Andre Zachary Rebelo Convicted of Murdering His Mother for Insurance Payout
A crypto trader has been found guilty of murdering his mother to claim over a million dollars in life insurance and maintain a facade of a ‘perfect life’, a court heard.
Colleen Rebelo, 58, was discovered dead in her shower by her youngest son at their Perth home on May 25, 2020. Initially, her death was not considered suspicious, and an autopsy failed to determine the cause. However, it was later revealed that her son, Andre Zachary Rebelo, had taken out three life insurance policies on her in the week before her death, totaling $1.2 million (£500,000), naming himself as the sole beneficiary.
At the time of her death, Andre and his ex-partner Grace Piscopo, an Instagram influencer with over a million followers, appeared to be living a luxurious lifestyle. Their social media posts depicted lavish vacations, flashy cars, and opulence. Yet, behind the scenes, the couple was struggling with over $120,000 in debt, a jury was told.
In the days following his mother’s death, Rebelo, 28, aggressively pursued the insurance payout, submitting fake medical records, a falsified coroner’s report, and even used an AI-generated voicemail to impersonate his mother’s psychologist.
It wasn’t until years later that an employee from the insurance company grew suspicious of the claims. After an investigation into the suspicious circumstances of Colleen Rebelo’s death, Andre Zachary Rebelo was arrested in connection with her murder two years later.
This case reveals the extreme lengths an individual will go to in order to maintain a glamorous image, even at the cost of a loved one’s life.
