Clarinha: 40 days after death, unidentified patient who spent 24 years in a coma in ES has not yet been buried | Holy Spirit

Understand the story of the mysterious patient Clarinha, who was in a coma for 24 years

Forty days after Clarinha’s death, on March 14, the body of the unidentified patient remains in the Legal Medical Department (DML) of Vitória. Twelve compatibility tests were carried out with possible family members during this period, four of which still yielded no results. The Civil Police intend to release the body for burial next week.

Among the exams, eight digital comparisons were carried out, seven with negative results and one still in progress. And four DNA tests, one with a negative result and three awaiting results.

Comparison by fingerprints

• A case from Brasília – negative necropapiloscopy report.
• A case from Bahia – negative necropapiloscopy report.
• A case from Espírito Santo – negative necropapiloscopy report.
• A case from Paraná – negative necropapiloscopy report.
• A case from Minas Gerais – negative necropapiloscopy report.
• Two cases from São Paulo – two negative autopsy reports.
• A case from São Paulo – necropapiloscopy in progress.

• A case from São Paulo – negative DNA report.
• A case from Maranhão/Piauí – no medical records of the missing person were found in the states. Because of this, family members were referred for DNA.
• A case from the Federal District – material forwarded by the Forensic DNA Research Institute of the Civil Police of the Federal District and analysis is underway.
• A case from São Paulo – material forwarded by the Technical Scientific Police Superintendency of the state of São Paulo and analysis is underway.

According to the police, the estimate is that the pending analyzes will be completed at the beginning of next week and, soon after, legal procedures will begin to release the body to the family member or, in the case of negative results, to the colonel Jorge Potratz, a doctor who took care of the patient during the years of hospitalization and was ready to carry out the burial.

The head of the Legal Medical Department, Wanderson Lugão, explained that, normally, the deadline for releasing the DML is 30 days, but, as this is a very specific case, it was established from the beginning that the release would need at least 40 days .

“This case is not common in our routine. I don’t remember another one with a fictitious name or so many comparisons. Generally, when it is not a case of national repercussion like this, and we have an unidentified corpse, two or three families on average come for examinations, and usually from Greater Vitória. In this case, there were many tests – until today, unfortunately, without positive results – and we extended the deadline a little to wait for the pending results”, he said.

The head of the DML explained that when a burial of an unidentified body is carried out by the team, some municipal cemeteries in Greater Vitória provide vacancies. Normally, they are those in Maruípe, in Vitória; that of São Domingos, in Serra; and Pedro Fontes, in Cariacica.

“It is good to emphasize that the burial takes place in a separate, single grave, and if a family member appears in the future, it will be possible to locate them correctly, with registration, just as it would be with an identified body, because many people think that there is no control”, he explained.

“We are not going to bury her as a pauper knowing that there is a person’s interest in giving her a dignified burial. If these latest results were also negative, we will contact the colonel and begin the process. He will have to complete the civil registration as authorized by the Court, and make a new request for the Death Certificate”.

Lugão clarifies, however, that a deadline has been established and, so far, the expectation is that the body will be released next week, when the comparisons and comparisons of the latest exams end.

“We have already extended the deadline and made every effort to process exams in this initial period, but we know that we cannot extend this as long as families continue to appear, because someone may appear in the coming weeks or months, we cannot predict”, he warned.

The head of the Vitória DML also said that, if new requests arise, the team will try to help. “If a case appears in the future and there is confirmation of compatibility or kinship, a request to a judge will be necessary for the family to collect the remains and bury them in their city, if that is their wish.”

During this period, Clarinha’s body is being refrigerated to maintain its condition until it is released for wake and/or burial.

“The body is stored in a single drawer, at a very low temperature, minus 10 degrees, and is preserved 100%, as if the person had just died,” said Lugão.

The City Hall of Vitória, the city where Clarinha was hospitalized for 24 years, informed that it is entirely at the disposal of the authorities and bodies responsible for carrying out the body identification processes and assisting with whatever is necessary, especially the procedures related to burial.

Clarinha’s story gained repercussion after a report on the case to be shown on Fantástico, in 2016. The woman was run over on Valentine’s Day, on June 12, 2000, in the Center of Vitória. From there, she was taken without documents to receive medical care, arrived unconscious and her identification was never proven by any family member.

During all these years, she was hospitalized in a vegetative state in city hospitals. Clarinha died on March 14, after feeling ill after a bronchoaspiration.