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BASED ON THE PODCAST
"THE WOMAN IN THE ABANDONED HOUSE"
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BY CHICO FELITTI
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THE AUDIO RECORDINGS PRESENTED
IN THIS DOCUMENTARY ARE AUTHENTIC
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RECORDED BY CHICO FELITTI FOR THE PODCAST
"THE WOMAN IN THE ABANDONED HOUSE"
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THE ASSOCIATED SCENES
ARE RECONSTRUCTIONS BASED
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ON THE TESTIMONIES OF THE PARTICIPANTS
AND DOCUMENTS OF THE CASE
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THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS DOCUMENTARY
IS TO DEPICT THE FACTS
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SURROUNDING THIS CASE
OF SIGNIFICANT PUBLIC INTEREST
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WE CONDEMN ANY ACT
OF AGGRESSION OR PERSECUTION
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IN ANY FORM
AGAINST PEOPLE DEPICTED HERE
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WARNING: THIS DOCUMENTARY
CONTAINS DEPICTIONS
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OF PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL ABUSE
AND DISCRIMINATORY ATTACKS
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THAT MAY BE CONSIDERED
TRIGGERING FOR SOME PEOPLE
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There have only been
occasional sightings,
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such as behind a window
or peeking around a door.
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Who is the woman living
in this house in Higienópolis,
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in the Central Zone of São Paulo?
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In my 30 years as a cop, I have never
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been involved in an event like this.
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During the police operation,
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dozens of neighbors and onlookers
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gathered to get a glance
of the abandoned house.
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How did the house manage
to remain intact up until now,
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and why is it in such a state?
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A building that was once
a mansion, a symbol of wealth,
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is now crumbling to pieces.
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The case garnered attention
thanks to the podcast
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"The Woman in the Abandoned House"
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by journalist Chico Felitti
for "Folha de São Paulo."
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I don't think any journalist believes
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that their story is going
to rally the public
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to the point that people say,
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"I'm going to do something about this."
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Criminal!
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And the controversy is growing,
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because the owner of the property
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is a fugitive
of the American Justice System,
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wanted for a serious crime
she committed in the U.S.
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-You're a journalist, right?
-Yes.
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Then, as a good journalist,
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you have to listen
to all sides of the story
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before publishing anything, right?
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ABANDONED:
THE WOMAN IN THE DECAYING HOUSE
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My name is Chico Felitti.
I'm a journalist.
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I wrote for a newspaper for ten years,
and I had a breakdown.
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I left journalism and started
writing books, biographies,
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and doing podcasts, and when I turned 30,
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I moved to this house
in a new neighborhood,
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which is where I lived
during the pandemic.
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One of the few things I would do
was take my dogs for a walk.
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We'd take long walks several times a day
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and on one of those walks,
I passed a house in total disarray,
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it was abandoned.
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And the house really caught my attention.
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Higienópolis is a neighborhood that has
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a very privileged social class,
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and there is an appreciation
for the architecture in the neighborhood.
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It has countless historic properties, so,
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I was truly shocked to see a house
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that was in such a deplorable state.
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In São Paulo, Higienópolis is an island.
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And why "an island"?
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Because it has trees,
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unlike the rest of the area,
it's very green.
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It has security,
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and much of that security
is privately hired by rich people,
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to keep an eye on the street.
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It's a neighborhood of mansions.
Some are still there today,
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and others have become vertical mansions
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worth millions of reais.
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It didn't compute, it didn't make sense.
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It was a beautiful villa
with three floors,
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it was like a palace.
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At one point, it was a grand house.
It had pedigree.
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The house even had a name,
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the name of the patriarch
of the family that built it.
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GERALDO V. DE AZEVEDO, MEDICAL SURGEON
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But it was completely falling to pieces.
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The family's house was a mansion.
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It was a marvelous and dazzling house.
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People would get there, to the steps,
and see a red carpet.
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There was a dining room
that she used to keep locked
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and it was only used
for fancy dinners and parties,
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for people from high society.
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In fact, I would get invited.
I would do her hair,
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and Mrs. Lourdes would always say,
"Rosa, stay for the party,
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I'll find you a rich man to marry."
