Crime & Justice

Brazilian police identify 5 more suspects linked to Amazon murders

Rio de Janeiro, Jun 19 (EFE).- Brazilian police on Sunday identified five more people linked to the murders of British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert Bruno Araújo Pereira in a remote region of the Amazon.

The federal police said in a statement that it is investigating a total of eight suspects, three of whom are already in custody, including one who confessed to the crime and led the authorities to the site where the men’s remains were recovered after a 10-day search.

Those in custody are brothers Amarildo and Oseney da Costa de Oliveira, the former who police say confessed to the murders and is the prime suspect, and fellow fisherman Jefferson da Silva Lima, who turned himself in on Saturday.

The other five suspects are being investigated for allegedly helping to hide the remains of the bodies, which were buried about three kilometers into the jungle.

The federal police added in its statement that it is continuing its investigations to try to clarify all the circumstances of the crime that shocked Brazil, as well as to identify the motives and all those involved in the case.

An autopsy established that the two men were shot to death with hunting ammunition – Pereira in the head and torso, and Phillips in the chest. They were identified by dental records.

Phillips and Pereira, a specialist in uncontacted indigenous communities in the Amazon, had been missing since June 5 and had last been seen boating down a river in the Javari Valley region. EFE

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