ATALAIA DO NORTE, Brazil, (Reuters) – Brazilian search teams have found “apparently human” remains in the river where a British journalist was last seen in the Amazon rainforest, police said yesterday, in what may be the biggest break yet for the five-day investigation.
The “organic material” is being sent for forensic analysis, federal police said, along with blood found on a suspect’s boat that will be compared with genetic material from journalist Dom Phillips and travel companion, indigenous expert Bruno Pereira.
A Brazilian judge had ordered the suspect, a fisherman charged with illegal possession of restricted ammunition, to be held for another 30 days while police investigate whether he is involved, according to a lawyer for a local indigenous group.
State Judge Jacinta Silva dos Santos said the proceedings are under seal and she could not comment on whether other audiences are planned for the fisherman Amarildo da Costa, known locally as “Pelado.”
Police have said Costa was one of the last people to see Phillips and Pereira on Sunday, when they went missing after visiting the fisherman’s riverside community of Sao Gabriel.
