A man, identified as Erick Otávio Araújo, is fugitive after killing his partner in front of his two young daughters in São Gonçalo, in Rio de Janeiro. The case occurred on Saturday (13) and was registered as feminicide.
According to the Civil Police, the suspect killed his partner for not accept the couple’s separation. After the crime, Erick would have fled the scene. The police try to locate him.
The Niterói, São Gonçalo and Itaboraí Homicide Police are investigating the case. The man is the subject of an arrest warrant.
1st deadliest quarter in history
Brazil registered 399 victims of femicide between January and March 2026according to data from the Ministry of Justice and Public Security. The number represents an average of four women killed per day in the period — the equivalent of one victim every five hours in the country.
The amount represents the since the beginning of records by Sinesp (National Public Security Information System) in 2015.
January was the month with the highest number of cases this year, with 142 victims. In February, there were 123 records, and in March, 134. Compared to the same period in 2025, when 371 femicides were recorded, there was an increase of around 7.5%.
Among the states, São Paulo leads with 86 cases. Next come Minas Gerais (42), Paraná (33), Bahia (25), Rio Grande do Sul (24), Pernambuco (22) and .
Other units of the federation also had occurrences in the period, such as Goiás (18), Pará (17), Santa Catarina (12), Mato Grosso (10), Rio Grande no Norte (10), Ceará (9), Alagoas (8), Distrito Federal, Paraíba (7), Maranhão (7), Amazonas (6), Espírito Santo (6), Sergipe (6), Mato Grosso do Sul (6), Piauí (5), Tocantins (4) and Rondônia (2). Acre and Roraima did not register cases in the period analyzed.
Femicide was classified as a heinous crime in 2015, provided for in Law No. 13,104, which amends part of Decree-Law No. 2,848/1940, which classifies homicide as a crime. Femicide is considered when there is violence “against women for reasons of their female sex status”. In other words, the motivation for the practice is precisely because the victim is a woman. Domestic and family violence, and disregard or discrimination against women’s status are also practices considered a crime.
