Jesse Koz’s friend reports anguish when he learns of the death of the influencer and the dog Shurastey

At around 3:30 pm on Monday (23), lawyer Felipe Pires received messages on his WhatsApp that would end in hard news. “Hi, Pires. Please contact us urgently”, reads part of the text.

At around 3:30 pm on Monday (23), lawyer Felipe Pires received messages on his WhatsApp that would end in hard news. “Hi, Pires. Please contact us urgently”, reads part of the text. The message was sent by Diego Strutz, who is in the United States. He tried calling Pires a few times, minutes after sending the first messages, but the calls went unanswered.

Shortly after, when he saw the cell phone, Pires got in touch with Diego, who was with his partner, Roana Petri Celeste. “I think my number was on his phone as an emergency contact”, explains Pires to BBC News Brasil.

In the call, the lawyer was informed about the death of his best friend, influencer Jesse Koz, 29, and golden retriever Shurastey. The lawyer and Jesse had known each other since 2012, when they shared the rent in a kitchenette in Balneário Camboriú (SC). “We had a YouTube channel and we had a great friendship”, says Pires.

He followed the entire saga of Jesse since the influencer began to travel the world in a 1978 beetle, with plates of Balneário Camboriú, along with the dog. At first he thought his friend had gone mad, but he supported him. “We created plans for the trip and how to survive it,” says Pires.

When he learned of his friend’s death, Pires told Jesse’s aunt. “As I was the first person to receive the news in Brazil, I had the difficult task of passing it on to his family. I called his aunt, who lives here in Balneário Camboriú, she welcomed me at home and I told him”, says the lawyer. .

But afterwards, he needed to be silent about the case. “I had another mission that was even more difficult: not to tell anyone,” he says. That’s because the influencer’s aunt wanted to personally tell Jesse’s mother, who lives in Curitiba (PR), so that she wouldn’t find out about her son’s death over the internet.

The fear was that Pires would tell a close friend who, in the midst of emotion, would report it to someone else and gradually the news would spread quickly, mainly because Jesse was a well-known figure on social media.

‘A LOSS WITH INFINITE PAIN’

The death of his best friend and Shurastey is defined by Pires as “a loss of infinite pain” that he cannot describe. Their last contact through messages took place on Friday (20/05), when Pires congratulated his friend for having given an interview to presenter Rafinha Bastos’ podcast.

“He (Rafinha Bastos) saying that you have to give a lecture. Well, well, it seems that I said that a long time ago, right (laughs)”, wrote Pires to his friend. Jesse was in the United States traveling in the Beetle with his partner Shurastey. This saga began in 2017 and, according to the influencer, there were in total 17 countries and more than 85,000 kilometers traveled.

The travel project was called “Shurastey or Shuraigow?”, a satire based on memes that make a “Brazilian English version” of the song “Should I stay or should I go” (“Should I stay or should I go?”), by band The Clash.

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

In the US, Jesse and Shurastey were heading to Alaska. In the last post on Instagram, he celebrated that he was close to reaching the destination of that trip. They were near the city of Portland, USA, when the Beetle collided with another vehicle and was destroyed. Jesse and Shurastey died on the spot.

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

‘I COULDN’T TELL ANYONE’

Jesse’s death was announced on Tuesday (24). “‘His aunt waited [algumas horas] to go to Curitiba, where he arrived at 10 am and told Jesse’s mother,” says the lawyer. “I was crying for 18 or 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 received the news and allowed Pires to inform the other friends. “I told another friend of his, then another and suddenly it went viral”, details Pires.

Soon the news began to be shared intensely on social networks and in communication vehicles. The death of Jesse and Shurastey caused commotion among his followers and even among people who did not know him until then.

In the networks, they received numerous tributes. The profile of the “Shurastey or Shuraigow?” gained thousands of new admirers and hit the million-follower mark. “There were many people who actually followed the page and the commotion and collective crying was like losing someone close.

The image that Jesse passed on Instagram was very true. It wasn’t a character, so it brought a sense of closeness, of intimacy that people have. As much as they didn’t see him in person, they felt him as a friend, as a brother”, says Pires.

For Pires, there is no doubt that the news would cause a strong commotion. “Jesse was a very easy-going person, very open,” he says. In the networks, Jesse’s family created a crowdfunding to raise R$ 120 thousand to bring the bodies of the influencer and Shurastey to Brazil. The value was reached in a few hours.

Before returning to Brazil, the golden retriever will be cremated. Afterwards, it will be sent, along with Jesse’s body, to Brazil. This should take place in the next few days, but there is no set date yet.