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DEBORAH BRANDÃO’S FAMILY TODAY

Police were dispatched to the scene of the crime at approximately 4:17 p.m., responding to a supposed domestic disturbance. What they found at the scene was far more gruesome. Another neighbor, Michael Kweder, was attempting CPR on Brandão, but to no avail. She was gone. In her final moments, she looked deep into the eyes of her beloved son, who stood frozen in horror, unable to move or avert his eyes away from the scene of his mother’s death. In the end, all that remained was Brandão’s corpse. The responding officer at the scene described it: “She was covered in blood. A lifeless body on the ground. No pulse, no movement, nothing except blood everywhere.” (Rellahan 2023b) together, with Sarah Brandão trying to give Deborah Brandão’s children the life she wanted for them. Deborah’s other sister, Silvia Brandão, has also expressed sadness over her sister’s murder. Speaking to Brazilian news outlet g1 , Silvia stated that her “family is . . . trying to rebuild itself again, restructure itself, but incomplete. She [Deborah] is greatly missed, it is an immense pain.” Silvia is also trying to return Deborah’s ashes to her homeland of Brazil so the family can “bid a dignified farewell to her.” (Salahieh, Todd, and Cooper 2023) Deborah Brandão’s children were only three and seven years old at the time the murder occurred. The grief of watching their mother being killed in front of their eyes heavily affected them. Brandão’s sister, Sarah Brandão, and her husband have taken the children in, raising them alongside their cousin. Reportedly, Sarah Brandão was devastated when she found out about Deborah’s murder, stating that her “world ended.” (Maxouris 2023) The family have worked through their trauma

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