A New York-based former Victoria’s Secret model and her family were kidnapped at gunpoint and held in a shack in Brazil, as police hunt the people behind the crime.
Luciana Curtis, her husband and their 11-year-old daughter were seized upon by masked men as they left a restaurant in Alto da Lapa, an upscale neighborhood in the West Zone in Sao Paulo. They were taken to a shack in a rural area of the state of Sao Paulo and held for 12 hours.
The gang transferred money to bank accounts of people linked to a criminal group and also stole the couple’s car, a GWM Haval, valued at more than $33,000. The stolen amounts have not yet been recouped by the model, 47, and her husband, photographer Henrique Gendre, 53.
The eldest daughter raised the alarm when the family didn’t return from the restaurant, and police were alerted. However, the gang had already released the parents and the girl around 10:30 a.m. Thursday.
“During the search by specialist police teams, the gang abandoned the family and fled,” police said.
They were dumped in an area in the north of the city and walked until they got help from local workers. Police went to the shack, but there was no trace of the criminals. No arrests have been made as yet.
Police said the trio “presented a very shaken emotional state” while Curtis’ press office said that the family “is doing well”.
Curtis is the daughter of British businessman Malcolm Leo Curtis. She splits her time between New York, Sao Paulo and London.
She has modeled for the likes of Victoria’s Secret, Harrods and H&M.
