Heartbreak of UK journalist’s family as remains found
THE family of a missing British journalist told of their ‘heartbreak’ yesterday after a murder suspect reportedly led police to two makeshift graves.
The remains of Dom Phillips, 57, along with indigenous expert Bruno Pereira, 41, are expected to be formally identified within days.
But their families have already been told the bodies found in the Amazon are believed to be those of the two missing men.
Mr Phillips’s wife Alessandra Sampaio said: ‘Although we are still awaiting definitive confirmations, this tragic outcome puts an end to the anguish of not knowing Dom and Bruno’s whereabouts.
‘Now we can bring them home and say goodbye with love. Today, we also begin our quest for justice. I hope that the investigations exhaust all possibilities and bring definitive answers on all relevant details as soon as possible.’
Mr Phillips, originally from Lancaster, had been living in Brazil for a decade and was working on a book about the Amazon.
Mr Pereira, an expert on the region’s isolated tribes, was acting as his guide as they travelled through remote parts of the Amazon rainforest that are rife with illegal poaching, mining and logging. Police in Brazil were criticised for being slow to investigate after the pair went missing on June 5.
But after a large-scale search was launched, they revealed yesterday that remains had been recovered from a remote location after their prime suspect confessed.
Fisherman Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, 41, is said to have admitted to shooting the men and taken police to their graves.
Mr Phillips’s British family said they were ‘heartbroken at the confirmation that Dom and Bruno were murdered’ and extended their ‘ deepest sympathies’ to the Brazilian family members of both men.
‘We are grateful to all those who have taken part in the search, especially the indigenous groups who worked tire
‘Say goodbye with love’
lessly to find evidence of the attack,’ they added.
Campaigners claim the killings were a ‘political crime’ resulting from their work championing the rights of indigenous people in the Amazon rainforest.
Investigator Eduardo Alexandre Fontes said the fisherman told officers he used a gun to kill the pair and then led them deep into the forest to where he buried them.
He said officers ‘would have [had] no way of getting to that spot quickly without the confession’. Police are continuing to hold the suspect and his brother – who has denied any involvement.