Billionaire and his wife found dead from ‘carbon monoxide poisoning’ at mansion off the coast of Sao Paolo
A BRAZILIAN billionaire and his wife have been found dead with carbon monoxide poisoning following a boiler leak at their home in Brazil.
Jose Bezerra de Menezes Neto, also known as Binho Bezerra, aged 64, was found lying alongside his wife Luciana, 62, and their dog on Saturday morning.
The tragedy took place at their luxury mansion beach home in Guaruja, on the coast of Sao Paulo.
They were found by their 27-year-old son Rodrigo Passos Bezerra de Menezes, who was at the home with other members of family at the time.
However, none of them were affected.
Jose and Luciana had been on one of the upper floors where the gas had accumulated.
The Sao Paulo Civil Police said they believed the couple died as a result of a leak of fumes from equipment used to heat the building.
A later autopsy report confirmed carbon monoxide poisoning was the cause of death.
A police spokesman said that although they were positive the gas leak was to blame, they still needed to confirm the technical reason for the leak.
The spokesman added that provisionally it seemed as if a pipe burst, which meant that the exhaust gas was not exiting the building and instead accumulated inside.
The property was one of the most expensive in their gated community but apparently Jose and Luciana did not have a working carbon monoxide alarm.
Had they paid just a few pounds to have one fitted, it could have alerted them or others in the house to the danger.
Forbes had previously named Binho Bezerra as the ninth richest man in the Brazilian state of Ceara with an estimated fortune of BRL 1.55 billion (GBP 249 million).
He was also listed as number 205 on the list of Brazilian rich people.
The banker was the son of Colonel Humberto Bezerra, who was a federal deputy and mayor of Juazeiro do Norte (CE) in the 1960s, as well as vice-governor of Ceara and president of BicBanco.
Heir to Norma and Humberto Bezerra, he was once the youngest bank president in Brazil, at 38 years old.
Binho was a member of the third generation of controllers of BicBanco, now CCB Brasil, which was sold to China Construction Bank for BRL 1.62 billion (GBP 260 million) in 2013.
Founded in Juazeiro, the institution had shares traded on the Sao Paulo stock exchange until it withdrew in 2015.