BACKGROUND
Carla Vicentini was born on April 29, 1983, in the city of Goioerê, Paraná, Brazil. She was the daughter of Tânia Vicentini and Orlando Vicentini. At the time of the events, she was 22 years old.
She had been studying Textile Engineering at a local college for three years; however, according to reports, she was not satisfied with the program and wanted to switch to Chemical Engineering.
One of her dreams was to participate in an exchange program in the United States, a dream she managed to fulfill in 2006. On January 19, she traveled to Dover, New Jersey, where she initially worked at a bar and lived with another Brazilian exchange student named Maria Eduarda.
However, due to poor working and living conditions (which were not specified in the media), they relocated to Newark, New Jersey. According to some sources, Carla did not have strong proficiency in English. In Newark, she began working at a restaurant, while Maria Eduarda worked at a bar. According to her mother, Tânia, Carla spoke with her every day and was very happy to have her dreams coming true.
DISAPPEARANCE
It is reported that during her early days in Newark, Carla and Maria stayed in an apartment and later moved into the apartment of a friend of Carla’s father on Ferry Street Avenue—a Brazilian man also from Goioerê who had lived in Newark for over 30 years. His name was José Fernandes.
On the night of February 9, 2006, Carla changed clothes after finishing her shift at a restaurant and accepted a ride from a coworker to the Adega Grill Bar, where Maria Eduarda was working. There, according to Maria Eduarda and other witnesses, Carla spent the night talking and drinking with another man, described as an American.
At one point, Carla handed Maria Eduarda a note. Due to being busy at work, Maria was unable to read it and placed it on the counter; however, it was eventually lost, and its contents remain unknown.
In the early hours of February 10,around 1-2 A.M Carla told Maria that she was going to the man’s car “to see a photo.” This was the last time she was ever seen.
INVESTIGATION
Three days after Carla’s disappearance, Maria Eduarda and José Fernandes—contacted Carla’s family to inform them that she was missing. A few days later, Fernandes traveled to Goioerê, where he had a previously scheduled court hearing.
The Newark Police Department formally took over the case. One of their first actions was to obtain the internal surveillance footage from the bar where Carla had last been seen. However, in what was described as a suspicious move, the bar’s owner refused to hand over the tapes that could have shown who Carla left the bar with that night.
Days later, police stated that they had obtained access to the bar’s surveillance footage; however, the cameras covering the entrance of the bar were not functioning due to a small fire that had occurred in the kitchen.
During an initial search of the apartment, Carla’s personal documents were found, including her passport, as well as the coat she had been wearing that night. This indicated that she had indeed returned to the apartment. It was considered unusual that she would have left without her coat, especially given that there was heavy snowfall that night.
Maria Eduarda was later called in to give a statement and assisted police in creating a composite sketch of the American man seen with Carla on the night of her disappearance. After this, the Brazilian woman moved out of the apartment she had shared with Carla. Reports indicate that she continued to cooperate with authorities in the investigation but was living in another state.
With no concrete leads regarding Carla’s whereabouts, the Newark Police Department offered a reward of US$2,000 for information that could help locate her.
Brazil’s Federal Police (PF) began investigating the José Fernandes, who had lived in Goioerê and owned the apartment where Carla had been staying. The PF did not officially confirm the allegations, but Fernandes—75 years old and a French/Brazilian national naturalized as an American citizen—was reportedly suspected of involvement in the illegal trafficking of Brazilians to the United States. The businessman denied any wrongdoing.
With no concrete information about Carla’s whereabouts, federal congressman Hermes Parcianello (PMDB), a personal friend of the Vicentini family, decided to travel to the United States on his own initiative to seek information. Parcianello spent three days in the U.S. and succeeded in having two officials from the Brazilian Consulate in New York begin monitoring the case.
However, these investigations failed to produce any conclusive results. Carla’s mother then embarked on an unrelenting search for her daughter. She later recalled:
"I searched and ended up following the discoveries of skeletal remains of many girls with characteristics similar to Carla’s. I cried for every one of them.”
In an interview with Gazeta do Povo, Carla’s father, Orlando Vicentini, made several controversial statements regarding José Fernandes. He claimed that José returned to Brazil on February 14, 2006, and did not contact the family to discuss the student’s disappearance. In an even more serious allegation, Orlando stated that José had sexually harassed his daughter approximately one week before she vanished.
José Fernandes denied the accusations, asserting that he had informed the family about Carla’s disappearance and that he had filed a lawsuit against Orlando in response to the harassment claim. He also alleged that Carla used drugs and said he had warned her about the dangers of going out at night.
