The Richthofen case refers to the murder, subsequent investigation, and trial of Manfred Albert von Richthofen and Marísia von Richthofen, a couple murdered by the brothers Daniel and Cristian Cravinhos at the instruction of their daughter, Suzane von Richthofen.
Suzane and Daniel met in August 1999 and began a relationship shortly afterward. They became very close, but the relationship did not have the support of their families, especially the Richthofens, who forbade it. Suzane, Daniel, and Cristian then hatched a plan to fake a robbery and murder the Richthofen couple, so that the three of them could share Suzane's inheritance.
On October 31, 2002, Suzane opened the door to the family mansion in Brooklin, São Paulo, so that the Cravinhos brothers could enter the house. After that, they went to the second floor of the property and killed Manfred and Marísia by beating their heads.
The public's interest in the case was so intense that the TV Justiça network considered broadcasting the trial live. TV stations, radio stations, and photographers were even authorized to capture and broadcast sound and images of the opening and closing moments, but the final ruling denied authorization. Five thousand people signed up to occupy one of the eighty seats available in the audience, which congested the Court of Justice's website for an entire day. Suzane and Daniel Cravinhos were sentenced to 39 years and 6 months in prison; Cristian Cravinhos was sentenced to 38 years and 6 months.
Von Richthofen family The famous von Richthofen has many notable members. Among the family's relatives are: Ferdinand von Richthofen (geographer, 1833-1905); Oswald von Richthofen (diplomat, 1847-1906); Else von Richthofen (political scientist, 1874-1973); Frieda von Richthofen (philosopher, 1879-1956); Manfred von Richthofen (aviator, 1892-1918); Lothar von Richthofen (aviator, 1894-1922); Bolko von Richthofen (archaeologist, 1899-1983); Hermann von Richthofen (diplomat, 1933-2021).
Manfred Albert von Richthofen and Marísia met in the 1970s when she was studying medicine and he was studying engineering at the University of São Paulo (USP). After they married, they went to study in Germany. On their return, he began working for private companies until he joined Dersa, the state-owned company that manages roads in São Paulo. When she returned from Germany, Marísia opened a psychiatry practice. Suzane was born on November 3, 1983. Four years later, the youngest child, Andreas, was born.
In the neighborhood of the house where the family lived for almost fifteen years, in the South Zone of São Paulo, the four are remembered with sympathy. "It was the Doriana family, the happy family," says psychologist Luciane Mazzolenis, a neighbor of the couple, whom Suzane called her aunt. The von Richthofens moved out of the house - worth 400,000 reais - in 2000. But Manfred and his children often went to the house to collect mail and rake leaves from the yard. The family conflicts began when Suzane started her relationship with Daniel.
Manfred Albert von Richthofen Manfred Albert von Richthofen (Erbach, February 3, 1953 - São Paulo, October 31, 2002) was a German-born Brazilian engineer, married to psychiatrist Marísia von Richthofen. Through his father, his branch would have lost most of its possessions and influence, mainly as a result of the fall of the German Empire in 1918, and his nation's major participation in World War I (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945). According to Manfred's marriage note published in a newspaper, his father was Joachim Hermann Oskar von Richthofen. In 1996, Manfred gave an interview to the now-defunct Jornal da Tarde, in which he claimed to be the great-nephew of the Red Baron. This interview was retrieved in October 2021 by a portal in the city of Santa Cruz do Sul, where Manfred's mother, who later moved to Germany, was born. Although Manfred's supposed kinship with Red Baron was widely reported in the Brazilian press, the German lineage of the aristocratic family denied any kinship.
According to a personal friend, Manfred was not an outspoken person, but he had a good sense of humor, was very intelligent and cared about his children's education. He had worked at Dersa since November 1998 and had been the company's Engineering Director since June 2002. As an employee of the company, he took part in the project to build São Paulo's Rodoanel Mário Covas, an expressway that bypasses the city, linking several highways. Manfred earned 11,000 reais a month at the state-owned company, but he had possessions because of his family. Marísia, who ran a psychiatric practice, earned around 20,000 reais from consultations. Manfred's fortune was valued at around 11 million reais at current prices.
In July 2006, the São Paulo State Public Prosecutor's Office reopened an investigation into the family's estate and Manfred's alleged illicit enrichment from work on the western stretch of the Rodoanel. The funds were to go into an account in Switzerland and be sent to Suzane. The case had been investigated for the first time in 2004 but was considered inconclusive. The new investigation was carried out under the secrecy of the courts and, in 2015, it was again closed due to lack of evidence.
