The Tragic End of Renata Miguel: From the Beauty Salon to the Horrors of a Brutal Crime

What seemed to be a simple trip to the beauty salon to get pampered and enhance her appearance ended up being the decisive moment for the end of the life of teenager Renata Miguel da Silva. A crime with no explanations, a devastated family seeking justice, and impunity in the law. The loss of a talented, hardworking, and dedicated young girl is a mark that will be forever etched in the lives of her family and those close to Renata, a young girl of only 15 years.

Who Renata was

Renata was in the prime of her adolescence, a student who participated in rhythmic gymnastics competitions, nurturing the dream of becoming a professional gymnast one day. According to her family, she was a calm and obedient young girl, and her interaction with her parents and siblings was healthy. Renata and her family had lived for a long time in the Jardim Itapeva neighborhood in Mauá, São Paulo, Brazil, but recently, they had managed to buy an apartment in the city center, in Parque São Vicente. The young girl was happy because, with the move, she would finally have a room of her own.

Renata had friends and a boyfriend at the time of the incident. However, in the week following the crime, she was feeling unwell, as if sensing something bad, and in a conversation with her mother, she said she decided to end her relationship, fearing that something bad might happen. Unfortunately, Renata was right, and danger was lurking very close to her.

Renata’s murderers

Near Renata’s new home, there was a beauty salon owned by the couple Rosane Carla dos Santos Silva, 30 years old, and José Nilson da Costa, 38 years old. They seemed to be a quiet couple of hairdressers who simply wanted to have their own salon and establish themselves in that region. However, behind the facade of good professionals, another version of this story was hidden. At this point, Renata and her family did not yet know, but the couple acted as recruiters of minors for prostitution and also abused these young girls.

Renata became aware of the salon through a school friend who introduced her to the space and the owners. She innocently was enchanted by Rosane’s reception and had a haircut, being quite satisfied with the hairdresser’s professionalism.

Up to this point, everything seemed normal, after all, who would suspect a beauty salon, a public and well-frequented space? Time passed, and days later, Renata was going to a Halloween party with her friends and wanted to get ready. She asked her mother for money to get some highlights in her hair because she wanted to change her look. Her mother agreed, and Renata went to the salon of the couple Rosane and José Nilson, never to return home.

Renata’s disappearance

It was November 1, 2013, Friday. Mrs. Angelita Miguel da Silva, Renata’s mother, was working that afternoon, so she asked her daughter to take her younger brother to the salon to watch over him as usual, and she did. According to Angelita’s statement, while Renata was getting her hair done, she sent messages to her mother every hour. She always informed her mother where she was going and with whom she was going out. On that terrible afternoon, it was no different. Renata was very excited about a supposed job offer from the salon owner for a manicurist position and sent a message to her mother telling everything. Rosane allegedly told Renata that she urgently needed a manicurist working in her salon to attract more clients, and as Renata knew how to do nails, she offered the supposed job to her. Initially, Renata would take a test by doing Rosane’s nails, and if she passed, she would have the job.

Angelita did not like this idea; she told her daughter that she was too young and that she should focus only on her studies and gymnastics, which was her dream, instead of working since there was no need for that. The mother also said that on that day, she felt unwell at work with migraine attacks, went to the hospital, and arrived home late, around 7 p.m.

Renata then arrived home with her brother, but she had not finished the highlights in her hair, and she had not taken the test for the manicurist position. Although it was already late at night, Renata needed to return to the salon to finish the hair procedure and take the test requested by the salon owner, so she had gone home quickly just to drop off her brother.

That was the last time Angelita would hug and kiss her daughter. After Renata returned to the salon, mother and daughter continued communicating through cellphone messages until the young girl called her mother, saying that the hairdresser couple was taking her to an unknown location.

“At that moment, Rosane took my daughter’s phone and told me to stay calm, that she would bring Renata home soon. She hung up the call and turned off the cellphone. It was the last time I spoke with my daughter,” Angelita said in an interview.

Angelita waited for her husband, Cristiano Graciano da Silva, to come home to start searching for their daughter. As is the normal procedure in case of disappearance, the mother first went to the neighborhood to see if her daughter was around, but there was no sign of Renata.

The authorities’ disregard for the case

Then, the couple went to the police station to file a report, but upon reaching the police station, they were informed that they would have to wait 24 hours, something that unfortunately happens in many cases of disappearances. With nothing else to do, Renata’s parents spent the night trying to find their daughter and went to the house of the couple Rosane and José Nilson.

