At around 3:30 pm on Monday 23/05, lawyer Felipe Pires received messages on his WhatsApp that resulted in some harsh news. “Hello Pires. Please contact immediately.”

The message was sent by Diego Strutz in the United States. He tried calling Pires several times within minutes of sending the first messages, but the calls went unanswered.

Shortly after, Pires contacted Diego when he saw his cell phone. “I think my number was the emergency contact on Jesse’s phone,” Pires tells BBC News Brasil.

The call briefed the attorney on the deaths of his best friend, the impressive Jesse Koz, 29, and golden retriever Shurastey.

Lawyer and Jesse have known each other since 2012, when they shared the rent in a kitchenette in Balneário Camboriú (SC). “We had a YouTube channel and a great friendship,” says Pires.

The influencer has followed Jesse’s entire saga since he started traveling the world in an insect in 1978 with the plates of Balneário Camboriú with the dog. At first she thought her friend was crazy but supported her. “We’ve made plans for the journey and how we’re going to get out of it,” says Pires.

When Pires learned of his friend’s death, he told Jesse’s aunt. “As I was the first to receive the news in Brazil, I had the difficult task of conveying this to her family. I called her aunt, who lives in Balneário Camboriú, she greeted me at home and told her,” says the lawyer.

However, he was then required to remain silent about the case. “I had another task that was even more difficult: not to tell anyone,” she says. This was because the influential person’s aunt wanted to personally tell Jesse’s mother, who lives in Curitiba (PR), so that she would not learn of her son’s death online.

What was feared was that Pires would tell a close friend and amid feelings he would report it to someone else, and little by little the news would spread quickly, mainly because Jesse was a well-known figure on social media.

‘An endlessly painful loss’

The death of his best friend and Shurastey is described by Pires as an “endless painful loss” that he cannot describe.

Their last contact was via messages Friday (20/05), in which Pires congratulated her friend for giving an interview to host Rafinha Bastos’ podcast.

“She (Rafinha Bastos) says you should teach. Well, it seems I said that a long time ago, didn’t I (laughs)” Pires wrote to her friend.

Jesse was traveling in the United States in a Beetle with his partner Shurastey. This worldwide saga started in 2017 and according to the impressive there were 17 countries in total and traveled more than 85,000 kilometers.

The name of the travel project is “Shurastey or Shuraigow?”, a satire based on the memes that made the “Brazilian English version” of the song. Should I stay or should I go (“Should I stay or go?”) The Clash.

“Jesse and Shurastey were inseparable. Jesse had Shurastey before the trip. When he decided to travel, it never crossed his mind to leave. Shurastey has always been in Jesse’s life and always will be,” says Pires.

In the USA, Jesse and Shurastey were on their way to Alaska. In her latest post on Instagram, she celebrated that journey is close to reaching her destination.

They were near Portland, USA, when the Beetle collided with another vehicle and was destroyed. Jesse and Shurastey died at the scene.

According to G1, the couple Roana Petri Celeste and Diego Strutz who broke the news to Pires were in another vehicle and accompanied Jesse for the final part of the journey. Roana said the influencer was unable to brake in time when a car stopped on the highway to make a left turn, according to the news portal. “The Beetle lost control and hit the car head-on from the other side,” She said.

‘I couldn’t tell anyone’

Jesse’s death was only announced on Tuesday, 24/05. “‘Her aunt waited (for several hours) to go to Curitiba, where she arrived at 10 o’clock and told Jesse’s mother,” the lawyer says.

“I cried for 18-19 hours because I couldn’t tell anyone,” says Pires.

At around 11 am on Tuesday, Jesse’s aunt confirmed that the influencer’s mother had already heard the news and allowed Pires to inform the other friends.

“I told another friend about it, then to another and it suddenly went viral,” Pires said.

In a short time, news began to be shared extensively on social networks and communication tools. The death of Jesse and Shurastey caused turmoil among his followers and even among people who didn’t know him until then.

They received numerous tributes on the nets. “Shurastey or Shuraigow?” His profile gained thousands of new fans and reached million followers.

“There were a lot of people who really followed the page, and the turmoil and the collective crying was like losing someone close. The image Jesse shared on Instagram was very true. He wasn’t a character, so it brought a sense of intimacy, closeness, even if people didn’t see him in person. they felt like a friend, a brother”, comments Pires.

There was no doubt that the news would cause a powerful uproar for Pires. “Jesse was such an easy person, she was so open,” she says.

On the networks, Jesse’s family created a crowdfunding to raise R$120,000 to bring the bodies of the influencer and Shurastey to Brazil. The value was reached within a few hours.

The golden retriever will be cremated before returning to the country. It will then be shipped to Brazil with Jesse’s body. This will happen in the next few days, but no date has been set yet.