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And Mr. Geraldo was very polite,
and he would say,
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"Mrs. Rosa, stay for the dinner."
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So, I was always
in contact with them, you know?
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We were close.
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One day, I was on my way home,
and as I passed by,
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I saw someone emptying a bucket.
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A lady was dumping out a bucket.
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And I thought,
"People are living in that house!"
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I began to see that person
more frequently, and always at night.
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And months had passed at this point.
It was an older lady,
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neglected, all alone in the house.
"Where is her family?
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Is she capable of caring for herself?"
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So, that really got me thinking.
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I decided I was going to make a podcast
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to tell the story
of that woman and that house.
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I always wanted to speak with her,
but she vanished.
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The woman disappeared.
I went months without seeing her.
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So, I used that time
to try to tell the story without her.
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I walked around the neighborhood,
I asked some neighbors,
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but she was still nowhere to be found.
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I waited almost 72 hours for her,
sitting in front of the house.
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During the time she was hiding,
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I didn't achieve anything, so...
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I decided to let my guard down
and go for a coffee.
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Then her neighbor, Mari,
messages me that she's in the garden.
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So, I run over and finally see her
for the first time in six months.
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She had this kind
of destitute look about her.
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Her clothes were all shabby
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and her face was all white from,
I don't know what.
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Maybe it was makeup
or some sort of cream or something,
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but she had this very
haughty manner about her.
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She said, "Fine, I'll do an interview.
Wait here, I'll be back."
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She goes back in the house, slams the door
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and never comes back out.
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However, I had given her my phone number,
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so she reached out to me.
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-Hello?
-Hello, Margarida?
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Where are you?
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When I went back out,
you had disappeared.
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Where'd you go?
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I waited for 30 minutes,
but then I had to go.
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But I knew you had my number
and would call me so we could talk.
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So, why are you
so curious about the house?
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Because it's an abandoned house
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in one of the richest neighborhoods
in Brazil, yet someone's living there.
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Well, first things first,
the house isn't abandoned, all right?
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It's going to be restored
and it's going to be beautiful, okay?
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When?
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When God is willing
and allows it to happen.
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I really want it to happen, okay?
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RECENT RECORDINGS
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Margarida was evasive
during the conversation.
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The one who helped me to understand why,
was Mari Muradas,
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who was also looking into the story.
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One morning, I was walking my dogs,
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and as I turned onto the street,
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a neighbor passed by with her dogs,
and said, "That woman is evil."
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And I thought, "Evil"?
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She said, "She owns that house
and she's a fugitive."
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And she, I, I'll never forgot, she said,
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"You're very young, you won't remember,
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but many years ago
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there was a case of a family
who enslaved a maid in the United States,
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and it's her."
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Apparently, she was currently wanted
by the United States.
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When I got home, I searched on Google:
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"Brazilian couple enslaves maid
in the United States."
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And then in the search results there was
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a report
by The Washington Post from 2000.
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"What? 2000?"
That really got my attention.
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"How can that be?"
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The case kept hidden for 20 years.
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After the crime was discovered,
the podcast was released
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and people began standing
outside the house to protest.
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According to the information
disclosed in the podcast,
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the woman is a fugitive
and wanted in the United States.
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As you can see here, all these people
were passing by on the street
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and stopped to take pictures
and get a look at the house.
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There is a constant flow of people,
so many people.
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They even parked in the middle
of the street to get a photo
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and follow the trend.
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I'm listening to the podcast
and was curious, you know?
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Because I know the area,
so I wanted to see where the house was.
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I knew the house, but I didn't know
what was going on in there.
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The place became a tourist attraction
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after a crime was revealed
in the podcast,
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The Woman in the Abandoned House
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by journalist Chico Felitti.
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It became a tourist spot.
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Sometimes, there are 50, 100 people
in front of the house taking selfies
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or doing Tik Tok dances.
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SEE WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
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ABOUT THE
"THE WOMAN IN THE ABANDONED HOUSE" CASE
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POLICE PERFORMS INSPECTION
INSIDE THE HOUSE
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It was becoming clear
that Margarida was getting uncomfortable,
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which was something that she was
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starting to have in common
with the other neighbors.
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We knew that she was hiding something
or other, you know?
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Because she was very reclusive,
she didn't have a social life.