The young girl’s parents returned to the police station the next day to report her disappearance. According to Mrs. Angelita, she had found the social media profiles of the kidnappers, printed photos of the couple, and took them to the police station along with pictures of the missing girl. Nevertheless, once again, Angelita received no support from the police. This time, she was informed that, as it was a holiday on November 2, there was no clerk present at the station, making it impossible to file a report.

Angelita was advised to go back home and wait for her daughter’s return, as she would probably be at a friend’s house and would come home after the holiday, according to the police, as it was common for young people of that age to do such things.

The relentless search by the family members

Angelita knew that Renata would never do something like that and that she was with the hairdresser couple, so she continued her search on her own. Renata’s parents looked for her in hospitals and even in the morgue. After two days of searching on their own, without police assistance, Angelita found the suspects’ house. According to her, when she stood in front of the kidnappers’ house, she felt that her daughter was inside and that she would not find her alive anymore.

Unable to enter the house, Angelita returned to the police station, only with a strong intuition that her daughter was already lifeless inside that residence. However, once again, nothing was done at the police station. This time, they claimed they did not have a search warrant and could do nothing. She and her relatives took turns in front of the house, looking for any clues. Angelita said she did not enter the house because the gate was locked with a thick chain, and besides, she was afraid that if she forced entry, the couple would do something to her daughter. She still had a glimmer of hope of finding her alive.

Renata is found lifeless

On November 5, Tuesday, Angelita returned to the police station, but this time she went to the Homicide and Personal Protection Department in São Paulo. During the interval between going to the police station and returning to Mauá, Angelita decided to pass by the suspects’ property one last time and noticed a strange commotion, with a helicopter hovering overhead, police officers, and onlookers. In her statement, Angelita recounted that they did not want to let her pass, but she managed to, and then she received the sad news that a body had been found inside the property, and it was Renata.

Five days after her disappearance, Renata was found lifeless, naked, on the bed of the couple Rosane and José Nilson. The initial information suggested that she had overdosed due to excessive drug use, but Angelita knew that her daughter was not a drug user, and it was not part of her behavior. It soon became clear that Renata had been forced to use the substances.

According to the Forensic Medical Institute, Renata’s body had been washed with a scrub brush and soap to erase any evidence, but traces of skin were found under her nails, indicating that she had fought to try to survive. Renata was kidnapped, raped, and forced to use a large quantity of cocaine, leading to her death.

Location and arrest of the murderers

When Renata’s body was found, the killer couple had already left the city. To the despair of Renata’s family, they remained fugitives for 3 years until they were finally located by the civil police thanks to an anonymous tip. A woman had watched an interview that Renata’s mother gave on a TV show and called, saying that the suspects were her neighbors.

According to information from the Civil Police, the couple was arrested in Campos Elíseos, Duque de Caxias, about 280 miles away from Mauá. When the police arrived at the house where the couple was hiding, they found their two children, aged 10 and 12. The children informed the officers that their parents were at work.

During questioning, the couple remained silent and did not say anything about the crime. In 2019, Rosane and José went to trial by jury and were sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Other victims of the diabolical couple

The investigation into Renata’s case revealed that the criminal couple had victimized several other individuals and had a target audience: young and beautiful women to be lured into prostitution. Apparently, Renata was the only fatal victim. After the girl’s death, some young women approached Angelita and told her how the couple’s scheme worked. According to these young women, they lured the girls with false job offers, gained their trust, and forced them into sexual relations with them in exchange for money. To commit such cruelty, the couple coerced the young women into using drugs.

From mourning to activism

Angelita decided to forgive her daughter’s killers to be able to live again. Since she could not count on the help of the police when Renata disappeared and spent days in anguish, despite the grief, she decided to gather strength and study laws to understand what could have been done and was not done and about the rights that children and adolescents have.

With this, Angelita started giving lectures in schools to alert young people about the dangers of society. In a statement, she said, “My biggest dream was to see my daughter get married, see her pregnant and have a child, and none of this is possible anymore.”

Together with other mothers whose children’s lives were prematurely and brutally interrupted, Angelita created a support group called the Support Center for Victims of Violence, where support and assistance are offered to mothers going through this pain.

Interrupted dreams and eternal longing

A simple visit to the hairdresser became the last steps of a talented and dreamy young girl. Renata dreamed of being a gymnast and would undoubtedly have been an excellent professional one day, but unfortunately, her path was cut short by diabolical people who took her life in a brutal and unforgivable way. For the parents, family, and friends of the young girl, only memories and longing remain for who Renata was and what she meant in their lives, a obedient, dedicated, happy, and responsible young lady who will forever be in their hearts.