Brazil: Soccer Ref Decapitated After Stabbing Player

July 8, 2013 12:49 PM By Cora Van Olson

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Photos of da Silva's beheaded, dismembered body, and his head on a stake (inset)

It’s a well-known fact that sports fans in Brazil take their soccer very seriously, but when a referee expelled Josenir Abreu from a game over the weekend of June 30, 2013, and stabbed him to death, even fans knew something was wrong — so they stormed the field, and ripped the ref to pieces.

According to a statement made by the Public Safety Department on Maranhao, Brazil, referee Octavio da Silva Catanhede Jordan, 20, expelled Josenir dos Santos Abreu, 30, from an amateur soccer game at the Pius XII stadium in Maranhao, northeastern Brazil, after an argument over a call. It seems that Abreu was less than pleased with the outcome and soon the two men were beating each other with their fists on the field. Da Silva was armed with a pocketknife, which he took out and used to stab Abreu, multiple times. Abreu died on the way to the hospital.

The statement goes on to say that spectators, believed to have been Abreau’s friends and relatives, immediately “rushed into the field, stoned the referee to death and quartered his body.” They then reportedly decapitated da Silva, and stuck his head on a stake in the middle of the field.

Police have arrested one suspect so far in connection with the murder, Luis Moraes Souza, 27, but are still searching for two other suspects, named Chiquinho and Pirolo.