Decapitated body of British girl, 17, found hacked to pieces in suitcase in Brazil

The dismembered body of a 17-year-old British girl has been found in a suitcase in Brazil.

Police say Cara Marie Burke was murdered by an ex-boyfriend she had threatened to expose as a drug-dealer.

Her torso was found in a suitcase dumped on a riverbank on Monday, but her head, arms and legs were missing after being thrown into the water.

Miss Burke's body was reportedly identified by her mother, Ann, who was watching Brazilian TV from her home in Wandsworth, south London.

Police were said to be still searching for Miss Burke's head and limbs, which Santos said he hid in a rural area about 20 miles outside Goiania.

Miss Burke's brother, Michael Burke, told The Times she was due to return to London two weeks ago but was injured in a motorcycle crash on the way to the airport.

He said: 'My mum had paid for the ticket home and we were looking forward to having her back. She was a wonderful sister.'

She was a former pupil at Southfields Community School and reportedly played for the Chelsea FC ladies team.

Yesterday Brazilian police arrested her former boyfriend Mohammed Carvalho dos Santos, 20, on suspicion of murder.

He was born in Brazil, but police said his parents live in the UK, and that he had met Cara in Britain.

They say he quickly confessed to murdering her, and that he had taken pictures of her mutilated body on his mobile phone.

However last night Carvalho claimed that he did not kill Cara.

'I was in my apartment when something happened. She got killed there but I can't say what happened. It wasn't me' he said from his cell in a telephone interview with the Sun.

He told the newspaper that he was never romantically involved with Cara. He said she had flown out to be with another Brazilian who had paid for her ticket and was furious that she later ended their relationship.

'He said he was going to kill her because she spent so much on the ticket,' said Carvalho.

'She moved in with me but she was never my boyfriend [sic]. We lived together for about two months and then she moved out because she had another boyfriend.'

It was claimed last night that the killer's mobile contained an image of her decapitated head placed on top of her body in the style of an Al Qaeda video.


Cara, from South London, is believed to have gone to Brazil with Carvalho three months ago.

They had shared a flat in Goiania, 120 miles from the capital Brasilia. According to friends, Cara loved Brazil and had been to the country twice before.

Lenita Alves de Brito, spokesman for Goiania's Policia Civil, said the couple recently split because she believed he was a drug dealer.

She moved in with friends, but for some reason she went back to the flat at the weekend.

The couple had an argument on Friday night. Cara threatened to tell Carvalho's parents he was a drug dealer addicted to cocaine, and said she was considering turning him in to police.

On Saturday Carvalho stabbed her to death with a kitchen knife in what police say was a 'premeditated' murder.

Then he dumped her body in a bath and went off to a party.

The following day he decapitated her and chopped off her limbs , and put her torso in the suitcase.

He dumped the case by a river and threw her legs and arms into the water. continues here

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