Brazil files homicide charges after woman thrown from bridge without rope in rope-jumping tragedy

The fatal jump

On Saturday 13 June, at the abandoned Ponte do Esqueleto in Limeira, São Paulo, a 21-year-old woman was thrown 40 metres into the void during a rope-jumping activity, but the safety rope that should have connected her harness to the bridge was not attached. A video captured the moment two instructors held Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas aloft while a third helped launch her, and a bystander immediately shouted “The rope!” as the cord lay on the deck. She died at the scene from multiple fractures.

The security equipment was not properly secured at the time of the jump. The victim did not survive the fall.

Safety lapses and witness horror

Higor Diniz, a participant waiting for his own jump, told local television that every other jumper that day, including children as young as 6, had been checked before jumping, but for the victim’s jump “they didn’t do the essential: check if she had the rope.” The rope-jumping group, operating under the names “Entre Cordas” and “Ih voei”, was not a registered company and had no permit for the activity. The bridge, long abandoned, is popular with unlicensed extreme-sports enthusiasts despite a sign reading “Danger, risk of death”. The victim had paid 25 dollars for the jump and 30 more for a camera to record it; the device was not recovered.

There were 6-year-old children jumping. In hers, which is the most dangerous, they didn’t do the essential: check if she had the rope.

Legal response and preventive detention

By Sunday, six people had been detained; two fled into nearby woodland and were captured with a helicopter. A São Paulo judge ordered preventive detention on Monday for three men aged 27, 32 and 42, charged with “homicídio com dolo eventual”, a form of intentional homicide where the perpetrator does not aim to kill but assumes the risk. The other three suspects were released for lack of direct evidence. The police investigation is ongoing, and authorities have cited a lack of safety protocols.

Victim’s background and final messages

Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas lived in Jandira, worked as a gym instructor and studied physical education and sports management. She had travelled with her fiancé, who was hospitalised with shock after witnessing the fall. Hours before the jump, she posted an Instagram story of the bridge with the caption “Who was the crazy one who let me jump off a bridge?” and shared photos of a skull-and-crossbones danger sign and paper wristbands reading “Welcome to the ropes!” and “Flight authorised.”

Who was the crazy one who let me jump off a bridge?

Aftermath and timeline

The victim was buried on Sunday in Jandira. Limeira’s city hall announced it would sue the federal government, which owns the bridge, for negligent management, stating that the death “makes the continuation of this omission unsustainable and unacceptable.” The federal heritage secretariat (SPU) said it was ready to cooperate with investigations.