Brazilian goalie probed over disappearance of ex-mistress

Brazilian goalkeeper Bruno has been suspended by his team Flamengo after police opened an investigation into the death of a woman said to be the mother of his child, according to reports here on Tuesday.

“Bruno has been sidelined from the rest of the team and remains at the disposal of the judiciary. No date has been set for his reintegration,” Flamengo director Patricia Amorim told the press.

The 25-year-old captain of Flamengo, one of Brazil’s most popular teams, is suspected of being involved in the disappearance three weeks ago and possible death of Eliza Samudio.

Samudio, 25, had been demanding a DNA test to prove that the married footballer was the father of her four-month-old child.

Police carried out a search Monday of the goalkeeper’s home near Belo Horizonte and, according to police chief Edson Moreira, found “strong evidence that Eliza had been there” before disappearing on June 4 or 5.

Her baby, who was allegedly hidden by the goalkeeper’s wife at a friend’s home, was located last Saturday at Contagem in the same region.

Samudio’s lawyer Anne Faraco claimed that Bruno had offered her client a monthly allowance of 3,500 reais (1,900 dollars), but she had been demanding more – angering the footballer.

According to Faraco and a friend of Samudio the footballer had threatened her during her pregnancy and demanded that she have an abortion.

Samudio had filed a complaint with police last October when she was five months pregnant.

Bruno, whose full name is Bruno Fernandes de Sousa, told Globo radio on Monday he had a “clear conscience. In the future I’ll be able to laugh at all this.”