Cape Town – A young South African woman who survived a brutal assault and months of recovery in the United States has tragically been murdered in Brazil by the same man she once fled from, in what police have confirmed as a murder-suicide.
According to Times Live, Leigh-Anne McKenzie, 27, originally from KwaZulu-Natal, was found dead in an apartment in Paraná, Brazil, on July 19 — just a day after she had arrived in the country to reunite with Ian Alexander Bruder Hay, a former US military member and her alleged abuser.
Brazilian police believe Hay shot and killed McKenzie before turning the gun on himself, KPRC 2 News reported.
Inside the apartment, authorities discovered a 9mm pistol, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, cocaine rocks, syringes, a rifle drum magazine, multiple cellphones, scales, a computer, and other paraphernalia, according to Click2Houston.com.
“Neighbours noticed blood stains in their apartment. At the scene, two bodies were found … slumped over the bed,” the report quoted Magda Hofstaetter, one of the chiefs in the PCPR’s homicide division as saying.
“Neighbors reported hearing the gunshots but thought they were fireworks.”
The harrowing end follows a horrifying history of abuse that McKenzie herself publicly detailed in a GoFundMe campaign she launched in December 2024, titled “Help Aid Leigh-Anne’s Path to Recovery”.
In it, she recounted being assaulted, held captive, and tortured on October 31, 2024, in Hay’s Houston apartment:
“He had told me numerous times that he was going to kill me… As I feared for my safety, I tried to escape. Just as the third lock was unlocked, he grabbed me from the back. I fell and hit my head, shoulder, and back against the floor. I suffered three spinal fractures as well as a laceration to my right temple.”
McKenzie wrote that she was unable to call for help because Hay had broken her phone and laptop, and that the only thing that sustained her during the torture was prayer:
“I wouldn’t have been here if God didn’t save me… I kept praying that he would pass out so I could escape. Eventually, he did — with a rifle in his arms.”
She managed to flee the apartment barefoot and got to the hospital on November 2, where she was treated and discharged the following day. Despite reporting the incident, Hay was granted bail and fled to Brazil. For reasons still unclear, McKenzie joined him there on July 18.
In her fundraiser, McKenzie explained that she was left physically and financially devastated: her U.S. visa had expired, preventing her from working, and she had lost most of her belongings.
“I’m stuck in a foreign country without work, a serious injury that limits my movements, and a lot of mental distress. I really would appreciate any help I can get,” she wrote.
She had hoped for a fresh start — but instead met a violent end at the hands of the very man she had tried to escape.
The case has raised renewed questions about failures in international bail enforcement, survivor protection, and how women who survive violence often remain vulnerable despite seeking justice.
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Picture: GoFundMe
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu