Person of interest in Cecilia Haddad murder found living it up in Rio
THIS is the first picture of the ex-lover who fled Sydney just hours before Cecilia Haddad’s dead body washed up in the Lane Cove River. Three weeks after her death, The Daily Telegraph tracked down Mario Marcelo Santoro — a person of interest in the murder case — in his hometown of Rio de Janeiro.
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THE ex-boyfriend named as a person of interest in the murder of Sydney woman Cecilia Haddad has emerged in Rio three weeks after her death — which his mother insists he only learned about from police.
The Daily Telegraph tracked down Mario Marcelo Santoro, 40, to an address on the famous Copacabana Beach in the Brazilian city, where it can be revealed he flew just hours before Ms Haddad’s body was found.
NSW Police want to speak to Mr Santoro, who lived with Ms Haddad in her Ryde apartment until she kicked him out two weeks before her murder. No charges have been laid and police have not sought a warrant to extradite him.
MYSTERY OF CECILIA HADDAD’S LAST FEW HOURS
Police have identified Mr Santoro as a person of interest, and are understood to be pursuing witnesses and further evidence. Officers want to speak to a number of people in Brazil about the murder.
It can also be revealed for the first time that Mr Santoro was at Sydney Airport on the morning of Sunday, April 29, at the time Ms Haddad’s body was found floating in the Lane Cove River.
It is understood she was killed on the morning of the previous day, shortly after she was last heard from in a phone call to a friend. Her red Fiat was found abandoned at West Ryde railway station on Sunday afternoon. Police have information indicating her keys were thrown into the water from the Gladesville Bridge. It is understand police suspect a hire car was also used by the killer.
Ms Haddad’s family in Rio said they have been told police are close to a breakthrough in their investigation.
But Mr Santoro’s mother, Jane Santoro, told The Telegraph her son had nothing to do with Ms Haddad’s death.
“The police called him from Australia and talked through everything with him. It was just clearing things up,” Mrs Santoro said at her beachfront apartment in Copacabana.
Mr Santoro would not respond to questions when contacted. Over the phone, he said: “I am sorry I cannot talk to you about this.” When he was approached on Sunday outside his mother’s apartment he refused to comment.
The Telegraph can also shed new light on Mr Santoro’s life in Brazil before he moved to Australia.
Following the breakup of his marriage to wife Thais in 2016, he moved from the three-bedroom Copacabana apartment they shared with their two young daughters to a sprawling complex in the nearby up-market waterfront suburb of Barra.
A doorman at the home formerly shared by the pair said it was “well known” there were problems in the marriage prior to their breakup.
“There were a lot of arguments, a lot of people talked about it here,” he said.
Thais Santoro told The Telegraph last week “I have nothing to say” about her ex-husband.
Jane Santoro said she could see no link between the woman’s death and her son. “Everything that needs to be resolved about the girl (Ms Haddad) needs to be resolved in Australia now,” Mrs Santoro said. “She was just his ex-girlfriend. He found out what happened from the police.”
Confirming she had heard rumours linking her son to Ms Haddad’s disappearance, she said “it’s got nothing to do with us, what they are saying”.
Ms Haddad’s family have been consulted by NSW Police. “The police in Australia are saying we have nearly finished, we are close to the end of the case,” a source close to the family said.
Mr Santoro has been interviewed over the phone by officers in Australia but Brazilian police have not yet been in contact, according to Mrs Santoro. Police in Rio said yesterday they are still considering whether or not to agree to The Telegraph’s request for an interview and would not comment further.
The Australian Federal Police have also been asked to provide support should it become necessary, but a source confirmed they have not been further involved in the investigation.
Ms Haddad’s family are concerned that anything they say could be “prejudicial” to the investigation and were consulting a lawyer.
Additional reporting by Matt Roper