85-year-old woman is murdered inside her own store in the interior of SC | Santa Catarina

Elderly woman is murdered in the center of Pinhalzinho, SC

An 85-year-old woman was murdered inside her own store in the center of Pinhalzinho, in the west of Santa Catarina, this Tuesday (2). According to the first information from the Civil Police, she was beaten to death, according to police chief Lucas Almeida.

The Military Police were called around 8am. A friend of the victim told police that she arrived at the store and saw that the establishment was in disarray. She called for the elderly woman, but received no response.

A firefighter who was in the barbershop next to the store went to the scene and found the victim already lifeless in the establishment’s bathroom.

According to the delegate, the elderly woman was identified as Olívia Steffens. She owned the store, which sold clothes, and lived on the top floor of the establishment.

“She was beaten to death. These are the first impressions, but only with the cadaver report for sure”, summarized Almeida.

The Civil Police investigate the case as a qualified homicide, but do not rule out the possibility of robbery, or robbery followed by death, as the store was ransacked.

The suspect is a man who appears in neighborhood security camera footage entering the store. The establishment itself does not have a monitoring system.

This Wednesday, the Civil Police must listen to the victim’s family, even to check if something was stolen from the store.

“She was a harmless lady, well known in the city, a kind person. Nobody understood what happened. Society was perplexed by the cruelty of the murder,” said the police chief.