A jilted brute raped and strangled this girl and then burnt her alive on the eve of her 12th birthday to get revenge on his ex-girlfriend’s family.

The body of missing Bianca Rodrigues Siqueira Lima was found in an area of woodland on private land in Paraiba do Sul, Brazil, on Saturday night (23rd July).

It would have been her 12th birthday.

A 22-year-old man was arrested in Chiador, around 40 kilometres (25 miles) away, hours earlier accused of killing Bianca.

Police spokesman Claudio Batista Teixeira said: “He reported that he had taken Bianca to a rural area in Paraiba do Sul, where he had sexual relations with her and then caused her death through strangulation.

“Once dead, Bianca’s body was burnt by the same boy.”

But the police spokesman added: “The autopsy report provides information compatible with the boy’s account.

“However, it brings evidence that Bianca was attacked before dying and she died not due to strangulation but due to the burning of her body, since there were traces of soot in her lungs.”

Bianca’s body was found after the suspect led police to the scene of the crime.

He was then taken to Paraiba do Sul police station, where he remained as of Sunday (24th July).

Batista Teixeira explained: “He was charged with aggravated homicide and concealment of a corpse.

“If we manage to verify, through a complete forensic examination, the information he gave us about there having been sexual relations, he will also be charged, later, for the crime of rape of a vulnerable person.”

He is due to be transferred to a nearby prison today (25th July), where he will attend a custody hearing. The expected decision is that he will remain in prison.

According to investigators, the suspect committed the crime to get revenge on his ex-partner’s father, whom he blamed for the end of the relationship.

He saw the attack on Bianca – the man’s stepdaughter – as a way of getting revenge.

The police spokesman said: “He had a close relationship with the family. He has daughters with a daughter of Bianca’s stepfather. Therefore, he wasn’t unknown.

“There are accounts of him threatening everyone from the family with the end of his relationship with Bianca’s stepfather’s daughter.”

Bianca had been missing since 2pm on Friday, 22nd July.

Her family had reported to the police that she had been snatched by a motorcyclist after leaving home to go to her grandmother’s house.

She thought the biker – the suspect – was “a person she could trust”, according to Batista Teixeira.

The suspect was arrested after being spotted in Chiador, where he has family.

Bianca was buried in Tres Rios – which neighbours Paraiba do Sul – on Sunday.

In a statement on the same day, the Town Hall of Paraiba do Sul said: “The Mayor of Paraíba do Sul, Dayse Onofre, decrees three days of official mourning for the death of the adolescent Bianca Rodrigues Siqueira Lima, a student of our Municipal Education Network.

“May God welcome the beloved Bianca and comfort the hearts of her parents and family.”