Dead after the fire in her apartment in Milan, her partner arrested for murder: he allegedly locked her inside

Sueli Leal Barbosa had thrown herself from the fourth floor window of Viale Abruzzi 64, in Milan, to escape the fire in her apartment that, according to investigators, her partner started .

The person responsible for the death of the 48-year-old, who died a few hours after arriving at the Fatebenefratelli hospital in Milan in very serious conditions following the dramatic fall that occurred around 1:00 a.m. on Thursday 5 June, is believed to be Michael Pereira , a 45-year-old compatriot, a house painter who had been having a troubled relationship with the victim for three years.

On Thursday evening the man was arrested on charges of arson and aggravated voluntary homicide , a measure issued by the prosecutor Maura Ripamonti in the investigations of the Police and Fire Brigade, after a long interrogation at the Police Headquarters.

No confession or admission of guilt came from Pereira: according to Ansa, the victim's partner, who was tracked down by the police about forty minutes after the fire while he was walking alone down the street sipping a beer he had bought shortly before in a local bar, limited himself to claiming that he may have unintentionally started the fire .

There are several testimonies against him, including friends of the victim who speak of strong contrasts between the couple and neighbors who had heard the two arguing, but above all the circumstance ascertained during the investigations that the door of the apartment was locked from the outside with the only key available to the couple. Against him, adds La Stampa, there would also be images from the cameras that filmed him leaving the building a few moments after the flames broke out and invaded the apartment. However, it remains to be understood how the fire was started.

The couple had been dating for three years: he had moved into the apartment owned by Sueli, a social-health worker at the Milan Cancer Institute, who however wanted to move to a bigger house so she could live in a bigger place with her 10-year-old son, from a previous relationship. On Thursday night the child had stayed over at his father's house.