Where DID the GoPro go? Brazil police desperately search for camera woman wore that filmed her own bungee death jump - as workers keep lips sealed

By WILKO MARTÍNEZ-CACHERO, US REPORTER Published: 18:04, 16 June 2026 | Updated: 18:23, 16 June 2026 Just hours before she plummeted to her death off a 130ft bridge in Brazil, 21-year-old Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas took to Instagram, as she did most days. The aspiring physical education teacher maintained an active online presence, posting selfies at the gym and close-ups to document almost every aspect of her daily life. Investigators now believe she personally documented the precise moment of her death in terrifying bird's-eye-view footage of the fall.  Moments before Rodrigues de Freitas was launched from the abandoned bridge 'airplane style,' with two instructors holding her above their shoulders as she fully spread out her arms, she was apparently given a GoPro camera to document her descent. The Brazilian woman was sporting a helmet and appeared to be wearing a harness, but she was completely unattached to the structure when workers tossed her over the edge. Investigators believe that the missing camera, which has seemingly become the focus of the case, could have the unimaginable footage showing Rodrigues de Freitas's deadly descent. Local pedagogist Rafael Goulart, who was waiting in line when Rodrigues de Freitas plummeted from the bridge, claimed one of the bungee jump workers had approached her motionless body after the fall. 'They were worried about the equipment, either to hide evidence or because of its financial value,' he told TV Globo. Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas, 21, was thrown to her death off a 130ft bridge in Limeira, Sao Paulo, Brazil. She appeared to be carrying a GoPro, which is missing, in her right hand Rodrigues de Freitas, 21, from Brazil, was thrown to her death on Saturday at the Skeleton Bridge in Limeira, Sao Paulo Three men, Luis Felipe Feliciano Egoroff, 32, Vitor de Freitas Gonçalves, 27, and Maicon Fernandes Cintra, 42, were arrested for homicide with eventual intent Andrea Dantas Levy, the police chief in charge of the case, said Monday that the vital camera in question may have been taken. During questioning, no one could explain where it was. 'Honestly, I don't think it's still there, given the number of people who came to the bridge later to look for it,' Levy said. 'I believe that, unfortunately, someone may have taken the camera,' she continued. Levy explained that she had been at the scene with the forensic team but had not found the camera in question, according to G1. The police chief added that the camera belonged to the organizers, which she added 'cannot be called a company,' and had been with Rodrigues de Freitas during the fatal incident. 'It's likely that during the fall, it slipped out of the victim's hand, even though it was strapped to her wrist,' Levy said. Brazilian authorities have arrested the three men - Luis Felipe Feliciano Egoroff, 32, Vitor de Freitas Gonçalves, 27, and Maicon Fernandes Cintra, 42 - who held Rodrigues de Freitas over their heads. They have been charged with homicide with eventual intent - but one of the suspects, Egoroff, has already said that he did not recall what happened before the incident. 'I went first, and after that, it got erased from my mind,' Egoroff said in a deposition obtained by CNN Brazil. 'I can't remember.' Brazilian police are still looking for a GoPro camera that they claim Rodrigues de Freitas was holding when she fell to her death In an Instagram story posted around 7.30am, Rodrigues de Freitas snapped the bridge and wrote the caption, 'Who was the crazy person who let me come jump off a bridge???' Gonçalves told authorities that Rodrigues de Freitas's death was 'truly a fatality,' per the outlet. However, he insisted that 'no one leaves home intending to do something like that.' During a custody hearing held on Sunday, Enrico Paisani, a representative of the Sao Paulo public prosecutor’s office, confirmed that Rodrigues de Freitas was holding the GoPro when she was thrown off the bridge, CNN Brazil reported. Judge Paulo Henrique Stahlberg Natal, who is overseeing the case, has also noted that the camera attached to Rodrigues de Freitas at the time of her fall has not been found. Rafael Gomes dos Santos, the attorney representing the bungee jump instructors, claimed that someone could have taken the missing GoPro. 'There was a crowd of people there,' Gomes dos Santos said, according to Folha de Sao Paulo. Gomes dos Santos also said that the instructors were shaken and that they had been doing this for years without anything similar happening, according to BBC Brazil.  In a television interview, he claimed that his clients did not know how to explain that Rodrigues de Freitas had been hurled off the bridge without any attachments.  The camera that Rodrigues de Freitas had while she bungee jumped could hold the key to the next step of the investigation concerning her tragic death Rafael Goulart, who was in line when Rodrigues de Freitas fell to her death, blasted the workers in charge and said they had assassinated the young woman Judge Paulo Henrique Stahlberg Natal said that the GoPro camera attached to Rodrigues de Freitas when she fell to her death had still not been tracked down (file photo) The judge, Natal, wrote that instructors had failed to follow basic protocols, such as double-checking, before Rodrigues de Freitas's fatal fall. 'By failing to attach the safety rope, essential equipment for preventing death, and by failing to realize the mandatory pre-dive check, the defendants assumed the risk that the victim would fall in free fall and pass away,' Natal said. He stunningly claimed that technical instructions had not been relayed prior to the death. Goulart, the pedagogist waiting in line to jump when Rodrigues de Freitas died, blasted the incident as a 'disgrace.'  Calling her death an 'assassination,' Goulart directly took aim at those in charge of the bungee jumping operation. 'They killed the girl,' he told Metropoles TV. 'It was not an accident. It was not a security fail. They simply did not do the bare minimum for the sport to happen.' Goulart added: 'The name of the sport is rope jump. It's jumping with a rope. They didn't use a rope.' In a video that circulated after Rodrigues de Freitas's death, bystanders could be heard yelling out, 'the rope, people, the rope', as employees let go of the young woman. 'The first scene I remember was seeing one of the employees removing the GoPro camera strap from the neck of the body that was already on the ground,' Goulart told TV Globo. Luis Felipe Feliciano Egoroff, one of the instructors, 32, claimed he could not remember the events resulting in Rodrigues de Freitas's fatal fall Vitor de Freitas Goncalves, 27, told authorities that 'no one leaves home intending to do something like that,' referring to Rodrigues de Freitas's death  Maicon Fernandes Cintra, 42, was one of the three men arrested in connection with Rodrigues de Freitas's death Your browser does not support iframes. The men in the video of the accident wore T-shirts with the logos of 'Entre Cordas' and 'Ih Voei.' According to local police, the names of those groups linked back to informal practitioners, G1 reported. However, there were no actual official companies behind the jumping operation. The three men were allegedly a group of sports enthusiasts who began organizing events at various locations roughly a year ago. Rodrigues de Freitas's mother, Valdenia Rodrigues, paid tribute to her 'princess' on Sunday. 'My beloved daughter, today alone I wanted to hug you more than a thousand times,' Rodrigues wrote. 'How much your departure hurts me. I love you eternally, my princess. And thank you so much for being a part of my life for these 21 years. 'What an honor it was to hear you call me mom. God, thank you for this privilege,' she wrote on Instagram. On Saturday around 7.31am, Freitas posted a shot of the Skeleton Bridge in Limeira, Sao Paulo, writing, 'Who was the crazy person who let me come jump off a bridge???' It would be one of her last posts. The comments below have not been moderated. 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