Shivangi Sinha
Netflix’s ‘The Unthinkable Daughter’ (originally titled ‘Suzane Von Richthofen: O Que o Tempo Não Apaga’) details one of the most notorious cases in Brazil. In 2002, Manfred Albert von Richthofen and Marísia von Richthofen were killed in their home while they slept. While it was initially suspected to be a robbery, the police soon gathered evidence showing that the crime had been carried out by their daughter, Suzane von Richthofen, along with two brothers, Daniel and Cristian Cravinhos. The documentary details the entirety of the case and the legal proceedings that followed to bring all three to justice.
Cristian and Daniel Cravinhos Had Very Different Temperaments While Growing Up
The Cravinhos family had long lived in the same neighborhood of São Paulo, Brazil. Astrogildo Cravinhos de Paula e Silva was a retired notary clerk, while Nadja Quissak Cravinhos de Paula e Silva worked as a painting teacher. The couple had three children and lived a fairly middle-class life. After the birth of their eldest son, Marco, they welcomed Cristian Cravinhos de Paula e Silva into the family on November 21, 1975. Their youngest son, Daniel Cravinhos de Paula e Silva, was born on January 26, 1981. All three brothers had very different temperaments and pursued different paths in life. Marco was the one who got married and took on the primary responsibility of looking after their parents.
Daniel developed a fascination with model aircraft when he was just a teenager. He went on to become a champion in São Paulo, Brazil, and South America. In 1998, he placed fifth in the world at a championship held in Kyiv, Ukraine. He made a living by building and painting model planes and selling them. Daniel also enrolled at the Universidade Paulista (UNIP), where he studied for about six months before dropping out because he did not enjoy the course. Cristian, meanwhile, had an inclination towards motorcycles and enjoyed extreme sports such as parachuting and motocross. However, according to various reports, he had been admitted to hospitals over alleged drug addiction and was also allegedly in debt to some drug dealers. Some reports further claimed that he occasionally worked as a police informant.
It was in August 1999, while the von Richthofen family was walking in Ibirapuera Park, that they met Daniel. Andreas Richthofen was taken in by his aeromodelling hobby and asked him if he could teach him as well. Daniel agreed and began giving him lessons, which was how he first started interacting with Suzane von Richthofen. She admitted in the documentary that she sent Daniel letters through her brother, and the two soon started dating. Daniel often accompanied Suzane to her law school activities at PUC-SP. In her interviews, she added that they did everything together and were at a stage in their lives when they were trying everything, including allegedly smoking cannabis. What Suzane’s parents had initially thought would be a relationship that would eventually fizzle out soon turned serious, and they began raising objections to it.
Cristian and Daniel Cravinhos Were Called for Questioning After Police Found a Suspicious Purchase
The friction within the household continued to escalate. Suzane Von Richthofen shared that her parents had allegedly forbidden her from seeing Daniel Cravinhos altogether. According to the documentary, in May and June, the police were even called to the house when disputes between Manfred Von Richthofen and Daniel escalated. In July, when Suzane’s parents went away on vacation, she invited Daniel to stay with her at their house, which only led to further arguments once they found out. News reports add that, in September 2002, around 2 am, the police were called outside a house in Campo Belo after Manfred and Daniel allegedly threatened one another. Suzane and Daniel eventually came up with a plan, which they set into motion by approaching Cristian on October 30, 2002.
They got Andreas out of the house, while Suzane disabled the security system and cameras so that the three of them could enter without leaving any evidence of their presence. On the night of October 30–31, 2002, Suzane and Daniel picked up Cristian and made their way into the house. According to Suzane’s testimony during the subsequent legal proceedings, she remained downstairs while the other two went upstairs. Accounts from the crime reenactment stated that Daniel attacked Manfred, while Cristian attacked Marísia. After killing them, the three staged a robbery. Cristian was given money as payment for his involvement. Meanwhile, Suzane and Daniel checked into a motel to establish an alibi, as they later confessed.
