BRAZIL, Brazil (AP) – Brazilian 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 his disappearance almost two weeks ago, were shot dead, according to the autopsy.
Phillips was shot in the chest and Pereira in the head and abdomen, police said in a statement. He said the autopsy indicated the use of a “firearm with typical hunting ammunition.”
Police said the third suspect, Jefferson da Silva Lima, known as Pelado da Dinha, turned himself in at the Atalaia do Norte police station in the Amazon.
Police said the suspect will be transferred to a custody hearing.
Two other men are already in jail for alleged involvement in the killings: Amarildo Oliveira, known as Pelado, and his brother, Oseney 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 indigenous territory of the Javari Valley, which borders Peru and Colombia.
On Friday, federal police said the human remains found in the remote Amazon of Brazil have been identified as belonging to 57-year-old Phillips.
It was confirmed that the additional remains found at the site near the town of Atalaia do Norte belonged to indigenous expert Pereira, 41, according to a police statement on Saturday.
The remains were found Wednesday, after fisherman Pelado confessed to killing the couple and took police to the spot where he would have buried the bodies. He told officers he used a firearm to commit the crime.
The remains had arrived in the Brazilian capital on Thursday for forensic examinations.
The area where Phillips and Pereira went missing has seen violent clashes between fishermen, poachers and government agents.