Brazil: Serial killer suspect confesses to ’39 murders’ of gays, women, and homeless people
A security guard in Brazil has confessed to killing at least 39 people “out of anger,” including gay people, homeless people, and women.
According to the Guardian, Brazillian police say Thiago Henrique Gomes da Rocha, 26, confessed he killed because of his feelings of “fury,” which he felt “against everything.”
He was arrested on Tuesday after reportedly targeting at least 39 people, including gay people, homeless people, and women in the country’s central state of Goias.
Police say Rocha’s feelings of fury only subsided after killing another person. He would reportedly demand valuables from his victims before shooting them, and would also label each victim from one to 39.
A police official told a Brazillian TV channel: “We have been shocked by his coldness.”
Chief Police Detective Joao Gorski, told reporters: “I believe he is a serial killer. In the beginning, he killed at random, but by the end he had established a pattern”.
Rocha is currently awaiting a court hearing, although his lawyer claims he was coerced into confessing crimes he didn’t commit due to aggressive interrogations.
At least 216 LGBT people have been murdered in Brazil so far this year.
Earlier this month an 18 year old gay Brazilian was found murdered with a broken neck – an attack that is being investigated as a hate crime.
Rights activist Carlos Tufvesson told O Globo that the murders should be treated as hate crimes, as racist murders are.