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The older people around here
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were friends with her parents
and everything,
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and they said she had taken
an employee with her over there,
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but they didn't know that she
would bully her employee, you know?
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It was a shock to hear about that.
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Margarida didn't feel that she was
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on the same level
as anyone in her neighborhood.
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She felt superior.
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She felt like a blue blood,
an aristocrat,
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a "quatrocentona," which is a term used
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to describe the elite of São Paulo.
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And I thought that as a woman
with some kind of skin disease,
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that she was a fragile person,
or I thought she was a fragile person.
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But when she spoke,
she didn't speak with fragility.
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She spoke with great authority.
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She spoke with an air of arrogance.
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After all the complaints
made by the neighbors,
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and a month of repercussions
after the release of the podcast,
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the police decided
to show up at the house.
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And they're about to break
into the decaying house...
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The police just told us
that she is refusing
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to open the door of the property.
That's why officers are now on the scene
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with a locksmith in an attempt
to open the door
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and make contact with the woman.
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POLICE AWAITS TO INTERROGATE
MRS. MARGARIDA
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The police don't get to choose.
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If there's a case, you have
to investigate. No matter what.
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And we received a new case
that was linked to two police reports,
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which was curious, to say the least.
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One report we received was regarding
the mistreatment... of animals.
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And then there was also a report
that came in that stated that there was
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an elderly person
who was suffering from abandonment.
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Something that we call
"incapacitated abandonment."
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So, we picked up the two incidents,
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and we needed to check them out,
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to find out what was going on.
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ABANDONED HOUSE MYSTERY
POLICE BREAKS INTO MARGARIDA'S MANSION
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The crowd that formed
in front of her house,
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in front of my building,
on Piauí Street itself
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became something that was uncontrollable.
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So, I decided to do something.
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So, let's try to help
and see what's going on.
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...the situation in which
the victim is living.
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They're checking the environment
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for possible health violations
and signs of neglect.
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There were cops from two
different stations, a helicopter.
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Even a tactical unit came over
to raid the house.
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Margarida was terrified.
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She didn't want
to open the door to anyone.
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If she had left the house at that moment,
I think she would have been lynched.
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At that moment,
she would have been lynched.
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We got there with a search warrant,
239
00:13:49,208 --> 00:13:50,833
we opened the gate and went in,
240
00:13:50,916 --> 00:13:54,791
and we knocked on the door
to see if she would let us in.
241
00:13:55,166 --> 00:13:58,625
We knocked and knocked, once, twice,
three, four times, and nothing.
242
00:14:00,916 --> 00:14:06,125
Margarida was starting to get desperate
with that crowd in front of her house.
243
00:14:06,208 --> 00:14:09,208
So, another 40 minutes go by,
then an hour.
244
00:14:09,833 --> 00:14:12,583
But she won't come out,
so the lawyer talks to her again.
245
00:14:14,500 --> 00:14:16,916
I asked her several times
to open the door.
246
00:14:17,083 --> 00:14:20,916
She says that she will open,
and asks us to wait.
247
00:14:21,416 --> 00:14:24,333
But then another hour goes by.
248
00:14:25,208 --> 00:14:28,833
At a certain point,
the police just lost their patience.
249
00:14:28,916 --> 00:14:31,333
Almost three hours
waiting for her to let us in.
250
00:14:31,416 --> 00:14:33,625
The lawyer even told us,
251
00:14:33,708 --> 00:14:35,250
"Look, I don't think
she's going to open the door."
252
00:14:35,375 --> 00:14:36,416
LIVE - ABANDONED HOUSE
253
00:14:36,500 --> 00:14:38,333
FBI FUGITIVE REFUSES TO OPEN DOOR
254
00:14:38,416 --> 00:14:43,541
So, we decided to serve the search warrant
in a more effective manner,
255
00:14:43,625 --> 00:14:45,333
since she refused to open the door for us.
256
00:14:50,125 --> 00:14:53,208
The police are prying open
the window as we speak,
257
00:14:53,291 --> 00:14:56,583
and people here have started
cheering happily.
258
00:15:02,208 --> 00:15:04,625
FBI FUGITIVE REFUSES TO OPEN DOOR
259
00:15:04,708 --> 00:15:08,541
There was no reason for them to enter.