Around 4 am, Suzane and Daniel collected Andreas from an internet café where he had been and feigned surprise upon discovering the bodies. It was Daniel who made the first call to the police. Investigators quickly ruled out the possibility of a robbery and began looking into the relationship between Suzane and Daniel. One of the investigators featured in the documentary recalled that Suzane did not seem particularly disturbed by the events. Their suspicions grew further when they discovered that Cristian had purchased an expensive motorcycle shortly after the killings. On November 8, 2002, Cristian was taken into custody, while Daniel was called in for questioning.
Cristian and Daniel Cravinhos Did Not Speak to Each Other While Serving Their Sentences
Cristian Cravinhos was the first to confess to the crime. In a clip featured in the documentary, he told the officers that he had warned Suzane Von Richthofen and his brother that they would not be able to get away with it. Daniel Cravinhos soon confessed as well, although in his initial statements, he maintained that he had acted to protect Suzane because he believed she was allegedly being abused at home. Cristian and Daniel were subsequently taken back to the house to reenact the crime. Both were arrested in connection with the killings and sent to separate prisons. Daniel was sent to Belém 1, while Cristian was held at Belém 2, in São Paulo, to prevent them from coordinating their accounts or influencing each other’s statements.
In November 2005, Cristian and Daniel were released on habeas corpus and allowed to await their trial outside prison. However, after prosecutors argued that they should not remain free before the trial, both were rearrested in January 2006. Following some delays, their trial finally began in July 2006. Both brothers testified in their own defense. Cristian initially stated that it was his brother who had carried out both the killings, while Daniel testified that Suzane was the alleged mastermind behind the crime. He added that she had allegedly accused her father of abuse and maintained that he felt she had used him. However, following their mother’s testimony, Cristian changed his statement and confessed to killing Marísia. He also accused Suzane of having orchestrated the entire plan.
Daniel was convicted of double triple-qualified homicide and procedural tampering. He was sentenced to 39 years and six months in prison. Cristian was convicted of double triple-qualified homicide, procedural tampering, and simple theft, receiving a sentence of 38 years and six months. Both brothers served their sentences in São Paulo state prisons, including Tremembé. By the time they were imprisoned together, however, the brothers had stopped speaking to each other. In February 2013, they were granted permission to move to a semi-open regime, which allowed them to work during the day and return to prison at night. They left prison for the first time since 2006 on May 10, 2013, which coincided with Mother’s Day.
Cristian and Daniel Cravinhos Are Living in Open Regime Today
In 2014, Cristian and Daniel Cravinhos lost their father. That same year, Daniel married biomedical doctor Alyne Bento and began building what appeared to be a relatively normal life. In January 2018, he was granted the open regime and found work customizing motorcycles and helmets, eventually making a living for himself. By 2023, Daniel’s first marriage had come to an end, but he had found love again with hairdresser Andressa Rodrigues. He decided to move to Campo Belo, São Paulo, and began reconnecting with his former passion for aeromodelling. He has since been living there away from the public eye. In January 2025, he married biomedical doctor Carolina Andrade and continues to serve his sentence under the open regime.
Cristian’s timeline took a somewhat different turn from his brother’s. He reached the open regime in August 2017 but was arrested in Sorocaba in April 2018 after a dispute with a woman and violating the terms of his release. He was later convicted of attempted bribery and sentenced to four years and eight months in the closed regime. In February 2025, he sought progression to the open regime again, which was granted on March 5. He left Tremembé prison that night, becoming the last of the three to reach the open regime. Prosecutors’ attempts to reverse the decision were unsuccessful. In July 2026, Cristian began selling adult content online but was permanently banned from Privacy and Fatal Fans the following month. He leads an even more private life than his brother and not much is known about his whereabouts since then.
Read More: Suzane Louise Von Richthofen: Where is the Killer Now?
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