The population of Treze Tílias, in the west of Santa Catarina, started 2024 with shocking news.
Marisa Mergener, 42, and Reginaldo Tonet, 41, were cornered and killed inside their own home in the early hours of the year, after returning from a New Year’s Eve party.
The investigations pointed to a family crime, motivated by disagreements related to inheritance.
This week, the 3rd Public Prosecutor’s Office of the District of Joaçaba charged a woman and a man with homicides, citing several qualifications, including feminicide.
The court has already received the complaint and both have become defendants in a criminal action.
The objective of the Public Ministry of Santa Catarina is that they are tried and convicted by the Jury Court and that the parental relationship with the victims and the way in which the crime was committed weigh in the calculation of the sentences.
Investigations reveal that the woman had planned the death of her brother and sister-in-law to get an inheritance, as the couple had no children, and that her partner had participated in the planning and carried out the murders with a restricted-use pistol.
Marisa Mergener, aged 42, and Reginaldo Tonet, aged 41, were cornered and killed inside their own home | Photo: Reproduction Social Networks
The complaint, signed by Prosecutor Francieli Fiorin, states that “one provided moral and material support to the other throughout the course of the crime, whether during the planning, execution and after consummation, with a combination of versions, concealment and elimination of traces, seeking to divert and hinder the police investigation and guarantee impunity for their actions”.
Four qualifiers are cited in the two deaths: bad motive, after all, the homicides would have been motivated by mistakes involving property; ambush, as the defendant had waited for the victims with a pistol outside the house and attacked them unawares; somewhat cruel, as the defendant would have weakened the couple, chasing them through the rooms and shooting at intervals to prolong their suffering; and use of a restricted firearm.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office also requests that the feminicide be recognized, as the sister-in-law would have been killed as part of domestic and family violence, due to the parental relationship with the defendants – sister-in-law of one and brother-in-law of the other.
The complaint also includes the crime of illegal possession of a firearm, after all, after the murder, the perpetrator fled and hid the pistol, and the weapon was not located.
