Overview
- In May 2012, Elize Matsunaga shot her husband Marcos Kitano Matsunaga, dismembered his body and left the remains near Cotia in São Paulo, facts later established by the Brazilian courts.
- Elize was convicted in 2016, had her sentence reduced on appeal in 2019, and moved to an open or conditional regime after roughly a decade in prison, entering conditional release in 2022.
- The couple’s daughter was one year old at the time of the killing and has been raised by her paternal grandparents, who hold legal custody and have court orders barring Elize from contact while the child is a minor.
- The 93‑minute fictional film 'Elize: Sombras de una mujer' premiered on July 22, 2026, and quickly reached top rankings on Netflix Brazil, renewing public attention to the case and driving searches and coverage.
- Critics and family statements have focused on the ethics of telling the story from Elize’s perspective, and renewed coverage has deepened pressure on the Matsunaga family to protect the teenager’s privacy and defer any reunion decisions until she is an adult.