Story Productions cover manhunt for 7 Network

The murder of Brazilian businesswoman Cecilia Haddad on 29 April 2018 in Australia made headline news around the world. Haddad’s former partner Mario Marcelo Santoro, the main suspect in the murder case, boarded a flight home from Australia that same weekend, to Rio de Janeiro, a fugitives’ favourite. “The perfect crime” was how the press were describing it: Santoro beyond the bounds of any extradition treaty and facing years of Brazilian legal bureaucracy before even being brought to trial.

What might have been a perfect crime soon became a perfect soap opera as Rio’s homicide police unexpectedly opened their own case against Santoro, issuing a warrant for his arrest and joining the press pack in the hunt to track him down. 7 Network sent a small team to Rio de Janeiro to provide daily news reports on the case.

But tracking down a man that the police hadn’t yet found, while dealing with an 11-hour time change and a race to an exclusive in the midst of a media scrum was never going to be an easy task. That’s where the Story Productions team in Rio de Janeiro came in, providing on-the-ground production services for 7 Network, with two bilingual fixer-and-camera teams, one to accompany the 7 Network team and another to follow up on leads across the city. Round-the-clock logistical support included a driver, private security when necessary, accommodation, meals, 4G mobile broadband access, and translation.

“Our fears covering a complex and challenging crime story in a foreign country were quickly allayed once we met the Story Productions team,” writes 7’s reporter Ashlea Brown, covering the case. “Carolina [Story Productions fixer] is not only an outstanding translator, but also an intuitive, dynamic and skilled journalist. She navigated around hurdles and went above and beyond to ensure our mission to produce quality journalism was successfully achieved. We are also thankful, our crews safety was never compromised because of good planning and advice by Story Productions.”

Brown is back on location in Rio de Janeiro again this week, accompanied by the Story Productions team, as Santoro faces trial for the first time:

This story looks set to grab plenty more headlines before it comes to a close.