Yeah, that was him. His name is Guilherme de Pádua, and in December 28, 1992, Guilherme and his real-life wife, Paula Thomaz (right), stabbed to death co-star Daniela Perez (left), who was none other than his love interest in the soap opera. His wife at the time wasn't even 21. Daniela was 22.
In this video, you can see the story covered by CNN (I'm telling you - it was a huge deal) and towards the end, a scene where she tries to break up with him, saying that she's no longer in love. That was the last scene they shot together.
Guilherme confessed, then was charged and convicted of the murder of Daniela. That was all people in Brazil talked about for a long, long time. It was an extremely graphic and brutal murder. He appeared on TV with bruises all over his arms, which showed that she tried to put up a fight before being killed. His wife at the time and him, after trying to hurt Daniela with a screw driver, stabbed her with a pair of scissors more than 12 times. I remember vividly how the media kept showing her dead body lying on the grass, still at the place where it all happened. She had such recognizable features, she looked strikingly like herself lying covered in bloodand with wounds on her neck. She was young, and pretty. She was wearing a pair of jeans on and white sneakers.
As if this story couldn't get any weirder, her mother, Gloria Perez, was the director of the soap opera. Before the news leaked to the media, and before becoming a suspect, Guilherme met with Gloria and Raul, Daniela's husband, to offer his condolences. Nine hours later, he was arrested.
He and his wife were sentenced to 19 and a half years in prison. He served six, only to be released in 2001. According to the law in Brazil, he's no longer considered a felon. It's like the crime never occurred. He lives in Belo Horizonte, the city where my parents, and now I, live. He's re-married, and he can walk the streets like nothing ever happened. He's gained weight and he looks older, but I immediately recognized him. It was an odd experience to say the least. He was with a couple of women, one younger (probably his wife) and one older, watching them shop and being like any guy on a Sunday afternoon.
Now - who would marry someone like that? Who would sign up for that kind of life? Who could erase from their memory all the TV shows we watched in the early 90s with his faced stamped on it, followed by the dead body of the women HE STABBED MORE THAN 12 TIMES? Who could forget that, at one point, he actually tried to change his story and blamed his ex-wife for the whole ordeal. How can someone get past that?
It was like having O.J. right there in front of me, 2 inches away, for several minutes. I had time to look at him while remembering all the images we all saw over ten years ago. Except for it's in Brazil. Here, O.J. wouldn't have to say IF he did it. He could have confessed and would still be able to study at the same private university I went to, and still be eligible for a scholarship only months after being released from jail. He would enjoy his weekends as a free man, with a very forgetful woman and a criminal record that is about as clean as mine.