She didn't want them to.
260
00:15:08,708 --> 00:15:09,750
It was her house.
261
00:15:09,833 --> 00:15:13,333
There was no reason for the police
to break into her house.
262
00:15:13,416 --> 00:15:15,708
I didn't understand what was going on.
263
00:15:23,208 --> 00:15:24,500
They smashed the window!
264
00:15:24,791 --> 00:15:28,000
The police have broken a window
and are entering the decaying house!
265
00:15:28,083 --> 00:15:30,375
Finally, we managed to get in.
266
00:15:48,208 --> 00:15:52,416
The whole place was
absurdly unfit to live in,
267
00:15:52,500 --> 00:15:54,125
and it was hard to move around.
268
00:15:54,208 --> 00:15:57,333
There was a smell in the house,
and we couldn't even identify
269
00:15:57,416 --> 00:15:59,125
exactly what the smell was.
270
00:15:59,291 --> 00:16:01,333
It smelled like rotten food,
271
00:16:01,416 --> 00:16:04,833
and it smelled like, almost like sewage.
272
00:16:04,916 --> 00:16:06,583
We couldn't even figure it out.
273
00:16:07,500 --> 00:16:09,333
Yeah, it wasn't very nice,
274
00:16:09,416 --> 00:16:11,500
but it's a house that's been
practically shuttered,
275
00:16:11,583 --> 00:16:13,083
except for a window here and there.
276
00:16:14,916 --> 00:16:18,208
There was garbage on the floor,
things scattered everywhere.
277
00:16:18,791 --> 00:16:20,000
There were old rugs.
278
00:16:20,083 --> 00:16:21,833
It turns out she's a hoarder,
279
00:16:21,958 --> 00:16:24,333
but that's no reason to evict someone.
280
00:16:27,291 --> 00:16:29,625
This is a horrible situation for me.
281
00:16:29,708 --> 00:16:30,708
-I'm being...
-Mrs. Margarida, open the door.
282
00:16:30,791 --> 00:16:31,833
-Good afternoon.
-Open the door.
283
00:16:31,916 --> 00:16:33,041
You're here! You're here!
284
00:16:33,125 --> 00:16:34,833
Open the door so your lawyer can go in.
285
00:16:34,916 --> 00:16:35,916
No.
286
00:16:38,333 --> 00:16:40,833
The interaction
with Mrs. Margarida was so difficult.
287
00:16:40,916 --> 00:16:43,000
She didn't want the police
to look at anything.
288
00:16:43,083 --> 00:16:44,500
"No, don't look at that. Don't go there."
289
00:16:44,583 --> 00:16:47,833
She didn't want anyone
to go and look upstairs, and she didn't...
290
00:16:47,916 --> 00:16:50,708
She just wanted to override
the search warrant.
291
00:16:51,375 --> 00:16:54,208
It didn't make any sense
for them to search the house,
292
00:16:54,291 --> 00:16:56,000
because, what were they even looking for?
293
00:16:56,416 --> 00:16:59,291
They looked around the house,
they moved things around,
294
00:16:59,375 --> 00:17:02,125
but there was nothing.
The aim was to get her out of the house.
295
00:17:02,208 --> 00:17:03,833
That was the objective there.
296
00:17:03,916 --> 00:17:06,125
We've asked for the emergency
medical service
297
00:17:06,500 --> 00:17:08,625
to come over here and do an evaluation,
298
00:17:08,708 --> 00:17:11,333
and we've also called the Fire Department.
299
00:17:11,416 --> 00:17:14,416
We're going to listen to the technicians
to see what condition
300
00:17:14,791 --> 00:17:16,458
the property is currently in.
301
00:17:18,916 --> 00:17:21,416
The police said that she was
in no condition
302
00:17:21,500 --> 00:17:22,791
to be living in that house
303
00:17:23,291 --> 00:17:26,333
alleging that the house
had structural problems,
304
00:17:26,416 --> 00:17:29,208
and that the house was starting
to crumble apart.
305
00:17:29,416 --> 00:17:30,791
They said
she couldn't live there anymore.
