A little less than a month ago, social media was flooded with posts from people obsessed with a podcast with a title similar to that of a horror movie: The Woman in the Abandoned House. As the posts grew, more and more curious people began to follow the weekly episodes, until the program went viral to such an extent that it ended up becoming news in the newspapers, even being commented on on gossip shows on television. In other words, even those who had not listened to the episodes became aware of the subject.
But, if you've never heard of it, the podcast “A Mulher da Casa Abandonada” is a production by Folha de S.Paulo about a case that was investigated for six months by journalist Chico Felitti, who is also the narrator oman mobile database of the story. Felitti began investigating the life of Margarida Bonetti, a resident of an “abandoned mansion” located in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in São Paulo, Higienópolis.
Initially, the journalist wants to know more about the reasons that led the woman to live in a house that is “falling apart”. During the investigation, he discovers that Margarida was accused of committing an unthinkable crime: she kept a Brazilian woman in conditions analogous to slavery for twenty years, in the United States, where she lived.
From then on, Felitti began to collect information about Margarida's family – one of the richest and most traditional families in São Paulo – to contextualize the reason she moved to the United States, how she took a woman to serve her in another country, and how the crime and the accusation happened. And although a complaint was filed against Margarida, she was never convicted or paid for the crime she committed. Instead, she fled to Brazil and became a fugitive from the FBI. And since then, she has lived in the dilapidated house.