News Editor Ajda Ender /Harrisons
The family of a newlywed woman killed alongside her husband in a horror boat crash have revealed the couple had a major row and she had packed her bags to leave hours before the tragedy.
Sean Michieli, 25, poses with wife Gabriella Querino, 26, in undated photo. He is in critical condition and she is missing after the collision with the water taxi in the Venice lagoon. Note: Private photo taken from social media. (Harrisons)
Brazilian Gabriella Querino Elorriaga, 26, and Italian fisherman Sean Michieli, 25, died after their small boat collided with a water taxi in the Tessera Canal in the Venice Lagoon, Italy, early on Saturday, 12th September.
Sean Michieli, 25, poses with wife Gabriella Querino, 26, in undated photo. Both have died after a collision with the water taxi in the Venice lagoon. Note: Private photo taken from social media. (Harrisons)
Gabriella’s cousin Emily and sister Maria Eduarda said she had argued heavily with Sean on the Friday evening and had even packed a suitcase and been ready to leave.
Sean Michieli, 25, poses with wife Gabriella Querino, 26, in undated photo. He is in critical condition and she is missing after the collision with the water taxi in the Venice lagoon. Note: Private photo taken from social media. (Harrisons)
They told Italian media: “Gabriella and Sean had a serious argument. She had even packed her suitcase and was ready to leave.”
Gabriella Querino, 26, poses in undated photo. Her body was discovered on the morning of Tuesday, September 15, 2026. Note: Private photo. (Harrisons)
They said they thought that the pair had made up, as she texted to say she was going out to dinner, but this was strange as she never sent text messages usually and had ignored earlier calls from the family before sending it.
Sean Michieli, 25, poses with wife Gabriella Querino, 26, in undated photo. He is in critical condition and she is missing after the collision with the water taxi in the Venice lagoon. Note: Private photo taken from social media. (Harrisons)
Gabriella reportedly sent the message to her mother Gisele at about 9.45pm where it said that the argument had been resolved and that she and Sean were about to go out for dinner.
Sean Michieli, 25, poses with wife Gabriella Querino, 26, in undated photo. He is in critical condition and she is missing after the collision with the water taxi in the Venice lagoon. Note: Private photo taken from social media. (Harrisons)
But her family said they were then even more concerned because she normally made video calls every day and rarely communicated by text.
Sean Michieli, 25, poses with wife Gabriella Querino, 26, in undated photo. He is in critical condition and she is missing after the collision with the water taxi in the Venice lagoon. Note: Private photo taken from social media. (Harrisons)
Emily and Maria Eduarda said: “She video-called every day, whatever happened.
“She hated communicating by messages and never did it.
“That is why it is so strange to us that she did not answer her mother all afternoon and then only got in touch with two messages.
“Our fear is that something could have happened to her before then.
“She did not go back onto WhatsApp.
“These are the details that frighten us.”
Relatives have asked investigators to establish what happened during the hours between Gabriella’s final message and the fatal collision.
Sean Michieli, 25, poses with wife Gabriella Querino, 26, in undated photo. He is in critical condition and she is missing after the collision with the water taxi in the Venice lagoon. Note: Private photo taken from social media. (Harrisons)
There is currently no evidence that the argument played any role in the crash, and no reports or complaints of violence involving the couple had previously been made to authorities.
Picture shows search team at the scene where the woman went missing in Venice lagoon, Sep. 13, 2026. Note: Photo from firemen. (Vigili del Fuoco /Harrisons)
The couple, who had married in Venice three months earlier and lived on the island of Burano, set out at around 5am for a trip connected to Sean’s fishing work.
Their small boat later collided with a water taxi in the Tessera Canal, which connects Venice with the area around Marco Polo Airport.
Sean was pulled from the water with critical injuries and taken to the Ospedale dell’Angelo hospital in Mestre, where he died the following day.
Gabriella disappeared after the collision and her body was found near Campalto Island on Tuesday, 15th September, about two kilometres from the crash site.
A preliminary examination reportedly found injuries consistent with the collision, with post-mortem examinations ordered for both victims.
Gabriella’s mother, who travelled from Brazil after learning of the accident involving her daughter and son-in-law said: “We have lost two children.”
Investigators are meanwhile trying to reconstruct the speed, direction and movements of both vessels before the impact.
The 38-year-old Venetian water-taxi driver has been placed under investigation for suspected nautical homicide as part of the inquiry, a procedural step that allows investigators to carry out the necessary examinations.
His defence has said he only became aware of the couple’s boat at the moment of the collision.
Police are also seeking evidence from passengers who were travelling in the taxi and could have witnessed the crash.
Italian reports said two foreign tourists who had been aboard the vessel left the area after the collision and investigators are trying to obtain their accounts.
Both boats have been seized for forensic examination as investigators work to establish the exact circumstances of the crash.
Sean’s family has urged people not to circulate premature reconstructions, rumours or unverified claims while the investigation remains under way.
Gabriella, originally from Ribeirão Preto in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, had been living in Italy for around two years and had been preparing documents to work alongside her husband in fishing.
Her family said she had previously become pregnant but lost the baby weeks after the couple announced the pregnancy on social media.
(Harrisons)
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