Alex Marangon death investigation stalled by notification failure

The judicial proceedings regarding the death of 25-year-old Alex Marangon have reached a standstill due to a notification failure. Marangon died in late June 2024 at the Santa Bona Abbey in Vidor during a ritual involving ayahuasca, a prohibited hallucinogen.

The legal process is currently blocked because authorities have been unable to notify Johhy Benavides, one of the two curanderos who participated in the ritual. Benavides, a traveling musician with the folk group ‘Canto Vivo’, is reportedly unreachable.

This delay affects both the drug trafficking investigation and the hearing to oppose the dismissal of charges for voluntary homicide and death resulting from another crime. While the Marangon family is contesting the prosecutor's decision to archive the case, investigators suggest the death resulted from a 15-meter fall after Marangon allegedly combined ayahuasca with cocaine, a combination that caused severe intoxication.