Woman ‘Entrusted’ Her Baby to Her 5-Year-Old Son to Go to a Party, and Dies

A true tragedy occurred inside a home in a popular neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, where an eight-month-old baby died of asphyxiation while in the care of her five-year-old brother.

The baby was entrusted to the child by his mother, Vanuza Moura, 23, who was at a funk music party while the children were at home, unsupervised.
According to the Rio de Janeiro Police, Moura left her home around 2:30 a.m. on August 10 to go to a music party. She returned six hours later and noticed that the baby was unresponsive, so she took her to a hospital, where she arrived dead.

Initial investigations suggest that the little girl drowned while drinking milk from the bottle her mother had left for her little brother to feed her.
Neighbors who spoke with local authorities point out that this wasn’t the first time Vanuza left the children alone to go out to parties, but this time things didn’t go as she expected.

“Testimony confirms that Vanuza had this habit of going out, mainly at night. They also mentioned that she exhibited aggressive behavior toward her own children,” said Alexandre Netto Cardoso, a Rio de Janeiro police officer.

Moura has five children, but three of them didn’t live with her but with relatives who also tried on different occasions to take the other two children away from her.

The children’s father, who separated from the woman a few months ago, stated that he will try to obtain custody of the surviving child, who was unable to prevent his little sister’s death.