The family of Camila da Silva Lira, 16, who was shot at least nine times and killed in her apartment in Bom Retiro, central São Paulo, is awaiting the trial of Zhenhua Wu, 34, a Chinese national charged with the crime. Camila lived in the Federal District before moving to the capital, São Paulo, and had been in an emotional relationship with the defendant for about a year at the time of the murder. This incident occurred in September 2024.
Check out our interview with Camila’s mother.
Wu Zhenhua remains under arrest and is awaiting trial. He will face a popular jury at the Judicial Court of the State of São Paulo (TJSP) on the charge of qualified murder. The date is set to February 19, 2026.
The victim’s mother, Roberta da Silva Santos, 43, is debilitated by the weight and sense of impunity, but she advocates for giving the perpetrators the maximum sentence.
“Justice for my Camilla. I hope he doesn’t pay a single day more or less than his sentence. What he has to remember is that he destroyed my family and my life. He took the best part of me. May my daughter rest in peace with the Lord,” Roberta said.
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The young woman’s mother, Roberta da Silva Santos, talks about her daughter and the murderer’s trial.
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Before moving to the capital of São Paulo, Camila lived with her family in the Federal District.
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Teenager Camila da Silva Lira, 16, was shot dead by a Chinese businessman.
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Camilla was 16 years old
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Family wants capital punishment for defendant
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Chinese suspect Wu Zhenhua, who murdered Camilla, becomes popular jury member
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mother is suffering from the loss of her daughter
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Roberta lives in Samanbaia (DF) and will go to SP to accompany the jury in person
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Camila was brutally murdered in SP’s apartment.
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Before going to São Paulo, Camila lived in QNL, Taguatinga Norte (DF), where she was separated from her mother and three siblings (one older and two younger).
Without her presence, the family chose to leave the old home where she lived together, but the memory of the teenager continues to exist everywhere. Grief among relatives is shared. Renata da Silva Santos, 39, a domestic worker and the victim’s aunt, has been closely monitoring the case and is demanding justice.
“We’re worried that he won’t be punished. We hope he gets a fair sentence and really pays for what he did. Unfortunately, we can’t get our niece back. She won’t come back. But he has to pay,” Renata said.
From the family’s perspective, Camilla’s tragic death was sudden. It is unclear whether the victim was aware of his fate. Of course, my family couldn’t have imagined it either.
From an early age in the Federal District, Camila worked at an event and catering company to support her family.
According to her mother, it was at one of these events that the young woman met Chinese businessman Wu Zhenhua.
“Camila attended a businessman’s party in October 2023 and met this man. She returned home dazed. She told me that he had ‘opened up a world of opportunities’ and offered her a better life in the capital of São Paulo. I was against it, but she started an affair with him behind my back. After some insistence, she said she would go to São Paulo with or without my consent,” her mother said.
Roberta said she decided to let the young woman see the city on the condition that she returned. “My daughter introduced me to some friends who would go with me and we went on a road trip with another family in December 2023. We decided to let our daughter go so she wouldn’t run away. Things started to get out of control while she was in SP.”
According to her mother, the situation got completely out of control after the girl returned to Brasilia. “Everything bad started happening in the house. I felt a heavy energy. We lost our car, things were broken in the house, we didn’t even have anything to eat. Camila said she would run away if I didn’t let her go.”
The two also asked for release, but were unable to formally register. In this way, Camila persuaded her mother to go to São Paulo and work as a waitress and nanny, despite her mother’s concerns about the girl’s age and the dangers of the big city.
In February last year, the young woman permanently transferred to SP. Roberta finds out that the young woman works at a high-end casino and makes a lot of money. During this period, the young woman continued to visit Brasilia on commemorative days to visit her family. She also underwent cosmetic surgery on her nose.
Roberta knew from conversations with her daughter that the teenager was living with another young woman in the Liberdade area, and described Camila’s Chinese partner as aggressive and impatient. Although the Chinese man was not living with the boy, he was able to freely enter and leave the apartment where the boy lived. Although the man did not speak Portuguese, the victim’s aunt said she also noticed that Camila was studying Chinese to better communicate with the man and was planning a trip to China.
Roberta learned of her daughter’s death on Sunday morning when she was contacted by investigators in Sao Paulo. However, this news had already been circulating in local media in São Paulo since early morning on Saturday, September 14th, the day of the incident.
After Wu Zhenhua’s death, Roberta learned that he had a wife and child living in China. When the defendant’s attorney filed a habeas corpus petition, the main argument was that the family was financially dependent on the defendant.
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The Chinese man was arrested red-handed on the day of the crime. In his testimony, Wu claimed he fired in self-defense. The suspect said he had previously met the boy on another occasion and that she had tried to get a gun to kill him that morning, and the man reacted and shot her.
Police also reported that when responding to the incident, the suspect was sitting on the floor and appeared mentally disoriented and unresponsive.
Let’s find out who the Chinese businessman is.
Wu Zhenhua
The victim was found naked and shot on the floor, with the weapon next to his head and several ammunition capsules scattered around him.
Zhenhua is also charged with illegal possession of a firearm. The businessman’s weapon was a Turkish-made, unregistered pistol with restricted use.
The family believes Camila’s murder may be related to her knowledge of the Chinese man’s business in Brazil.
The teenager’s body was buried on September 19, 2024 at the Campo da Esperanza cemetery in Taguatinga.
“My daughter was very loving, present, and dreamy. She was always in touch with me and really wanted us to have a better life than we had. She was vain and wanted big things. Unfortunately, she She didn’t know how to look at the dangers surrounding her. She has no intention of turning back and her son must pay for what he did. And I hope no other victim will do the same.”
The defendant’s attorney was called by the report, but did not comment on the matter until the report’s release. The space remains open for positioning.
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