Prosecution says doctor planned to kill his wife with lead shot and his mother carried it out

The Public Prosecutor's Office reported to the Court the doctor Luiz Antonio Garnica, 38, and his mother, Elizabete Arrabaça, 67, accused of killing his wife , pilates teacher Larissa Talle Leôncio Rodrigues, 37, in Ribeirão Preto , in the interior of São Paulo .

The two have been in prison since May 6. According to prosecutor Marcus Túlio Nicolino, the doctor planned the crime, while his mother was tasked with carrying it out by offering the victim food laced with lead.

Júlio Mossin, who is defending the doctor, claims that he is innocent . "The innocent son is in prison because of his mother's fault," he told Folha on June 19. He points to a financial motive for the crime. "The cause is financial, due to Elizabete's debts in banks and gambling addiction."

Bruno Correa Ribeiro, who defends Elizabete Arrabaça, said that his client denies the accusations.

According to investigations, Larissa discovered that her husband had a lover and said that she would seek a lawyer to start divorce proceedings.

"I didn't even want to include it in the complaint because it's a separate fact, but she had already poisoned her own daughter . She already had this background, which in their minds had worked. Until then they hadn't discovered why Natalia [Elizabete's daughter, who died in February] had died, so the same procedure was used and it was in progressive doses," Nicolino said in an interview with the G1 portal.

According to the prosecutor, the mother-in-law had been poisoning Larissa for ten to 15 days, but on Friday, March 21, she allegedly applied a larger dose because Larissa said that the following Monday she would seek a lawyer.

Nicolino stressed that the defendants demonstrated extreme coldness, using cruel means, a resource that made it difficult for the victim to defend himself, and dissimulation. The doctor is also accused of trying to alter the crime scene and eliminate digital and physical evidence, including cleaning the scene and deleting electronic files.

The Prosecution claims that, after the murder, he showed a rush to access his wife's money, even making transactions and payments with her card and app.

According to the doctor's lawyer, however, Elizabete's initial plan was to kill her own son. "However, if she takes Luiz's life, part of the estate will go to Larissa, since they were married. Whereas, if she takes Larissa's life, as she did, by poisoning her, her son will be left, who would go back to helping her. Her son stopped helping her financially in December 2024," said Mossin.

During the investigation into Larissa's death, the detective in charge of the case, Fernando Bravo, suspected that Nathalia had died and requested that her body be exhumed. The analysis was carried out on May 23.

Folha found that the examination report indicated that Luiz's sister also died after ingesting lead .

Mossin said that Elizabete would be the sole beneficiary of a private pension left by her daughter, who was not married and had no heirs. Her mother would inherit half of her assets.

The lawyer also said that Elizabete had stolen money from the doctor and jewelry from her daughter Nathalia.

Bruno Correa Ribeiro, Elizabete Arrabaça's lawyer, maintains that his client is innocent.

"Mrs. Elizabete not only denies having any involvement in the deaths of both Larissa and her daughter Nathalia, but she also completely denies any theft of any of her son's money or jewelry belonging to her daughter. She completely denies this," said the lawyer.

The defense attorney admitted that the client is facing financial problems. "As for financial difficulties, that is indeed true. She has a financial situation with some debts in banks. We still don't have any proof in this regard, but the family believes that she may have some kind of gambling addiction. But nothing has been proven because this depends on breaking bank secrecy."