During a parliamentary inquiry committee established in Brazil, Carla’s boyfriend testified that she had told him, during a phone call, that she was being harassed by José. According to him, she was so stressed by the situation that she often cried during their calls, and he would spend several minutes trying to calm her down. He also stated that Carla had been planning to move out of José’s apartment because of this, intending to do so on the following Monday, the 14th. The man seen with Carla was described by Maria Eduarda as “strange,” with blue eyes, red hair, and believed to be in his 30s. Based on the information she provided, a composite sketch of the suspect was created.
Accounts of the events diverge. According to FBI agents, security guards at the bar reported seeing Carla say goodbye to the man and head toward her apartment, As a result, authorities believe that the man likely had no involvement in her disappearance. However, some articles state that she was seen getting into a car with him.
In February of next year, it will mark 20 years since Carla’s disappearance. Although the investigation remains officially active, the case is considered completely cold.
Carla was blonde, had brown eyes, stood 5 feet 7 inches tall, and weighed about 140 pounds. She had several tattoos and piercings. At the time of her disappearance, she was wearing a white shirt, a blue coat/jacket, jeans, and brown high-heeled boots
SOURCES- (some in portuguese)
https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/carla-vicentini
So we know she returned to her apartment. We don't know that she left her apartment, willingly at least. Where was Jose Fernandez?
I think the guy at the bar is red herring. I am very suspicious of Fernandez.
Yeah if she was wearing the coat and it was at her apartment... I also would guess at the bar had nothing to do with it.
Perfect timing that she was about to move out but disappears right before??
Fernandes*
My autocorrect doesn't like that spelling.
Lusophobia!
I think the 30-something year old mystery man is a red herring.
I think Jose F. may very well be responsible for either trafficking Carla or being involved in her murder and disappearance.
I think Maria Eduarda possibly knows more than she let on. Not at all saying that she had anything to do with the disappearance, only that she might know something but was afraid to talk.
And I think it's rather suspicious that the bar owner refused to hand over camera footage to the authorities and then, when authorities finally did get access to the footage, a fire had conveniently wiped out the main entrance cams.
However, I'm unsure whether whatever the bar owner was trying to cover up had anything to do with Carla. Either way it sure seems like he was trying to cover up something but, like the mystery man, could also be a red herring.
Great write-up, OP!
I don't mean to be rude, but I very highly doubt that he trafficked her. Traffickers target vulnerable people whose disappearance won't be noticed, but Fernandes was perfectly aware that Carla was in regular contact with a loving family, and that she would easily be able to identify him as her kidnapper if she ever got the chance. Victims are typically lured in with promises of work, money, or drugs, the image people have of evil traffickers throwing young girls into the back of a van or spraying chloroform in the Walmart parking lot (yes, I've heard people make this claim) is bs. Trafficking victims typically don't go to the authorities because they're afraid of being arrested themselves, because the traffickers make sure to implicate them in something illegal, like sex work or being undocumented. That "security" doesn't exist when all Carla would have to do is whisper "help me, I've been kidnapped" to the cashier at the grocery store.
Could he have killed her, or used his alleged criminal connections to get rid of her? Absolutely possible. But trafficking makes very little sense here.
I wish more middle class white women shopping at target on Tik Tok realized this.
I think some people are missing a few important details here and kind of jumping to conclusions about her visa status. From what I’ve read, when they moved, Carla was working at a restaurant and Maria Eduarda was working at a bar. The restaurant was Mediterranean Manor, which is still open today. Maria Eduarda worked at the bar, and Carla was just meeting her there, not working illegally at the bar herself.
Also worth noting that this was a J-1 Exchange Visitor Visa Work and Travel situation, not some under-the-table setup. Students in that program were given lists of approved job options, mostly in hospitality and food service. In the early 2000s there were a lot of documented issues with how exploitative some of those placements were, especially housing. It’s very plausible that after being unhappy at the White Castle job and being housed in a hotel room with multiple other women, she requested a job change, which was allowed under the program as long as it was reported.
It also makes sense that she would choose a new placement close to where her friend was already working, especially if they were both placed in Newark. Given how closely J-1 participants were monitored and the reporting requirements involved, it’s actually pretty unlikely she was doing anything that violated her visa.
People also seem to forget that this wasn’t just a work or school visa. The whole point of the J-1 Work and Travel program was cultural exchange. Participants were encouraged to work in everyday American jobs specifically to experience American life. Based on everything available, there’s really no solid indication that Carla was operating illegally or outside the bounds of her visa at all.
