On June 7, 2022, the podcast A Mulher da Casa Abandonada was released, telling the true story of a Brazilian aristocrat who fled trial in the United States in the 2000s. The show sparked widespread public fascination over the nearly two months during which the episodes were released. Among the elements that shape the narrative, the house and the neighborhood became key supporting characters in both the story and its reception, illustrating and laying bare how our society—and its territory—are shaped by structural racism.
Conceived, written, and hosted by Chico Felitti, the podcast tells the story of Margarida Bonetti, a white heiress of the Brazilian aristocracy who piqued the curiosity of her neighbors in the Higienópolis neighborhood by living in an old, abandoned mansion. As the story unfolds, we learn that Margarida is a fugitive wanted by the FBI, accused of assault and of keeping a Black woman in conditions analogous to slavery on US soil. Official records show that the case was tried in the United States, where Margarida’s husband was convicted, imprisoned, served his sentence, and paid restitution to the victim. Margarida, however, fled to Brazil and has been hiding in the mansion ever since.
