Mystery as woman, 20, is found buried in neighbour’s garden as mum reveals haunting moment she could have SAVED her

A WOMAN has been found buried in a neighbour's garden as her mum revealed the haunting moment she could have saved her.

Thuane da Silva Machado, 20, had been sent out by her mum to buy vegetables but failed to return to her home in southern Brazil on Monday.

Her panicked mum Simone went out into the streets looking for her and asked neighbours for help.

But in a horrifying twist, Simone said she remembered hearing a girl scream but didn't realise it her own daughter until it was too late.

She said: "When I passed by with a neighbour, I heard someone shouting 'mum, help!'"

"I went home. Half an hour later, the penny dropped."

She returned to her neighbour's home and asked him to let her in to search for her missing daughter.

He agreed and Simone didn't find anything - but noted that a porno was playing on his TV.

The man later fled the scene on a motorbike.

Simone said: "The police arrived, they sealed it off. After night fell, I don't know how, they found her buried outside his door."

Thuane's body was reportedly found with signs of sexual assault and was later sent to the morgue in nearby Duque de Caxias.

Simone said the suspect is an ex-convict and a known wife-beater who had been living at the residence for less than a month.

Simone said of her daughter, who, like her, was a churchgoer: "My daughter was such a perfect girl, a young girl, a family girl.

"My daughter didn't go out, she just stayed on her mobile phone, on social media, a calm girl."

The police are searching for the suspect - whose identity has not been reported - and they continue to investigate the crime scene.