306
00:17:30,875 --> 00:17:34,916
We then decided to bring in
an engineer for the city to verify
307
00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:37,708
the condition of the house
308
00:17:37,791 --> 00:17:40,416
and see if there was any danger
of explosion or collapse.
309
00:17:41,083 --> 00:17:42,916
Well, what I can tell you with assurance,
310
00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:46,250
is that as far as the stability
of the property goes
311
00:17:46,500 --> 00:17:49,208
everything safe, there's no imminent risk.
312
00:17:49,291 --> 00:17:52,041
The issue of insalubrity
is something momentary,
313
00:17:52,208 --> 00:17:53,750
it's merely momentary.
314
00:17:53,916 --> 00:17:55,666
A good cleaning would resolve the problem.
315
00:17:55,750 --> 00:17:57,125
It could be habitable.
316
00:17:57,208 --> 00:17:59,791
POLICE ENTERS IN MARGARIDA'S MANSION
317
00:17:59,916 --> 00:18:01,416
But despite everything,
318
00:18:01,708 --> 00:18:05,791
they continued to tell her
that she couldn't live there anymore,
319
00:18:05,875 --> 00:18:07,791
that she would have to leave that house.
320
00:18:07,916 --> 00:18:10,666
All that was left was to wait for a report
321
00:18:10,750 --> 00:18:12,958
on Mrs. Margarida's physical
and mental health.
322
00:18:14,125 --> 00:18:15,500
The doctor has arrived.
323
00:18:15,583 --> 00:18:19,583
The long-awaited doctor
with emergency services has just arrived.
324
00:18:21,958 --> 00:18:24,916
I managed to get
a doctor from the council
325
00:18:25,708 --> 00:18:28,833
to come talk to her for about two hours
326
00:18:29,250 --> 00:18:33,708
and we managed to prove
that she could stay there in her house.
327
00:18:34,708 --> 00:18:37,625
And so, after all that,
the police finally left.
328
00:18:40,583 --> 00:18:44,500
And, in fact, she was
in good condition, you know?
329
00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:49,125
Physically and mentally,
to continue living there, in her house.
330
00:18:52,708 --> 00:18:55,333
To be honest, we wanted
to serve the search warrant
331
00:18:55,416 --> 00:18:59,208
and finish as soon as possible
and clear everything up,
332
00:18:59,291 --> 00:19:03,416
because the environment was kind of,
I won't say "hostile."
333
00:19:05,333 --> 00:19:07,916
It was kind of,
I guess it was a question of energy.
334
00:19:11,583 --> 00:19:14,250
Look, in my opinion,
what happened was a circus.
335
00:19:14,625 --> 00:19:17,875
It all started with that podcast
by Chico Felitti,
336
00:19:17,958 --> 00:19:21,208
that it simply changed one person's
life from one minute to the next,
337
00:19:21,291 --> 00:19:23,125
a person who lived in the neighborhood.
338
00:19:25,208 --> 00:19:26,875
Why were people doing this?
339
00:19:26,958 --> 00:19:30,208
What right did they have
to take away someone's freedom?
340
00:19:45,208 --> 00:19:49,625
In 2000, I was a correspondent
for Folha de São Paulo in Washington.
341
00:19:49,750 --> 00:19:51,708
US COURT SENTENCES BRAZILIAN MAN
TO 6.6 YEARS IN PRISON
342
00:19:51,791 --> 00:19:54,416
And I heard that a Brazilian couple
343
00:19:54,500 --> 00:19:57,833
were going to be tried
in the United States, in Washington
344
00:19:58,083 --> 00:20:03,458
for mistreating a maid they had brought
from Brazil to the United States.
345
00:20:03,541 --> 00:20:04,583
6.6 YEARS
346
00:20:04,666 --> 00:20:06,958
BRAZILIAN MAN GETS 6.5 YEARS
IN PRISON IN THE US
347
00:20:09,916 --> 00:20:11,333
Years after the trial,
348
00:20:11,416 --> 00:20:13,708
I returned to Brazil
and lived in a building,
349
00:20:14,041 --> 00:20:17,500
that was next door to a house
where a woman lived
350
00:20:18,083 --> 00:20:19,291
who was very strange
351
00:20:19,791 --> 00:20:21,208
with strange habits.
