Brazil police confirm “human remains” found in search
Eduardo Alexandre Fontes, superintendent of Brazil’s Federal Police in the northern state of Amazonas, today (Jun 15) confirmed that “human remains” were found during the search for indigenous expert Bruno Araújo Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips, missing in the region of Vale do Javari, in the west part of the state, since June 5.
At a presser, Fontes declared that fisherman Amarildo da Costa Pereira—known as Pelado, one of the suspects in the case—in a statement yesterday (14) confessed his participation and indicated the place where the bodies had been buried.
Following the confession, the police went to the crime scene for a reconstruction. During the excavations, the agents found “human remains” in a densely wooded area.
The remains are being collected and will be sent for identification. “Should these remains prove to be linked to Dom Philips and Bruno Pereira, we will return them to the families as soon as possible,” he said.
According to local indigenous association UNIJAVA, Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips arrived at lake Jaburu, near the Ituí river, on Friday (3), in order for the journalist to visit the place and interview indigenous people.
On Sunday (5), the two were expected to return to Atalaia do Norte after a stop in the São Rafael community for the expert to meet with a person from the community nicknamed Churrasco. On the same day, a UNIJAVA search team left Atalaia do Norte in search of the two men, but failed to find them and they were reported missing.
