ONLINE, Andre Rebelo and Gracie Piscopo looked like the perfect couple living a life of luxury along with their son.
But behind closed doors, away from their thousands of fans, the pair struggled to keep up with their spending.
They showed off trips to the Maldives, driving a blacked-out Range Rover all while Gracie posed with her favourite designer bag of the moment.
But while Gracie was making six figure deals as a model and influencer in 2020, the couple’s outgoings continued to increase, reports Mamamia.
The financial struggle, it seems, led Andre to kill his own mum, 58-year-old Colleen Rebelo, on May 25, 2020, to get her life insurance.
Gracie has not been accused or found to be involved with his crime.
Prosecutors told a jury in Perth, Australia that while Grace’s career was taking off, Andre, with whom she shares a child, was failing in his cryptocurrency investments and had bankrolled his social media profile.
Debt collectors were circling, and the pressure was on to cough up.
So, he came up with a plan to make money fast.
His mum’s body was found in the shower of her Perth home, but her cause of death could not be determined.
While her death was deemed not suspicious for months, an insurance company raised the alarm when Andre tried to claim off her policy.
Andre’s lying to the police and his siblings about visiting his mum that day didn’t help his case.
He later admitted he was there, but denied killing her at first claiming he was ‘in shock’.
He revealed to the court he had discussed insurance policies with her and then left.
In November 2022, Andre was charged with his mother’s murder.
State prosecutor Brett Tooker said Andre was motivated by extreme desperation as his lavish lifestyle came crashing down.
“To the outside world they were rich and beautiful, but the truth was different,” Tooker told the court, per Newscorp.
“Andre was in dire financial trouble, he had lived his life on credit, he had a personal loan and credit card debt of more than $40,000. Debt collection agencies were pursuing him at the time of his mother’s death.
“By May 2020 he must have thought his world was closing in around him.”
To keep up with the “glamorous and perfect” lifestyle, Andre secretly took out three life insurance policies worth $1.5 million in his mother’s name and made himself the sole beneficiary for the majority of it, the court was told.
Five days later, he enacted his plan and killed her.
Days after she had passed away Andre had started claiming against the policies, even providing fake records on his mother’s health to insurers to get the cash.
Andre even faked a voicemail from his mother’s psychologist to prove to the insurer his mother was not suicidal in hopes they would hand over the money.
Andre has been on trial in WA’s Supreme Court for the past eight weeks.
Gracie, who has since moved on and found love again, was asked to stand as a defence witness and claimed Andre appeared ‘ordinary’ on the fateful day.
She has not been accused or found to be involved with Andre’s crimes and told the court she was largely unaware of the couple’s financial struggles, as Andre looked after the money.
Andre pleaded guilty to fraud charges but denied killing his mum in court.
But the jury didn’t agree and last Thursday they returned a guilty verdict.
Gracie was not in court when her ex was convicted but Andre’s father, Antonio, was.
He told reporters he would be standing by his son and described the verdict as “sad and disappointing”.
Andre will be sentenced in April.