352
00:20:21,500 --> 00:20:23,625
And it was a divine coincidence,
353
00:20:23,708 --> 00:20:27,083
because I discovered that my neighbor
was on the run from the FBI
354
00:20:27,500 --> 00:20:30,541
and happened to be
the most important character
355
00:20:30,666 --> 00:20:32,833
from the trial I covered in Washington.
356
00:20:35,125 --> 00:20:36,541
So close, yet so far.
357
00:20:54,916 --> 00:20:57,125
GAITHERSBURG 21 MILES
FROM WASHINGTON, D.C.
358
00:21:00,583 --> 00:21:03,291
Margarida Bonetti moved
with her family to the United States
359
00:21:03,375 --> 00:21:05,208
at the end of the 70s.
360
00:21:05,875 --> 00:21:08,708
Then arrives in Washington, Rene Bonetti,
361
00:21:08,833 --> 00:21:14,041
her husband, who was a brilliant
and promising engineer.
362
00:21:14,125 --> 00:21:18,416
Margarida Bonetti, who had graduated
but never worked in any profession,
363
00:21:18,500 --> 00:21:21,875
was a socialite who lived here
with the elite of São Paulo
364
00:21:22,208 --> 00:21:23,833
and their son, who was still a child.
365
00:21:23,916 --> 00:21:26,125
And joining the family,
was Hilda dos Santos,
366
00:21:27,791 --> 00:21:30,916
who had been the maid
of Margarida's mother
367
00:21:31,125 --> 00:21:32,333
since she was a teenager.
368
00:21:32,625 --> 00:21:34,041
She was going with them
to the United States
369
00:21:34,125 --> 00:21:35,833
to look after the couple's child
370
00:21:35,958 --> 00:21:39,166
and to tend to their U.S. home
the way she had done in Brazil.
371
00:21:47,625 --> 00:21:49,750
When I went to the United States,
372
00:21:49,833 --> 00:21:53,333
I wanted to go back to São Paulo
to be with my parents.
373
00:21:53,416 --> 00:21:56,208
MARGARIDA BONETTI'S VOICE
374
00:21:56,291 --> 00:21:59,541
I was really missing my parents,
you know?
375
00:21:59,708 --> 00:22:02,125
I missed my family a lot.
376
00:22:05,625 --> 00:22:09,541
One of the ways Margarida's family
convinced her to go to the United States,
377
00:22:09,708 --> 00:22:10,708
since she didn't want to go,
378
00:22:10,916 --> 00:22:13,500
was to agree that it would
just be for a year
379
00:22:13,791 --> 00:22:16,541
and that Hilda would go along to help.
380
00:22:16,625 --> 00:22:19,208
So that she wouldn't have to do
anything in the house, because Hilda,
381
00:22:19,416 --> 00:22:22,333
the maid that she had known
since childhood, would be there with her.
382
00:22:30,041 --> 00:22:34,666
GAITHERSBURG, MARYLAND
UNITED STATES
383
00:24:20,583 --> 00:24:22,000
Hello?
384
00:24:29,416 --> 00:24:30,791
Hello?
385
00:24:37,208 --> 00:24:38,208
Hello?
386
00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:42,833
Finally. So, who is this?
387
00:24:52,208 --> 00:24:54,625
I don't understand English.
388
00:24:54,791 --> 00:24:56,416
I don't understand what you're saying.
389
00:24:58,500 --> 00:25:00,833
She needs to...
I don't understand anything.
390
00:25:08,708 --> 00:25:10,208
What a clown.
391
00:25:32,208 --> 00:25:35,541
I have so many
stories to tell, so many...
392
00:25:38,208 --> 00:25:41,083
I came here from São Paulo over here
393
00:25:41,875 --> 00:25:45,125
to help out and all that.
394
00:25:45,208 --> 00:25:47,416
To help keep them company
395
00:25:47,666 --> 00:25:52,583
and to work for them, and everything,
but it all went wrong.
396
00:25:55,208 --> 00:25:59,208
When I first got here,
I had a hard time getting used to it.
397
00:25:59,291 --> 00:26:03,666
And so, I wanted to go back to my country.
398
00:26:07,416 --> 00:26:12,333
They never paid attention to me,
they only paid attention to themselves!
