According to the representative of the Federal Police, Eduardo Alexandre Fontes, the police are conducting excavations in the area and have located human remains, which will be sent to Brasilia for a forensic analysis on Thursday. Police said the second suspect, a 41-year-old, is being questioned and will be remanded in custody at a municipal court. They also said they seized some gun cartridges and a paddle, which will be analyzed. Phillips and Pereira went missing while researching a book project on conservation efforts in the area, which authorities have described as “complicated” and “dangerous” and known to house illegal miners, loggers and international drug traffickers. They had reportedly received death threats a few days before their disappearance. Their case has drawn worldwide attention to the dangers often faced by journalists and environmental activists in Brazil. Brazilian President Zaire Bolsonaro criticized the couple’s trip after their disappearance, saying in a YouTube interview before the suspect confessed on Wednesday that Philips and Pereira’s activities were “reckless” and suggested that they had been “killed”. , the corpses would be overlooked in the Javari River. CNN’s Kara Fox and Juliana Koch contributed to this report.
