Police in the Brazilian Amazon have found the bodies of two men in the area near where British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous activist Bruno Pereira disappeared 10 days ago.
At a press briefing late Wednesday, regional police chief Eduardo Fontes said one of the two men arrested in connection with the couple’s disappearance had admitted to killing them.
“On Tuesday, he informed us of the place where the bodies were buried and promised to go with us to the place today so that we could confirm where the bodies were buried,” Fontes told reporters.
“Because of the confessions, there is a great chance that they are, but only (forensic) expertise can prove this,” he added.
The location identified by the suspect is an hour and 40 minutes’ drive from Atalaia do Norte and another 3.1 km on foot in a dense forest.
The operation involved members of the army, navy and police, as well as satellite images, drones and watch dogs.
“We will now identify human remains with the greatest possible dignity,” Fontes said. “When it is proven that the remains belong to Dom Philips and Bruno Pereira, they will be delivered to the families.
The news was met with relief by Phillips’ wife Alessandra Sampaio.
“Although we are still awaiting final confirmation, this tragic outcome puts an end to the grief of not knowing the whereabouts of Dom and Bruno,” she said in a statement. “Now we can bring them home and say goodbye with love.”
“Today, we are also beginning our quest for justice. I hope that the investigations will exhaust all possibilities and give definite answers to all important details as soon as possible. “
Fontes said search teams plan to return to the scene Thursday to find the men’s boat. The men were last seen traveling up the river to Atalia to Norte, and Fontes said the suspects threw the engine into the river and then filled the boat with sacks of earth to sink it.
“We are still investigating,” he said, adding that new arrests were expected. “It was significant progress.”
Phillips, 57, and Pereira, 41, disappeared on June 5 at the end of a four-day trip on the Itaquai River in far west Brazil.
Pereira accompanied Phillips on a reportage trip for a book on sustainable development in the Amazon, but their boat did not arrive on schedule in the city of Atalaya do Norte, not far from Brazil’s border with Peru.
When Pereira’s friends sailed down the river and found no sign of the men or their boat, they sounded the alarm.
However, Brazilian authorities were slow to respond, and local communities who knew Pereira well made the first disturbing discovery on Saturday when they found backpacks, clothes and personal belongings belonging to the two men sunk near the river’s banks.
Police detained a man on Wednesday, Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, but was unable to link him to their disappearance. He reportedly denied any involvement in the disappearances. Six days later, they arrested his brother Osseini and charged him with “alleged aggravated murder.”
The investigation failed, from the slow response of Army and Navy search teams to the highly criticized actions of the Brazilian embassy in London, which told the Phillips family in the UK that his body was found only to withdraw a statement later. .
Earlier on Wednesday, Boris Johnson said the UK government was “deeply concerned” after Theresa May called on the prime minister to make the case a “diplomatic priority”. May raised the case during the Prime Minister’s questions, citing correspondence with Phillips’ niece Dominique Davis, one of her constituents.
This comes amid widespread criticism of Brazil’s environmental policies and some 235 indigenous tribes living in Brazil.
Deforestation has risen under far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, and government agencies dedicated to protecting the environment and indigenous communities have been undermined.
Pereira was a senior figure in the State Foundation for Indigenous Peoples, tasked with protecting indigenous communities, but was removed in late 2019 after leading an operation to destroy illegal mines operating on local land.
He later began working with indigenous rights organizations in remote rainforest areas to help them map their territories and protect them from invasions by miners, loggers and drug traffickers operating in the area.
A crowdfunding campaign has been launched in support of the families of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira. Donate here in English or here in Portuguese.
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