Brazilian mother’s mutilated body found on side of the road in rural Michigan

NORTHFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (TCN) -- A 57-year-old man faces charges in connection with the death of a Brazilian tourist whose remains were found in rural Michigan last month.

According to the Northfield Township Police Department, on Sunday, June 30, pedestrians found the body of 42-year-old Suzan Barbosa-Ferreira in a culvert along a dirt road. WJBK-TV reports that the victim’s remains had been mutilated. Barbosa-Ferreira’s family members told the news source she lived in Brazil but had been traveling at the time.

Investigators with the Dearborn Police Department worked with Northfield Township Police and learned the victim’s last known location was a home in Dearborn. Authorities identified 57-year-old Fareed Hajjar as the primary suspect in the case and arrested him on July 9.

Hajjar allegedly was an acquaintance of Barbosa-Ferreira. Family members reportedly said the victim missed a flight to North Carolina, her next destination. Barbosa-Ferreira’s relatives then tracked Barbosa-Ferreira’s phone to the suspect’s residence, WJBK reports.

On July 12, the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office charged Hajjar with two counts of dead bodies –– disinterment and mutilation and concealing the death of an individual. A judge set his bond at $2 million.