Elize Matsunaga now: Netflix hit and life after prison
Elize Matsunaga, 44, now lives in Franca, Brazil, on conditional release granted in 2022 after serving part of a nearly 20-year sentence for killing and dismembering her husband in 2012. A new Netflix film, Elize: Sombras de uma mulher, has renewed interest in her case.
Key Takeaways
- Elize Matsunaga was sentenced in December 2016 to 19 years, 11 months and one day for the 2012 killing of Marcos Matsunaga.
- She left prison on conditional release in 2022 and now lives in Franca, where she has worked as a rideshare driver and making pet clothes.
- Netflix’s Elize: Sombras de uma mulher, starring Lorena Comparato, quickly became Brazil’s most-watched title on the platform.
- Earlier screen treatments include a 2021 Netflix documentary and Prime Video’s Tremembé (2025).
Interest in Streaming & TV Alerts spiked again after the drama returned her story to Brazilian charts. According to O Globo, the case that once put her in Tremembé is back in the spotlight.
Where is Elize Matsunaga today?
Born Elize Araújo Giacomini in Chopinzinho, Paraná, she is now 44. O Globo reports she lives in Franca and remains on conditional release granted in 2022.
She previously worked as an app-based driver. Her most recently reported work is making clothes for pets, per CNN as cited by O Globo.
In a video sent to lawyer Luciano Santoro around the Tremembé series, she thanked supporters and said she was glad for a “second chance,” while acknowledging she cannot undo what happened to Marcos.
What sentence did Elize Matsunaga receive?
In December 2016, after a seven-day jury trial, she was sentenced to 19 years, 11 months and one day. Charges included triple-qualified homicide and destruction and concealment of a corpse, according to São Paulo’s court reporting summarized by O Globo.
She served time at the women’s penitentiary in Tremembé, inland São Paulo. Revista Bula notes she served about half of that term before release conditions applied.
Marcos Matsunaga, heir to the Yoki food group and father of their daughter, was killed and dismembered in 2012—the crime that defined her public image.
Why is Elize Matsunaga trending on Netflix again?
Elize: Sombras de uma mulher stars Lorena Comparato, with a screenplay by Raphael Montes and Mariana Torres and direction by Felipe Vellas. Revista Bula says the Brazilian film became Netflix’s most-watched title in the country less than 72 hours after premiere.
It follows Netflix’s 2021 documentary Elize Matsunaga: Era uma vez um crime and Prime Video’s fictional Tremembé (2025), whose second season is already in production.
Comparato, 36, called the dismemberment scene “pesado” (heavy), according to Folha’s F5. She researched extensively before portraying one of Brazil’s most notorious recent true-crime figures.
Viewers chasing the buzz should know the film dramatizes a real conviction—and that Elize Matsunaga is no longer behind Tremembé’s walls, but living under conditional freedom in Franca.