Marísia von Richthofen Marísia von Richthofen (born Marísia Abdalla, José Bonifácio, January 19, 1952 - São Paulo, October 31, 2002) was a Brazilian psychiatrist. She lived for fourteen years of her life in José Bonifácio, a town 40 kilometers from São José do Rio Preto. Marísia's grandfather, Miguel Abdalla, moved from Sorocaba to José Bonifácio in 1920 and was one of the pioneers in local commerce. With Miguel Abdalla, his children moved to Bonifácio, including Salim Abdalla, who married Lourdes Magnani in the city and had two children - Miguel Neto and Marísia. The psychiatrist studied in the town until 1966 and then moved to São Paulo with her grandparents. The news shocked her relatives in Sorocaba and José Bonifácio. The daughter of Italian and Lebanese descendants graduated from USP with her brother. She was considered the most outgoing and popular of the Richthofen family.
Suzane von Richthofen
Suzane Louise Magnani Muniz (at the time of the crime Suzane Louise von Richthofen; São Paulo, November 3, 1983) is a Brazilian artisan, entrepreneur and criminal. She was born into a wealthy family in the city of São Paulo, the daughter of engineer Manfred Albert von Richthofen and psychiatrist Marísia von Richthofen, and the sister of Andreas Albert von Richthofen. Her father, born in Erbach, emigrated to Brazil after being offered a job due to his training as an engineer. Until the murders that culminated in her imprisonment, Suzane lived with her parents in a mansion in the Brooklin Velho neighborhood.
In October 2014, eleven years after her conviction, Suzane announced her marriage to another inmate named Sandra Regina Ruiz Gomes, sentenced to 27 years in prison for the kidnapping and death of a teenager in São Paulo. Known as "Sandrão", she was the ex-girlfriend of Elize Matsunaga, who was jailed for killing and dismembering her husband, Marcos Matsunaga, in 2012. In order to live with Sandra, Suzane had to sign an affectionate recognition document, required for all prisoners who decide to live together. With this document, she moved out of the evangelicals' wing, where she lived, and into the married prisoners' cell, where she shared space with eight other couples. People connected to Elize and Sandra said that the two had been together since the beginning of the year and that the relationship ended because of Suzane. The three worked in the prison's sewing workshop, where Suzane was the boss. The relationship was pointed out as one of the reasons why Suzane gave up the right to spend her days out of prison.
In February 2015, Suzane gave an interview with TV presenter Gugu Liberato in which she said she had planned the murder of her parents together with the Cravinhos brothers. She also claimed to regret the crime and confessed that she met Daniel, who would become her boyfriend, when she was 14, through her mother, and that with him she led a life "where she could do anything". She admitted to missing the presence of her parents, expressed her desire to be forgiven by her brother, Andreas, and confirmed her intention to give up her father's inheritance.
After the interview, "Sandrão" was released from prison and transferred to the Women's Resocialization Center in São José dos Campos, the same prison from which she was expelled in 2010 after assaulting a prison guard. With the move, their relationship ended and Suzane began dating a businessman from the transport sector.
In February 2017, she was pre-selected to get a loan, through the federal government's Higher Education Student Financing Fund (FIES), to attend a private college in Taubaté, near Tremembé, the city where she is serving a semi-open sentence in the women's prison. The course she chose was business administration, but Suzane needed permission from the Court of Criminal Executions to be able to go out at night. She got permission in 2016 but didn't continue with the course. In September 2021, the court authorized Suzane to leave prison every day, at a set time, to study pharmacy. On January 11, 2023, Suzane was released from prison after 20 years in jail, after which she moved to Angatuba, in the interior of São Paulo, and opened a studio. In March, Suzane began a relationship with doctor Felipe Zecchini Muniz and in September, biographer Ullisses Campbell also announced that she was also pregnant and living in Bragança Paulista, where she became a local icon. On December 13, Suzane and Felipe entered into a stable union contract and she changed her surname to "Magnani Muniz", being respectively the surname of her maternal grandmother and the other of her spouse. On January 27, 2024, Suzane gave birth to her first child, Felipe, at the hospital where her husband works, Albert Sabin, in Atibaia.
Andreas von Richthofen Andreas Albert von Richthofen (São Paulo, July 3, 1987) was a quiet boy who was considered shy and had few friends. He spent most of his time locked in his room watching TV or on the computer. He was polite to the servants at the mansion, and waited for his father to arrive every day when he talked about his day. When the family went to the farm they owned in São Roque, Andreas and Manfred made carpentry objects and looked after the plants in the garden. The boy studied two languages and was a brown belt in karate. Andreas had a reserved temperament, like his father. He received around 2,000 reais a month in pocket money from his parents and, unlike Suzane, he kept most of the money.
Suzane and Andreas were very close to each other. According to reports, the two were always close, accomplices and confidants. "One always protected the other," said one of Suzane's childhood friends. "I never saw the two of them fight. They talked a lot and got on well," said former employee Silândia. The boy also liked to play in the yard with a shotgun and look after a guinea pig. Andreas studied with his sister at Colégio Humboldt until the end of 2001, when he went to Colégio Vértice by the decision of his parents since Suzane hadn't passed a USP entrance exam. At the time, Colégio Vértice was the number one school in terms of USP entrance exam passes.