The Murder of Isabella Nardoni

In March 2008, five-year-old Isabella Nardoni died after falling from the sixth-floor window of the São Paulo apartment where she lived with her father, Alexandre Nardoni, and stepmother, Anna Carolina Jatobá.

Investigation

Investigators found signs of a struggle inside the apartment and determined that Isabella had been assaulted before being thrown from the window. The case drew intense national media coverage, and the trial was broadcast live.

Trial and sentence

A jury convicted both Alexandre Nardoni and Anna Carolina Jatobá of aggravated murder. Nardoni was sentenced to 30 years in prison, and Jatobá to 26 years and 8 months.

Where they are now

Both later earned progression to semi-open and then open-regime custody after years of imprisonment, a standard feature of Brazil's progressive sentencing system for well-behaved inmates. As of 2026, a legal challenge questioning whether they are meeting the conditions of their open-regime custody is under review by Brazil's Superior Court of Justice; the challenge does not reopen the question of guilt.