“Terror Comes Knocking” (2025).
Courtesy of Lifetime
In November 2009, Marcela Borges’ worst nightmare came true when armed intruders invaded her home and took her family hostage. They were held captive for three days before Borges managed to narrowly escape. The terrifying true story is the subject of the Lifetime movie Terror Comes Knocking: The Marcela Borges Story, now streaming on Netflix.
At the time of the home invasion, Borges, originally from Brazil, was 27 years old and newly pregnant. She lived with her husband, Rubens Laureano Morais, and their five-year-old son in a gated community in Winter Garden, Florida. Rubens, 48, was the president of RLM Trucks Carrier, according to The Palm Beach Post.
Their lives changed forever when masked gunmen broke into their suburban home. The captors demanded $200,000 from the family. Despite Borges and Morais explaining they didn’t have that amount, the intruders forced her to withdraw almost $24,000 from the bank and tortured the family for days.
Almost 16 years after the harrowing ordeal, the case was adapted into a Lifetime movie, Terror Comes Knocking: The Marcela Borges Story, which premiered in January 2025. The true crime film — starring Dascha Polanco, Johnathan Souza, Nisa Gunduz, Alessio Andrada, Ivan Lopez, Marito Lopez and Mitchell Jaramillo — is now streaming on Netflix.
Keep reading to discover the shocking true story, including what happened to Marcela and her family, the perpetrators behind the crime and where Marcela is today.
What Happened To Marcela Borges And Her Family?
At 9 a.m. on Nov. 15, 2009, both Borges and Morais were at home. Borges was watching TV with their son, Ryan, while Morais worked on payroll in their home office. When their doorbell rang, Morais and Ryan answered the door together, finding three masked gunmen waiting for them, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
One of the men fired a gunshot at the door, while another grabbed Ryan and pointed a gun at him, Morais recalled to investigators. The intruders then searched the house until they found the couple’s safe. They demanded that the couple open it, and took $30,000 from the safe, but they were not satisfied.
The Orlando Sentinel reported that the men then blindfolded the family and drove them to a house in Apopka, where they were held captive and separated. The next morning, the family was taken back to their home, still blindfolded and bound with clothing and duct tape. They forced Marcela to drive to a bank and withdraw $23,600 from her account.
Marcela later told investigators that the intruders threatened her family, saying that if she didn’t give them the money, they would both be killed. Even after she handed over the grand sum, they demanded more money.
“Later that night I could hear my husband crying, a gun going ‘click, click, click’ and the voice of Oscar Diaz-Hernandez,” Borges told police.
How Did Marcela Borges Escape?
“Terror Comes Knocking” (2025).
Courtesy of Lifetime
On the third day, Borges asked one of the female kidnappers for a drink of water, who then led her into the kitchen. Once downstairs, Borges grabbed a kitchen knife, put it to the woman’s throat, and demanded she call the police. The two fought, and during the struggle, the kidnapper’s mask came off, revealing her face. She was later identified as ianca Dos Santos. Dos Santos then allegedly told another intruder that they had to kill the family because Borges had seen her face.
Dos Santos brought Borges back upstairs and tried to shoot her with a gun, but it failed to fire. Instead, she beat Borges with her fists and the gun. Borges then was left beaten and alone in her son’s bedroom. She said in her police statement that she could hear the suspects talking in the next room. “I thought my family and I were going to be murdered, so I freed my hands, removed my blindfold, and jumped out of the second-story window.”
During her escape, Borges was shot and injured, but she managed to reach a neighbor’s house, where she safely called the police. The masked gunmen fled the scene before police arrived to rescue the family and provide medical assistance. Both Morais and Borges fully recovered after treatment at the hospital.
Who Were Marcela Borges’ Abductors?
Marcela Borges’ abductors were later revealed to be Bolivian Bianca Dos Santos (21 at the time), who was identified as the group’s ringleader, according to the Orlando Sentinel. Police also arrested Orlando native Oscar Diaz Hernandez (19 at the time) and cousins Miguel Diaz Santiz (25 at the time) and Victor Manuel Sanchez (20 at the time) of Apopka.
Sanchez stood trial in February 2012. Morais testified that the gunmen played Russian roulette, pressing a gun against his 5-year-old son’s head and pulling the trigger, causing the empty chamber to click. “I was absolutely sure that after I paid them, they would kill me,” Morais said. Sanchez was sentenced to life in prison and is serving his sentence at Okaloosa Correctional Institution in Florida, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.
Sanchez’s cousin, Santiz, pleaded no contest, with his lawyer claiming Santiz didn’t want to put the family through another trial, per WFTV9. He, too, was sentenced to life in prison and is serving time at Everglades Correctional Institution in Florida.
Hernandez was scheduled to stand trial in 2012, but he attempted suicide a few months before in the Orange County Jail while under 24-hour video surveillance, though not on suicide watch. He initially survived the attempt, and doctors put him on life support.
In April 2013, with Hernandez in a vegetative state and unable to recover from his injuries, Borges dropped the charges against him. His family was allowed to take him home to Honduras to live out the rest of his life, WFTV9 reported at the time. “He left his country walking and healthy, and he is going back in a bad situation,” Marcela said.
Where Is Bianca Dos Santos?
Dos Santos remains at large and is believed to have fled the country. Her current whereabouts are unknown. She is still wanted on attempted murder charges.
Investigators later pieced together that the attack was not random, but that Dos Santos learned information about the family’s financial history from her mom’s tax and financial services company, Holiday Tax Travel & Services. That’s where Morais had his business licence prepared, according to documents.
Where Is Marcela Borges Now?
“Terror Comes Knocking” (2025).
Courtesy of Lifetime
Marcela Borges and her family still live in Winter Garden, Florida, according to her Facebook page. She and husband later welcomed their son Lucas, who was the baby she was carrying during the horrifying ordeal.
In 2013, Marcela told WFTV9 that Lucas was a healthy, smart, and joyful 2-and-a-half-year-old, and she called him the family’s miracle baby.
Marcela also returned to school, studying at Valencia College’s Nursing School-West Campus and the University of Central Florida, per her social media.
Today, the family keeps their life private and rarely discusses the case on social media. It remains unclear how involved they were, if at all, in Lifetime’s film, Terror Comes Knocking, which is now streaming on Netflix.
Watch the official trailer for Terror Comes Knocking below.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/monicamercuri/2025/09/19/where-is-marcela-borges-now-the-horrific-true-story-behind-terror-comes-knocking/
