Witnesses told military police that employees had forgotten to connect the safety equipment before the jump.
Six people were taken to Limeira’s 2nd Police District, with three men reportedly arrested at the scene on suspicion of homicide. Police said the operators may have knowingly exposed Ms Rodrigues de Freitas to a fatal risk.
Brazilian media said two people had tried to flee into nearby woodland after her fall, but were captured with the help of a police helicopter.
Andrea Dantas Levy, a civil police delegate, said the bungee group was operating without proper permission, telling Brazilian media: “It was a team there that wasn’t regulated. They didn’t even have authorisation to be there.”
Defence lawyers for those arrested said the instructors were experienced and that this was the first fatal incident involving the company in years, according to local reports.
The jump appeared to involve Entre Cordas, the main rope-jump operator, and Ih Voei, a linked instructor brand. Brazilian reports said staff at the scene were wearing shirts bearing the names of both brands.
Neither organisation had issued a public statement by Saturday night, while Entre Cordas’ Instagram page, which had more than 80,000 followers and advertised “a jump to the extraordinary”, was reportedly taken down after the tragedy.
Bridge has been abandoned for decades
Ms Rodrigues de Freitas, from Jandira in metropolitan São Paulo, was a physical education professional and worked at a gym, which later posted a message of mourning.
She had posted excitedly about her trip only hours earlier, sharing pictures of the venue, her identification bracelets and the operators.
The Ponte do Esqueleto, or Skeleton Bridge, was built for a railway that never properly operated, and the structure has been abandoned for decades. It belonged to Brazil’s former federal railway network and is in the process of being transferred into federal property, according to the city.
Limeira city hall said it would sue Brazil’s federal government, claiming it had warned for months about dangerous access to the bridge and its unauthorised use for extreme sports.
Murilo Félix, the mayor, said the municipality had been raising concerns with the federal government since last year and that the death of Ms Rodrigues de Freitas made the alleged inaction “unsustainable and unacceptable”.
“It is necessary to determine responsibility for the lack of access control to a federal area that has presented known risks for years and still lacks the necessary protection measures,” he added.
Police are investigating whether negligence led to the death of Ms Rodrigues de Freitas.