Some human remains found in Brazil's rainforest are of U.K. journalist Dom Phillips, police say
CBC
Federal police said Friday that some of the human remains found deep in Brazil's Amazon rainforest have been identified as belonging to British journalist Dom Phillips, who went missing almost two weeks ago along with a Brazilian Indigenous expert in a case that drew worldwide attention.
Additional remains found at the site near the city of Atalaia do Norte have not yet been identified but are expected to belong to Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira, 41.
The pair was last seen June 5 on their boat on the Itaquai river, near the entrance of the Javari Valley Indigenous Territory, which borders Peru and Colombia.
"The confirmation [of Phillips' remains] was made based on dental examinations and anthropological forensics," police said in a statement.
"Work is ongoing for a complete identification of the remains so we can determine the cause of death, and also the dynamics of the crime and the hiding of the bodies."
The remains were found Wednesday near the city of Atalaia do Norte after fisherman Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, 41, nicknamed Pelado, confessed that he had killed Phillips, 57, and Pereira, and led police to the site were the remains were found.
He told officers he used a firearm to commit the crime.
Police also arrested Pelado's brother, fisherman Oseney da Costa de Oliveira.
The remains had arrived in the capital city of Brasilia on Thursday for forensics to work.
The area where Phillips and Pereira went missing has seen violent conflicts between fishermen, poachers, and government agents.
Federal police said others may have participated in the crime but that organized criminal groups did not appear to be involved.
UNIVAJA, the local Indigenous association for whom Pereira was working, criticized that conclusion.
It said in a statement the investigation had not considered the existence of a criminal organization financing illegal fishing and poaching in the Javari Valley Indigenous Territory.
"That was why Bruno Pereira became one of the main targets of this criminal group, as well as other UNIVAJA members who received death threats," the statement said.
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