A soap-opera actor was found buried, the apparent victim of a murder.

Jefferson Machado, a revered soap-opera actor who mysteriously vanished five months ago, was finally discovered dead on May 23. His remains were found concealed inside a wooden box, buried in the vicinity of a residence in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The confirmation of Machado’s tragic death was revealed by Cintia Hilsendeger, a close acquaintance, on the late actor’s social media account.

According to the police, Machado, 44, was found tied up and hidden inside a wooden trunk, which was encased in concrete and interred six feet under in the backyard of a house located in Campo Grande.

In an official statement, Jairo Magalhães, the attorney representing the Machado family, said, “His arms were found bound behind his head in a trunk that bears resemblance to the ones found at his residence.”

The police managed to identify the body by matching the fingerprints, and the presence of a “line” around his neck suggests a possible strangulation.

The ongoing investigation currently has a prime suspect who rented the house where the body was found. The suspect reportedly was acquainted with Machado and was spotted entering the property a month ago.

Hilsendeger shared her sorrow and outrage on Machado’s Instagram, declaring, “Jefferson was brutally and cold-bloodedly murdered by spiteful, vindictive, and, without a doubt, ruthless individuals.”

Machado was reported missing in January when he disappeared from his Rio residence. His last sighting was in Campo Grande.

The Machado family was notified of his disappearance when a non-profit organization reported that his eight dogs were found unattended at his house.

In the subsequent months, the family started receiving suspicious text messages from someone pretending to be the actor. His mother, Maria das Dores, grew suspicious due to the frequent misspellings and a style unlike her son’s.

Further causing alarm was the abrupt end to Machado’s calls, the impersonator’s excuse that he had lost his phone, the changes made to his cloud password, and the deactivation of his location tracker.

Machado, born in Araranguá, made his acting debut in 1997. He rose to prominence with the 2021 film “Placebo Effect (Efeito Placibo),” which he co-authored. His final performance before his tragic death was a role in the 2022 telenovela “Reis.”