A trunk outside of a house in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, contained the body of soap opera actor Jefferson Machado, who had been missing for almost five months. A family friend named Cintia Hilsendeger announced the actor’s passing on his Instagram profile.

She stated in the message, “It is with great regret that we inform you that Jeff was found dead on May 22, 2023.”

Machado, who was raised in Araranguá, began his training as an actor in 1997.

A notable performance of his was in the 2021 movie Efeito Placibo, which he also co-wrote. On the 2022 soap opera “Reis,” Machado’s final performance before passing away was as a Philistine.

Also Read| Who is Aoki Masanori, suspect arrested for rare shooting in Japan that left 4 dead?

How was the actor killed?

The 44-year-old’s body was reportedly found chained and packed inside a wooden chest that had been covered with concrete and buried six feet beneath the backyard of a home in the Campo Grande area, according to the authorities, G1 reported.

According to R7 News, the family’s attorney Jairo Magalhes stated in a statement that the man “had his arms tied behind his head and was buried in a trunk that is very similar to the ones in his own house.”

The lawyer said that the fingerprint-identified corpse had a “line” on the neck, indicating that he had been strangled.

Also Read| Jana Kramer Engaged To BF Allan Russell After 6 Months Of Dating: Who is Allan Russell?

According to the Daily Mail, nine personnel were required to exhume the trunk from the ground, as seen in police footage. Police are presently looking into a man who had rented the property while the investigation is ongoing. The anonymous suspect was last saw entering the home about a month ago. He supposedly knew Machado.

Family friend Cintia Hilsendeger posted on the actor’s Instagram account, “Jefferson was coldly and brutally murdered by envious, evil and, of course, unscrupulous people.”

This brings to a conclusion a protracted and terrible odyssey that started when the Rio native disappeared in January and authorities said they had last seen him near Campo Grande.

After an NGO got in touch with Machado’s family to let them know that his eight dogs had been left behind at the home, they found out about his abduction.

Also Read| Jana Kramer and Allan Russell engaged: Relationship timeline

The family started receiving texts from someone they thought was the actor throughout the following months. Maria das Dores, the mother of Machado, stated that she thought the email was odd because it was full of spelling mistakes and didn’t seem like her son.

He had also ceased calling her, and the accused impostor had stated that this was because he had “dropped his cellphone in the toilet,” according to Dores.

The change in Machado’s cloud password and the deactivation of his location-tracking feature caused the family to become further worried.