The WhatsApp photos still stop people cold. In the early hours after an 18th birthday party, 24-year-old Brazilian midfielder Daniel Corrêa Freitas lay beside Cristiana Brittes, who appeared asleep, and snapped selfies with exaggerated expressions. He sent them to friends as what he framed as a joke. Hours later he was dead.
Daniel, born in 1994 in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, had come through Cruzeiro’s youth system, broken through at Botafogo (including a memorable hat-trick), and later played for São Paulo FC with loans to Coritiba, Ponte Preta and São Bento. Knee injuries had slowed his progress. On the night of October 26–27, 2018, he attended Allana Brittes’ birthday celebration at a Curitiba nightclub. The gathering continued at the family home in São José dos Pinhais, near Curitiba.
Cristiana, Allana’s mother and wife of local businessman Edison Luiz Brittes Júnior, went to sleep. Daniel, heavily intoxicated, entered the couple’s bedroom, lay down next to her and sent the photos and messages. Friends warned him it could end badly. Investigators later documented high blood-alcohol levels and treated the images and accompanying messages as central evidence.
Edison discovered Daniel in the bed. According to the investigation and Edison’s own confession, Daniel was beaten inside the house, forced into a vehicle trunk and driven to a remote wooded area in Colônia Mergulhão. There he was killed. Forensic findings identified a severe neck wound nearly severing the head as the cause of death; genital mutilation was also documented. The body was found the morning of October 27. Identification relied in part on a surgical scar from prior knee surgery.
Edison claimed he acted under strong emotion after finding Daniel attempting to sexually assault Cristiana. Police and prosecutors rejected that allegation. The photos showed Cristiana asleep, physical evidence did not support a rape attempt, and investigators concluded the discovery of Daniel in the marital bed and the messages triggered the violence. Efforts to clean the scene and coordinate accounts with witnesses, including a recorded mall meeting two days later, became part of the case.
In March 2024 a jury in São José dos Pinhais convicted Edison of triple-qualified homicide (base motive, cruel means, and preventing the victim’s defense), concealment of a corpse and related charges. He received 42 years, 5 months and 24 days in closed regime, plus additional time on other counts. He has remained in custody since November 2018. Cristiana and Allana were convicted on procedural fraud, corruption of minors and (for Allana) coercion charges with shorter sentences. Three other men who participated in the initial beating and one additional defendant were acquitted of homicide.
On June 11, 2026, the Paraná Court of Justice’s First Criminal Chamber upheld Edison’s murder conviction and rejected challenges to the jury verdict. It extinguished Allana’s punishment on prescription grounds because she was under 21 at the time of the offenses. The acquittals of the other defendants, including Cristiana on the homicide counts, were maintained. Edison’s defense has indicated it will pursue further appeals.
