A pregnant woman has been found butchered with her stomach cut open with police believing her injuries were sustained in a ritual killing.
Police found the body of Ohana Karolin, 24, who was seven months pregnant in the area of Mogi Guacu in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo on September 21.
Passers-by called municipal civil guards to the site, but they could only confirm the death of the young woman who was already the mother of three children.
When she was found, she was only wearing a T-shirt and a pair of flip-flops, and there were a number of coins next to her mutilated body.
According to local media, her stomach had been cut open and her womb pulled out - although it is unclear as to how the young baby was affected.
Police suspect that the 24-year old mother-of-three was attacked in some sort of depraved ritual, but have said they will investigate all areas of enquiry.
They contacted her ex-husband immediately to locate the body after her corpse was identified.
Meanwhile, one of her friends claimed she saw Ohana inside a black car around midnight on the day of the crime.
Other witnesses confirmed seeing what appeared to be the same vehicle near the crime scene at around 3am the same day.
The police initiated an investigation concerning the incident and are waiting for a follow-up analysis from the Legal Medical Institute and the Institute of Criminalistics.
The crime was registered as a homicide at the Mogi Guacu General Investigations Police Station.
Additionally, on Friday night, a heavily pregnant woman was killed in a drive-by shooting just one day before her baby shower.
Jennifer Hernandez, 20, who was eight months pregnant, was found dead in the car in North Harris County, Texas.
The car she was in was sprayed with bullets in a suspected road-rage shooting, tragically killing both mother and unborn child.
According to local media, Jennifer was expecting a baby boy - and the Harris County Sheriff's Office said Hernandez was found in the passenger seat of the vehicle, reportedly a blue Nissan Sentra.
Her 17-year-old boyfriend was shot twice, but survived..
"We are absolutely devastated by Jennifer’s passing," a GoFundMe page for Hernandez states.
"Nana was a wonderful daughter, a wonderful sister, and would have been a wonderful mother."
