published on in Live Story

Who Is Marcos Matsunaga and What Happened to Him?

Once upon a Crime: Elize Matsunaga is streaming on Netflix now. In it, for the first time, convicted killer Elize Matsunaga gives several in-person interviews. The four-part series delves deep into the harrowing case that shook Brazil when Elize Matsunaga shoot her husband, Marcos Matsunaga, dead on May 19, 2012, and sheds a light on who Elize and Marcos Matsunaga were before the tragedy took place

Who is Marcos Matsunaga?

Marcos Matsunaga was a Japanese businessman and the heir to the multi-million dollar food company Yoki.

Marcos and Elize Matsunaga met on a website for escorts, M.Class, where she advertised herself as Kelly. Elize Matsunaga, a former nurse, had been trying to pay for her law education and had turned to escorting to fund her college tuition fees.

He cheated on his first with Elize Matsunaga and the pair lived together for three years before his divorce was finalized. They later got married and had a daughter, Helena, together.

As heard in the Netflix documentary, Once Upon a Time: Elize Matsunaga, it was soon after the birth of their daughter that things started to go south.

In the Netflix documentary Elize Matsunaga: Once Upon a Crime, Elize Matsunaga shared she had planned on divorcing her husband after he had cheated on her.

However, after she found out she was pregnant, Elize Matsunaga decided to give their marriage another shot as they had spent years trying to conceive a child.

However, her suspicions of Marcos's unfaithfulness did not take too long to come back after the birth of their daughter.

What happened to Marcos Matsunaga?

Marcos Matsunaga was killed by a gunshot wound to the head and had had his throat cut by his wife Elize Matsunaga. He was 42 years old.

Elize Matsunaga then cut his body into seven parts—the head, two arms, torso, groin, and two legs—and disposed of his body in trash bags.

On the morning of May 20, CCTV footage recorded Elize Matsunaga seen entering the elevator with three large suitcases containing the big bags. She then cleaned up her flat using household disinfectant.

Marcos Matsunaga was last seen on the CCTV the day before, collecting pizza from the lobby.

His body parts were found in different spots along the side of the road by locals in Cotia, 20 miles outside of São Paulo.

After Marcos Matsugana's family began to worry about his whereabouts, Elize Matsunaga told his concerned family her husband had fled with a bag of clothes and between R$15,000 and R$20,000 ($2,850 and $3,800) in cash.

She even gave the family a reason why he had left—he had been cheating on her.
After the body parts were found, Elize became a suspect after phone records linked her to the location of the remains.

On June 4, 2013, she was arrested for her husband's murder. She stood trial in May 2016 and on December 5, 2016, she was sentenced to 19 years, 11 months, and 1 day in prison for the murder and destruction and concealment of a corpse after confessing to the crime

At her trial, Elize Matsunaga's defense argued it was a crime of passion and her husband's infidelity had led her to pull the trigger.

Elize Matsunaga had suspected for a month her husband was cheating on her. She hired a private investigator, who confirmed her suspicions.

Elize Matsunaga told the court the couple had sat down to eat pizza when they began arguing and he slapped her from across the table.

She also claimed Marcos Matsunaga had threatened to take custody of their daughter, Elena, if they ever ended their relationship. Elize Matsunaga then claims she then took out one of the many guns from their cabinet and shot her husband dead.

"I still don't know how to explain what kind of emotion made me pull that trigger", Elize Matsunaga reflects in the Netflix documentary, Elize Matsunaga: Once Upon a Crime.

On the other hand, the prosecution argued the killing of Marcos Matsuanga was premediated and she had shot him without any warning.

Today, Elize Matsunaga is serving a sentence at the Tremembé Women's Penitentiary São Paulo.

Eliza Capai, the director of the new documentary, said he felt a "great responsibility" to explore the shocking case in more detail.

He continued: "Not only for Marcos' family and friends who suffered with this tragedy, but also for Elize's family, people who knew nothing about it, but who also suffer the consequences until this day."

Elize Matsunaga: Once Upon a Crime is streaming on Netflix now.

Uncommon Knowledge

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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