Brazilian teenager Davi Nunes Moreira died a slow death after injecting himself with a mixture of crushed butterfly.
Authorities said Moreira, 14, likely did it as part of a social media challenge, according to the Brazilian news outlet Mix Vale.
In the days following his injection, Moreira began vomiting and had difficulty walking.
On Feb. 13, little more than a week later, he would die at a hospital in Planalto, Brazil.
Moreira had reportedly jabbed the syringe — containing the liquid of a butterfly he had crushed — directly into his right leg.
As Moreira began limping and experiencing pain in the affected leg, his parents grew concerned.
But when his father asked him what was wrong, Moreira told him he had injured himself playing.
As the symptoms worsened, his family checked him into the hospital.
This 14YO decided to mix Dead Butterfly remains in water and inject the concoction into his leg.
I am serious. The young man suffered tremendously before dying.
Authorities believe it could have been some sort of social media challenge.
He was from Brazil.
May he rest in… pic.twitter.com/MBFT6Oxoo6
— Jennifer Coffindaffer (@CoffindafferFBI) February 19, 2025
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Doctors could not determine the cause of the problem.
It wasn’t until Moreira was transferred to the Vitória da Conquista General Hospital, where he remained seven days, that he finally admitted what he had done, according to Mix Vale.
But by then it was too late.
Moreira’s father later found the syringe under the boy’s pillow.
Family and friends gathered to bury Moreira on Feb. 16 in Planalto.
The Civil Police of Bahia are investigating and waiting for Brazil’s Technical Police Department to confirm a cause of death.
“It could have been an embolism, an infection, or an allergic reaction,” said Luiz Fernando D. Relvas, a specialist at Hospital Santa Marcelina in São Paulo, Brazil, per the U.K. Daily Mail.
“We don’t know how he prepared this mixture or the size of the fragments he managed to inject into the body. There may have been air left inside, which could lead to an embolism,” Relvas said.
An air or gas embolism occurs when gas bubbles enter a vein or artery, according to Medical News Today.
That can block blood circulation in the affected area and in serious cases can lead to death.
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