The team responsible for the extreme jump that cost the life of 21-year-old Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas allegedly acted with “amateurism and inexperience,” according to Commissioner Andrea Dantas Levy, who is coordinating the investigation into the tragedy that occurred Saturday morning in Limeira, in the interior of the state of São Paulo.
The young woman fell from a 40-meter-high bridge while rope jumping, a sport that involves leaping into the air while secured to safety ropes. According to investigators, Maria Eduarda was supposed to be attached to two ropes, but neither was attached to her body at the time of the jump.
Footage recorded on site shows the instructors lifting her and throwing her into the void without the safety system being properly connected. The impact with the ground caused her multiple injuries. Although she was still alive in the first moments after the fall, despite the first aid provided by a nurse present on the scene, the young woman died shortly thereafter.
According to the commissioner, the organizers operated informally and did not have a properly incorporated company. Despite having been practicing the sport for about five years, they demonstrated a lack of adequate training to manage a high-risk sport.
“The rope was the essential element of the activity. How could it have been forgotten?” the investigator stated.
The informal company that marketed the jumps, known as “Entre Cordas”, has not yet responded to requests for clarification from the press, limiting itself to sending automated messages.
Investigations confirmed that at least ten other jumps had already been carried out on the same day before the accident. Maria Eduarda, however, was the first participant to experience the “aviãozinho” (“little airplane”) mode, in which the person is supported by a group of operators and then launched from the structure.
The young woman was also using a wrist-worn camera to record the experience. The device has not yet been recovered, and police suspect it may have been removed or stolen after the incident.
According to investigators, the video recording of the jump was not included in the basic package, which sold for about 180 reais. Anyone wishing to obtain the footage had to pay an additional fee.
Following the tragedy, six people were arrested by police. Three of them remain in pre-trial detention: Luis Felipe Feliciano Egoroff, 32, Vitor de Freitas Gonçalves, 27, and Maicon Fernandes Cintra, 42.
The three will face charges of intentional homicide, a crime in Brazil that occurs when a person knowingly accepts the risk that their actions could cause someone’s death. According to the prosecution, those directly responsible for the jump assumed this risk by failing to ensure the safety ropes were properly attached.
Defense lawyer Rafael Gomes dos Santos, interviewed on Globo’s television program “Fantástico,” said that his clients are deeply shocked and still cannot explain precisely what happened.
The other people involved were questioned and later released, but remain under investigation. Among them is a woman who allegedly managed the promotion of the activity on social media. She told investigators that she deleted the account used to advertise the jumps for fear of possible retaliation.
The police continue to gather testimonies and have already acquired payment data from the electronic terminal used by the organizers. New information may be added to the investigative file in the coming days.
The accident occurred on the so-called Ponte do Esqueleto, a structure belonging to the former Brazilian federal railway network. The site had already been the scene of similar incidents: in 2025, two people were injured after hitting the ground during a jump, while in 2024, the death of a cyclist led to an attempt to close the area, a measure that was not implemented.