Yahoo Finance Couple on the run for 20 years found at idyllic beach resort
A husband and wife started a new life running a swanky guesthouse at an idyllic beach paradise after being on the run for 20 years after being convicted of extortion through kidnapping.
The Brazilian couple, who actually own a pair of upmarket guesthouses on Garcez Beach in Brazil, were arrested at their property on February 19.
Leandro Silva Troesch and Shirley da Silva Figueiredo were sentenced to 14 and nine years in prison respectively for a crime they committed 20 years earlier, but they never served time after going on the run.
The couple and three accomplices were convicted of kidnapping a woman in the neighbourhood of Itapua in Salvador and demanding a ransom of $8000 for her in 2001.
According to local media, famous visitors stayed at the couple’s guesthouses in the following years and well-known artists even performed there, with the suspects managing to stay under the radar of the law all that time.
The couple's lawyer Abdon Abadde has since told local media that the couple never shied away from arrest, but the authorities never sought them out until now.
"They have Instagram, they put on events at the hotel and they advertise them. They are public figures and they have been there all along," he said.
The Instagram pages of 'Paraiso Perdido' and 'Pousada Aconchego das Aguas' have just shy of 90,000 followers, and the couple can be seen appearing in photos along with clients and public figures on the pages.
They were transferred to the Mata Escura Penitentiary Complex in the Bahia state capital of Salvador where they will serve their respective sentences.
Australscope
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