Why do both parents have the same last name? I am pretty sure that in Brazil women don’t lose their last names when marrying…. Right?
She's listed in the Brazilian article with the Vincenti last name.
With Portuguese/Brazilian names, I've seen it multiple ways, so I think it's whatever they choose.
Thanks, I had never seen that, found the following online:
Typical Brazilian Names: Individuals usually have two surnames: their mother's paternal surname and their father's paternal surname (mother's surname comes first).
Marriage: When a woman marries, she often adds her husband's surname to her existing two names.
Simplification: To avoid overly long names, she might drop her mother's surname and keep her father's and the husband's.
Most women I know add, but some do get rid of their maiden name for their husband's name. Also, it's very common to refer to people by their first and last name (because in Brazil, people love names, middle names, middle middle names, and all the last names).
I work at a hotel, the amount of people I see with 3 last names, dime a dozen.
Love this. I actually also care for my last names, not just my mom’s and dad’s but also grandmothers’ great grandparents, etc. i know at least 3 from my mom’s parents. There is history behind them.
I do have a friend who fucking hates her father's name, so when she got married, she dropped his (so, her previous last last name), kept her mother's and added her husband's.
So she went from Mary Smith Johnson to Mary Smith Jones.
I'm not sure if we have laws surrounding number of names and last names - I think there are some rules regarding what one can name a child, but, given what I see literally every day, I don't know about that lol
Hahahaha. Yeah, sometimes babies names go wild. My cousin works in an academic environment and writes papers, she uses a hyphen so her dad’s and mom’s last names are seen because I think in a lot of places the would just either use one or think is a middle name or whatnot
It seems to me that perhaps the man is a red herring, and that he may have been an undocumented immigrant who did not want to cooperate with the authorities.
Apparently he was White/Caucasian and is described as an American so I highly doubt he was an “undocumented immigrant”
This seems like a fairly straightforward case without a lot of mystery.
Also, isn’t it illegal to work when in the US on a student visa?
There is / was a VISA specifically for this kind of program, called J1. Totally legal
J1 visas are designed to allow students to work internships related to their degree plans, not at bars to earn money.
There are more than one type of J1 VISA....
Summer Work Travel Program - Wikipedia https://share.google/7RdD7svHlmHyxlNwH
So the Summer Work Travel Program allowed her to legally work in a bar in January and February?
Yes. I've worked in a casino as a J1
Yes, you have to remember/know that the summer break in Brazil runs from January to March.
Ah so an American program uses the southern hemisphere definition of “summer?” And we know she was on this program?
Based on the sources, it’s possible to tell that she arranged this program through a Brazilian agency, and none of the sources — not even the FBI, etc. — mentioned that this exchange was in any kind of illegality. Also summer programs are based on the break period of students in their countries of origin, not of the U.S. In Brazil’s case, that would indeed be from December to March.
Including the move to the second job? From what I’m reading, the program requires a pre-arranged job
Why are you so focused on that part? What benefit does that have to help find out what happened?
Edit: This is a genuine question. I don’t mean for it to sound snarky. I don’t know anything about the rules and laws around visas and working.
There are different programs and plenty of J1’s work at the Jersey Shore in hospitality, especially Romanians.
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Which version of the J1 allows students to work jobs specifically and only to earn money?
The Work and Travel program
So this program would’ve allowed her to switch jobs quickly after arriving?
Yes you could change Jobs. That was totally legal and common. I was a J1 myself in West coast back in the 00s. Met dozens of College students from south america working in bars and restaurants
Okay thanks for the info.
Not sure, but irregularities do occur
So this is relevant information to the case, no? If she were working illegally?
Her Brazilian friend may have helped her find that job. But yes, it's likely the woman in question was working in the country illegally; restaurant jobs tend to be within reach for immigrants without proper status.
The police never named anyone in the story as a suspect, so what may have happened to her remains an open question.
And it wasn’t illegal — I didn’t include it in the write-up, but she was an exchange student under a work-based program.
Just because the police haven’t announced a suspect doesn’t mean it’s not obvious what happened.
Which program was that that allowed her to work in bars?
How do you know it wasn't illegal? Job hopping in bars and restaurants, two common under the table occupations, on a J1? Not happening.
How does covering up key information help solve the case?
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The most obvious answer is that the bar hired her, and probably other people, illegally, which might at least partially explain why it was so shady during the investigation.