At least one of two men arrested for suspected involvement in the disappearance of British journalist Dom Phillips and his guide Bruno Pereira in the Brazilian rainforest has confessed to killing the men and dismembering their bodies. Brazilian media reported this on Wednesday.
Police had already arrested a prime suspect last week: fisherman Amarildo da Costa, known locally as ‘Pelado’, was arrested for illegal possession of weapons and had to remain in jail while police investigated his involvement in the disappearance. His brother Oseney da Costa (41), nicknamed ‘Dos Santos’, was also arrested on Tuesday.
The pair had been spotted on the Itacoai River shortly after Phillips and Pereira passed there on June 5, an eyewitness had told police.
Brazilian police said earlier today that they are still searching for the bodies of Phillips and Pereira, but that the case was now considered a murder investigation. One of the two suspects had confessed to the murder and told authorities where to find the bodies of the missing men, CNN Brasil reported citing police sources.
Phillips was a freelance journalist who wrote for The Guardian and The Washington Post, among others. For research for a book on conservation, he had traveled to the Javari Valley, a remote jungle area near the border with Peru and Colombia, home to the largest number of uncontacted indigenous peoples in the world. But the region is also plagued by illegal fishermen, hunters, loggers and miners, and police say the area is popular with drug smugglers. Pereira, a former employee of Funai – the Brazilian agency for indigenous affairs – acted as his guide.
Brazilian police find backpacks of missing British journalist and traveling companion
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