Kriti Mehrotra
With Lifetime/Netflix’s ‘Terror Comes Knocking: The Marcela Borges Story’ chronicling how a Florida-based family escaped a life-or-death situation, we get a drama original unlike any other. It follows a pregnant woman, her entrepreneur husband, and their young son as masked gunmen break into their suburban home looking for $200,000, only to find bare change in comparison. What follows is them being held captive for three days, moved around, and tortured, that is, until a confrontation between the titular woman and criminal mastermind Bianca Dos Santos ends with the former’s escape.
Bianca Dos Santos is Based on a Real-Life Suspect
Although the aforementioned production specifies it is indeed based on a true story, some aspects of it likely have been dramatized or fictionalized for clarity as well as entertainment purposes. That’s not to say any of the characters have been largely misrepresented, though, because Marcela Borges, Rubens Morais, and their 5-year-old son did face this ordeal at the hands of 4 individuals in November 2009. They were reportedly 19-year-old Oscar Diaz Hernandez, 25-year-old Miguel Diaz Santiz, his cousin, 20-year-old Victor Manuel Sanchez, and 21-year-old Bolivian-American Bianca Dos Santos.
According to records, Bianca allegedly masterminded the entire attack after coming across Rubens’ company through her mother’s private business, Holiday Tax Travel & Services in Orlando. It has been theorized that since the latter is where the father of two had his licenses prepared and taxes done, the young woman noticed the figures, thought he had all the money, and decided to rob him of $200,000. She reportedly had access to all his financial and private information because she allegedly often helped her mother out, which is how she learned details like his bank, family, and home address.
As per police records, Bianca even looked up the Borges-Morais family on social media before reportedly reaching out to some people she knew to be her crew, promising them a share of the loot. This allegedly ended up being the three aforementioned young men, who police believe then rang the doorbell of the family’s Lake Roberts Landing Drive home on a quiet Sunday morning. Rubens and his son opened the door together, just to immediately be faced by masked gunmen who went on to hurt the family and hold them captive for three days while extorting as much money as they could.
The crew found a little over $30,000 in the family safe before having Marcela empty out all their bank accounts for a total of nearly $24,000 on day 2, only for everything to change on day 3. According to the mother of two’s own accounts to the police, she was tied up inside her son’s room when she asked a masked Bianca for a cup of water, who decided to lead her to the kitchen. That’s when she took her chance, grabbed a knife, and put it to her captor’s throat while demanding she call 911 to end the ordeal for good, yet the 21-year-old fought back.
As Bianca and Marcela struggled, the former’s face covering fell off, driving her to shout to her crew that they “need to kill them because she saw me,” per police records. She allegedly dragged the pregnant mother back upstairs before trying to shoot her, changing tactics to reportedly literally beat her with her fists when the gun didn’t fire. “After I was beaten, I was left alone in my sons’ bedroom, but I could hear (them talking about killing us) in the next room,” Marcela reportedly told officers, and so she jumped out the second-story window to escape.
Little did Marcela know her actions would trigger chaos. The three men allegedly tried to finish the job before fleeing, whereas the alleged mastermind escaped without a look behind. While Oscar, Miguel, and Victor were all captured within hours, Bianca managed to slip through. In fact, she remains a fugitive to this day, with reports indicating she fled to her homeland of Bolivia, which is where she likely remains to this day. Therefore, she continues to have outstanding felony warrants against her name for multiple charges, including aggravated assault, kidnapping, and robbery with a firearm.
Read More: Terror Comes Knocking: True Story of Marcela Borges, Explained
