Father, stepmother held in girl's death

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- The father and stepmother of a 5-year- old girl allegedly thrown from a sixth-floor apartment window were arrested Friday, Brazilian police said.

Alexandre Nardoni, 29, and his wife, Anna Carolina Jatoba, 24, may face homicide charges in the death of Isabella de Oliveira Nardoni, police inspector Aldo Galeano told Brazil's Globo TV network.

The two will remain in jail while prosecutors decide whether to bring formal charges in an indictment, the next step in Brazil's legal process.

Isabella Nardoni died March 29 after falling from her father's sixth-floor Sao Paulo apartment. Her death became a front-page scandal that has riveted the nation.

Police, who found a hole cut in a safety screen on one of the windows, believe Isabella was thrown from the apartment -- but don't know if she died before or after the fall.

Preliminary tests on her neck and lungs indicate she may have been strangled, and blood was found in her room, police said.

Alexandre Nardoni told police that an intruder had killed his daughter. He said he left her on her bed while he went downstairs to the parking lot to help his wife and other two children. He said he locked the apartment, but she was gone when he returned.

Neighbors told police they heard a girl yelling "Stop, Dad!" shortly before Isabella was found dead on the lawn below.

Nardoni and Jatoba turned themselves in to police shortly afterward. They were released last week, when a judge ruled there was insufficient evidence against them.

The two stayed with family members until Friday, when they were rearrested and brought to a downtown police station.

c2008 ANG Newspapers. Cannot be used or repurposed without prior written permission.
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.