Samples collected from suspect’s boat are inconclusive for Bruno Pereira and PF rules out being Dom Phillips’

Bruno Pacheco – From Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – The Federal Police of Amazonas (PF-AM) informed on the evening of Thursday, 16, that the blood samples collected from the boat of the suspected killer of journalist Dom Phillips and indigenist Bruno Pereira, fisherman Amarildo da Costa Oliveira, “Pelado”, is a complete genetic profile of a male person. The material was obtained during the search for new evidence in the case.

The traces of blood were found on June 9 by PF-AM, after use of luminol – a chemical substance that reacts with blood, emitting a light. According to the Crisis Committee, coordinated by the Federal Police of Amazonas, after comparing the genetic reference profiles with those of Dom and Bruno, who disappeared on June 5 in the Javari Valley region of Amazonas, the National Institute of Forensic Science ruled out the possibility that this trace came from the british journalist.

The PF-AM also stated, in the note, that the possibility that the sample originated from Bruno Pereira remained inconclusive, requiring further examination. “This result may be due to the degradation of autosomal DNA or the non-human origin of the sample, according to experts”, said the Federal Police, in an excerpt from the note.

In the document, the police agency also pointed out that the identification process of the human remains collected on Wednesday, 15, will begin this Friday, 17, and is expected to be completed next week. Investigation teams, points out the PF-AM, continue conducting investigations in the search region for the complete elucidation of the case.

Not found

As for the boat that was being used by Dom and Bruno, according to the Federal Police, it has not been located. Search teams had been looking for the boat since the early hours of Thursday the 16th. They went to the region, on the Itaquaí River, after Amarildo, the Pelado, confessed to the murder of the journalist and the indigenist during a statement and indicated the perimeter where the victims’ boat was sunk.

See also: Univaja says there is third arrested in Dom and Bruno case, but PF denies and says it is investigating two more suspects

“The boat that was being used by Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips was not found, despite exhaustive searches conducted on this date in the perimeter pointed out by Amarildo da Costa Oliveira”, clarified the Federal Police.

Human Remains

On Thursday, 16, a team of federal experts boarded an aircraft bound for Brasília to conduct the identification examination of the “human remains” found on Wednesday, 15, during the search for british journalist Dom Phillips and indigenist Bruno Pereira.

The human remains were found after one of the suspects of the crime, Pelado, reported the location of the bodies. “We wouldn’t have been able to arrive at this location if we hadn’t had the confession. It took more than 25 minutes of walking to go into the woods”, said the delegate, during a press conference on Wednesday, 15th, to the press.

Dom and Bruno

Bruno Pereira, 41 years old, was licensed by the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) and was helping Dominic Phillips, 57 years old, collaborator from “The Guardian” newspaper, in a project in the Amazon. The indigenist and the journalist disappeared in Javari Valley, in Amazonas, while traveling from the riverside community of São Rafael to the town of Atalaia do Norte, in the coutryside of Amazonas.

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The Federal Police interrogated more than ten people and arrested one suspect, identified as Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, aka “Pelado”. On June 8, Amarildo’s boat was tracked by the police, who found it in the same region where the pair was last seen.

On Sunday, June 12, the Crisis Committee of the Federal Police of AM confirmed, through a note, that the belongings found in the region of Javari Valley were those of the indigenous leader and the british journalist. On the 14th, another suspect was arrested, Amarildo’s brother, Oseney da Costa de Oliveira, suspected of participating in the crime. The involvement of a third person, mentioned by Amarildo, is being investigated by the Federal Police.

Investigators directly involved in the disappearance of the indigenous victim and the journalist state, on condition of anonymity, that the investigations gathered so far do not point to the existence of a mastermind of the crime, according to the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo. The hypothesis, however, exists and is still being investigated.