399
00:26:12,958 --> 00:26:16,541
They never seemed to care
about anything at all!
400
00:26:17,416 --> 00:26:21,708
Why did they take advantage of me
and bring me from São Paulo to here
401
00:26:21,875 --> 00:26:24,916
and make me suffer like that?
402
00:26:35,500 --> 00:26:40,000
She did whatever she wanted,
whatever she could.
403
00:26:40,208 --> 00:26:43,125
And then, when she saw that she wasn't...
404
00:26:43,791 --> 00:26:45,416
That she wasn't winning,
405
00:26:45,833 --> 00:26:47,958
that was when she would hit back.
406
00:26:53,625 --> 00:26:58,416
It was like a hard hit
that you just take, you know?
407
00:26:58,583 --> 00:27:01,625
It's something that ends up hurting
for the rest of your life.
408
00:27:07,791 --> 00:27:10,916
In the U.S.,
Hilda had no money, she didn't get paid.
409
00:27:11,291 --> 00:27:13,416
Hilda wasn't allowed to come and go.
410
00:27:13,500 --> 00:27:17,000
She could go outside,
but the family forbade her
411
00:27:17,083 --> 00:27:18,500
from having contact with the neighbors.
412
00:27:18,583 --> 00:27:21,083
Hilda's situation was getting worse,
and she was becoming
413
00:27:21,166 --> 00:27:24,375
more and more trapped
in that house and being exploited.
414
00:27:26,500 --> 00:27:28,041
Did you assault Hilda?
415
00:27:28,416 --> 00:27:30,333
-Huh?
-Did you assault Hilda?
416
00:27:30,791 --> 00:27:34,708
Never in my life
have I ever assaulted Hilda.
417
00:27:34,791 --> 00:27:36,708
Never. Not ever.
418
00:27:36,791 --> 00:27:38,041
Not even once.
419
00:27:38,125 --> 00:27:39,958
I liked her too much.
420
00:27:40,083 --> 00:27:44,333
If you want to know the truth,
she was actually my best friend, FYI.
421
00:27:47,083 --> 00:27:50,916
Margarida always treated Hilda very well.
422
00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:54,000
She was always very well
looked after in the family.
423
00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:59,500
Margarida is a person
who is very intelligent,
424
00:27:59,583 --> 00:28:01,125
a person who's educated and well,
425
00:28:01,583 --> 00:28:06,333
I don't believe that she would
ever do any harm to anyone.
426
00:28:24,291 --> 00:28:29,583
As for my passport, it had been years
since I knew where my passport was.
427
00:28:32,791 --> 00:28:35,708
Hilda's passport was
with Rene at his company.
428
00:28:36,291 --> 00:28:39,125
But it expired after a while,
and because that expired,
429
00:28:39,208 --> 00:28:41,416
her visa also expired.
430
00:28:41,541 --> 00:28:44,791
Meaning, Hilda was illegally in the U.S.,
as if she never had one.
431
00:28:44,875 --> 00:28:46,208
She was undocumented.
432
00:28:46,458 --> 00:28:48,708
She had ceased to exist on American soil.
433
00:28:56,500 --> 00:29:00,541
That one there is a broken heart.
434
00:29:02,625 --> 00:29:03,958
The isolation and the violence
435
00:29:04,083 --> 00:29:06,125
kept on getting worse.
436
00:29:07,583 --> 00:29:12,375
And that forced Hilda to leave her house
and seek help in the neighborhood.
437
00:29:13,291 --> 00:29:16,208
And so, one of the neighbors
went to a lawyer
438
00:29:16,583 --> 00:29:20,666
to help broker a contact with the FBI
to file a formal complaint
439
00:29:20,916 --> 00:29:22,916
of abuse of labor in line with slavery.
440
00:29:40,125 --> 00:29:42,041
In fact, the story of Margarida Bonetti
441
00:29:42,125 --> 00:29:44,708
was much more macabre than I expected.
442
00:29:59,375 --> 00:30:02,791
MARGARIDA, RENE AND THEIR FAMILIES
443
00:30:02,875 --> 00:30:07,041
DID NOT WANT TO TAKE PART
IN THIS DOCUMENTARY