or black magic—they exposed something far more disturbing: a justice system poisoned by torture, corruption, and fear.

The Disappearance That Started It All

On April 6, 1992, Evandro left his school to make the short walk home, less than 150 meters away. His mother had asked him to fetch a snack and one of his toys. He had walked that route countless times, but this time, he never returned.

At first, his family thought he might have stopped at a cousin’s house or been distracted by friends. But as hours passed, panic set in. Neighbors, friends, and eventually the police joined the search. After five agonizing days, a worker discovered his body on the outskirts of town.

The condition of the body was shocking. Evandro’s throat had been cut, parts of his body mutilated, and vital organs removed. To the townspeople, it looked like something ripped out of a nightmare. Local newspapers quickly branded it “The Witches of Guaratuba”, planting the seeds of hysteria that would soon engulf the nation.

A Small Town Caught in Fear and Suspicion

Guaratuba in the early 1990s was no tourist hub. It was a modest community of about 50,000 people where religion and superstition played powerful roles in daily life. At the national level, Brazil had only recently emerged from dictatorship, and trust in police and courts was at an all-time low. Against this backdrop, fear spread like wildfire.

Within days of the discovery, authorities arrested seven suspects. Among them were Célia Abagge and her daughter Beatriz Abagge, relatives of the mayor, along with others allegedly tied to Afro-Brazilian religious groups. Police claimed the suspects had killed Evandro in a ritual sacrifice to gain prosperity and political influence.

To a public already primed to fear satanic cults, the theory fit perfectly. Evangelical churches warned of black magic, tabloids ran lurid headlines, and the narrative of witches and rituals became accepted fact.

Confessions Under the Shadow of Torture

The turning point came when police announced they had obtained confessions from the suspects. According to official accounts, they admitted to abducting and killing the boy in a ritualistic ceremony.

These confessions quickly became the backbone of the case. In 1998, three men were convicted and sentenced to more than 20 years in prison. In 2003, Célia and Beatriz Abagge were also convicted, spending years behind bars before winning appeals.

But the trials never felt solid. Cases collapsed, retrials followed, and verdicts shifted back and forth. Even then, whispers lingered that something about those confessions didn’t add up.

The Leaked Tapes That Changed Everything

The truth finally emerged decades later, when six long-hidden interrogation tapes leaked to the public. For the first time, Brazilians could hear the raw recordings of how those confessions were obtained.

What the tapes revealed was chilling—not ritualistic chants, but the sounds of torture. Suspects screamed in pain, cried, and begged for mercy as police threatened them, fed them details, and coerced them into repeating the official story. The so-called confessions were not voluntary statements but survival tactics, extracted under brutal conditions.

In 2018, journalist Ivan Mizanzuk brought the case back into the spotlight with his acclaimed podcast Projeto Humanos: O Caso Evandro. By sharing the tapes, court documents, and autopsy reports, the podcast reignited national debate. Millions listened, forums exploded with theories, and social media buzzed with discussions. For the first time, ordinary citizens—not just politicians or police—were piecing the case together.

Collapse of the Legal Narrative

The leaked tapes destroyed the credibility of the original investigation. Courts were forced to admit that torture had tainted the entire process. By 2011, the Paraná state court recognized that the convictions could not stand. In 2016, Brazil’s Supreme Court confirmed the case was beyond repair.

But by then, the damage had already been done. Some suspects had spent years in prison. Their reputations were destroyed forever, branded as “witches” and “child killers” in a small town where gossip never died. Meanwhile, Evandro’s family endured decades of pain without closure, trapped between false confessions and unanswered questions.

Theories That Still Haunt the Case

With the ritual sacrifice theory discredited, the question remains: who killed Evandro Ramos Caetano? Several theories persist:

The Ritual Theory (Discredited) – Once the dominant narrative, it now appears to have been a convenient story fed to a frightened public. Without credible evidence, it holds little weight today.
The Cover-Up Theory – Some argue Evandro’s death may have been accidental or unrelated to rituals, but authorities orchestrated a cover-up to protect powerful figures. Selecting scapegoats tied to politics or unpopular religions could have been a way to “solve” the case quickly.
Police Involvement – Others suspect deeper police corruption, pointing to missing evidence, inconsistent reports, and the brutality of the torture itself.
The Mystery Stranger – The simplest but most haunting theory suggests the boy was killed by someone never identified, possibly a passerby or local unconnected to politics or rituals.

Each theory has gaps, but together they highlight the chilling reality: decades later, the real killer may still be unknown.

The Human Cost

Behind the headlines and hysteria lies the most heartbreaking truth: a six-year-old boy lost his life. Evandro’s family not only lost him but also endured 30 years of legal battles, rumors, and uncertainty. Families of the accused, even when acquitted, saw their lives destroyed by stigma. And Guaratuba itself carries the scar of a story that turned neighbor against neighbor.

The leaked tapes shifted the narrative from superstition to systemic failure. The darkest mystery in Brazil’s history was not witchcraft but the failure of a justice system that allowed torture, false confessions, and decades of chaos to replace truth.

Conclusion: Lessons from the Case of Evandro

The story of Evandro Ramos Caetano and the leaked interrogation tapes is a cautionary tale for nations worldwide. It shows how fear, superstition, and institutional corruption can combine to produce not justice but tragedy.

Thirty years later, no one has been definitively held accountable for Evandro’s murder. Instead, the tapes revealed that Brazil’s justice system itself was guilty—of torture, of scapegoating, and of leaving a family without answers.

Today, the case remains a haunting reminder: sometimes the darkest mystery isn’t the crime itself but the silence that follows, and the truth buried beneath layers of fear and lies.