A Life Too Short: The Isabella Nardoni Case, also known as “Isabella: O Caso Nardoni,” is a Netflix documentary that explores the specifics of the murder of Isabella Nardoni, a five-year-old child whose death shocked the entire country of Brazil. It is directed by Micael Langer and Cláudio Manoel. Even though the incident in question occurred more than 15 years ago, the Brazilian crime documentary’s portrayal of it has rekindled interest in the story’s specifics. Here is what we do know about it, though!
How Did Isabella Nardoni Die?
The parents of Isabella Nardoni were Ana Carolina Oliveira and Alexandre Nardoni. Her parents separated when she was just 11 months old. She was born on April 18, 2002. She was nevertheless close to both of them despite this. She resided with her mother during the week and her father, stepmother Anna Carolina Jatobá, and half-brothers Pietro and Cau Nardoni on the weekends.
The occupants of Edifcio London heard a disturbance on the evening of March 29, 2008, and Isabella was discovered lying on the ground in the front garden. At the time, her father and his family lived in a home on the sixth level of the structure. Alexandre quickly fled the scene, ostensibly alleging that a black-clad intruder had allegedly removed the safety netting in his daughter’s room’s window and thrown her out the opening.
Isabella was showing signs of cardiac arrest, so the medical staff attempted to revive her for little over 30 minutes after calling the authorities. Carolina, her mother, was also made aware of the circumstance and arrived as quickly as she could, but it appears that she did not dare to touch her daughter for fear of worsening the child’s condition in some way. Soon after they arrived at their destination, Isabella was rushed to a hospital, but shortly after that Carolina, who was in the same car as Isabella, learned that her daughter had died.
Who Killed Isabella Nardoni?
The night of Isabella Nardoni’s passing, according to Alexandre Nardoni, he and his family had taken a car back home. He had reportedly carried his daughter to her room and when he saw that she was asleep, he had locked his house and gone downstairs. Then he continued, saying that as soon as he returned to the top floor with his family’s other three members, he immediately discovered Isabella wasn’t in her room and that her window’s netting had a hole in it. Before running downstairs, Alexandre stated that he had yelled at his wife to call his father, Antônio Nardoni.
But the experts and investigators discovered data that didn’t seem to support the narrative. From the building’s front door to Isabella’s window, there were blood splatters that someone had obviously tried to wipe up. The five-year-old had probably been carried in wounded by someone about the size of her father, Alexandre, based on the height from which the blood splatters had likely fallen.
The fact that Isabella’s body appeared to have suffered from asphyxiation and strangulation as well as wrist injuries suggests that not all of her wounds were caused by the fall. Due to these and other discrepancies in their testimony, the investigators had a strong suspicion that Alexandre Nardoni and Anna Carolina Jatobá were responsible for Isabella’s death. On April 2, 2008, they were first detained for the same offence, but they were shortly freed.
The forensic evidence suggested that Isabella had already been hurt before she even reached the house that night, leading to Alexandre and Jatobá’s arrest later that month, on April 18, 2008. The pair insisted adamantly that they were innocent, nevertheless. The victim’s father first appeared to have said that a man in a black outfit had broken into his house and might be to blame for his daughter’s murder, but he later denied making such claims.
The trial of Alexandre and Jatobá finally began on March 22, 2010, and the two were charged with killing Isabella and tampering with a crime scene since they reportedly tried to clean up the blood splatters in their home. The fact that their testimony appeared to conflict with one another, however, led many people to conclude that they were covering up something. In the end, Alexandre was found guilty of killing Isabella and given a sentence of 31 years, one month, and ten days in jail. He also had to serve a concurrent term of 8 months for allegedly attempting to tamper with evidence. Jatobá, his wife, received a similar sentence of 26 years and 8 months for the murder of Isabella plus 8 more months for the second allegation of attempting to cover up a crime scene.
But the experts and investigators discovered data that didn’t seem to support the narrative. From the building’s front door to Isabella’s window, there were blood splatters that someone had obviously tried to wipe up. The five-year-old had probably been carried in wounded by someone about the size of her father, Alexandre, based on the height from which the blood splatters had likely fallen.