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Mom from Brazil found dead while vacationing in Michigan
The body of a 42-year-old mother of two was found mutilated and dumped on the side of a road in Michigan. She was thousands of miles away from her home in Brazil. Now, questions are swirling around Suzan Barbosa-Ferreira's death. Her family back home is devastated by the news and hoping they'll get clarity behind why she was killed.
NORTHFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (FOX 2) - The body of a 42-year-old mother of two was found mutilated and dumped on the side of a road in Michigan. She was thousands of miles away from her home in Brazil.
Now, questions are swirling around Suzan Barbosa-Ferreira's death. Her family back home is devastated by the news and hoping they'll get clarity behind why she was killed.
Also at the center of the investigation into her death is a 57-year-old man from Dearborn identified as Fareed Hajjar.
"It's very sad that knowing family was looking for her. He just left her body there for a week, dumped," said Renata Santana, who is Barbosa-Ferreira's sister.
Hajjar hasn't been charged with murder, yet. But he is being held on a $2 million bond on mutilation charges and for trying to conceal Barbosa-Ferreira's body.
According to the victims family, she had been in metro Detroit on vacation this spring and summer.
"I think that was like casual friends," said Santana, talking about who her sister was visiting.
Among those acquaintances she had spent time with is Hajjar - though Barbosa-Ferreira never mentioned him to her family. It's unclear if she knew before her travels or met him later.
She had been traveling until her location went dark and she missed a flight to North Carolina, which was the next stop on her trip.
"She stopped communication, we didn’t hear from her anymore, and we thought ‘that’s not usual, something is wrong'," said Santana.
The family was able to track her phone to Hajjar's house, where police questioned him. He reportedly liked about knowing the victim.
"We just want to know what happened inside that house," said Santana.
After weeks of uncertainty, she and the rest of the family learned the grim news when a call from a Dearborn police detective came in.
"He stopped for a few seconds and that was the longest seconds of my life and he said ‘I can confirm it was her’ and I have no words to describe the feeling I felt," she said.
While the courts work through the criminal side of the case, Barbosa-Ferreira's family is just working to get her body home. It will cost around $13,000 to get her backhome.
"My mom and father live there and my mom wants that moment to say goodbye because my mom was really close to her," said Santana.