SÃO PAULO — A forensic examination carried out on human stays discovered within the Amazon rainforest confirmed on Friday that they belonged to the British journalist Dom Phillips, Brazil’s federal police stated.
Work was underway to find out the reason for dying, the police stated in an announcement.
The stays of a second particular person, believed to be Bruno Pereira, an professional on Indigenous peoples, was nonetheless beneath evaluation, a report by CNN Brasil stated earlier on Friday.
Mr. Pereira and Mr. Phillips vanished on June 5 within the distant Javari Valley bordering Peru and Colombia. Earlier this week, the police recovered human stays from a grave within the jungle the place they have been led by Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, a fisherman who had confessed to killing the 2 males.
“The stays of Dom Phillips have been a part of the fabric collected on the place indicated by Amarildo da Costa Oliveira,” the police stated.
Mr. Phillips, a contract reporter who had written for The Guardian and The Washington Put up, was doing analysis for a e-book on the journey with Mr. Pereira, a former head of remoted and just lately contacted tribes on the federal Indigenous affairs company Funai.
Earlier within the day, police stated their investigation urged there have been extra people concerned past the suspect who had confessed, however that to date the killers have been believed to have acted with out the involvement of a legal group.
“The investigations point out that the killers acted alone, with no bosses or legal group behind the crime,” the police stated.
The native Indigenous group Univaja, nonetheless, which performed a number one position within the search, stated it had knowledgeable the federal police quite a few instances since late 2021 that there was an organized crime group working within the Javari Valley.
“The cruelty of the crime makes clear that Pereira and Phillips crossed paths with a robust legal group that attempted in any respect prices to cowl its tracks through the investigation,” stated Univaja.
INA, a union representing staff at Funai, shared the view.
“Everyone knows that violence within the Javari Valley is linked to a large chain of organized crime,” it stated in a separate assertion.
Police stated they have been nonetheless trying to find the boat Mr. Phillips and Mr. Pereira have been touring in after they have been final seen alive.
The U.S. State Division spokesman Ned Value on Friday referred to as for “accountability and justice,” saying that Mr. Phillips and Mr. Pereira have been murdered for supporting conservation of the rainforest and Native peoples.
“Our condolences to the households of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira … We should collectively strengthen efforts to guard environmental defenders and journalists,” Mr. Value stated on Twitter.
