BRAZIL, Brazil (AP) – Brazil’s federal police said on Saturday that a third suspect in the deaths of British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert Bruno Pereira had been arrested. The couple, whose remains were found after disappearing nearly two weeks ago, were shot dead, according to an autopsy.
Phillips was shot in the chest and Pereira was shot in the head and abdomen, police said in a statement. It says the autopsy showed the use of “firearms with typical hunting ammunition.”
Police say a third suspect, Jefferson da Silva Lima, known as Pelado da Dinha, has surrendered at the Atalaya do Norte police station in the Amazon.
Police said the suspect would be sent into custody.
Two other men are already in jail for alleged involvement in the killings: Amarildo Oliveira, known as Pelado, and his brother, Autseni de Oliveira, known as Dos Santos.
Phillips and Pereira were last seen on June 5 on their boat on the Itaquai River, near the entrance to the local Havari Valley, which borders Peru and Colombia.
On Friday, federal police said human remains found in the remote Brazilian Amazon had been identified as belonging to 57-year-old Phillips.
Additional remains found at the site near the town of Atalaya do Norte have been confirmed to belong to local expert Pereira, 41, police said on Saturday.
The wreckage was found Wednesday after fisherman Pelado admitted killing the couple and took police to where he would bury the bodies. He told police he used a firearm to commit the crime.
The remains had arrived in the Brazilian capital on Thursday for a forensic examination.
The area where Phillips and Pereira went missing has witnessed violent clashes between fishermen, poachers and government agents.
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