A man suspected of shooting his friend in the back of the head and dumping his dead body in a river was bizarrely given temporary release by cops so that he could be one of the pallbearers that carried his victim’s coffin, and he then even comforted the dead man’s grieving mother.
Geraldo Freitas is suspected of killing his friend from medical school, Andrade Lopes Santana.
The 32-year-old psychiatrist went missing on 24th May, and his dead body was found tied by the arm to an anchor on the banks of the Jacuipe River in the Brazilian municipality of Sao Goncalo dos Campos four days later.
Freitas, who was the person who had first reported his friend’s disappearance to the police, was arrested as a suspect hours after the finding of the body.
During questioning, he reportedly gave conflicting evidence, and the police also found out he had purchased the anchor that Andrade was left tied to.
The two men had ostensibly met up to go jet skiing on the river on the day of the crime, and a jet ski was found in the suspect’s apartment. No motive has yet been revealed for the killing he is suspected of carrying out.
He was arrested, but bizarrely, the police later released the suspect temporarily so he could attend the victim’s funeral in the municipality of Araci.
He was allowed to go there and act as a pallbearer with the permission of the victim’s family.
He even comforted the victim’s mother, who says that although she hopes he will be convicted, she forgives him for taking her son’s life.
Dormitilia Lopes told news site G1: “I want society to take a look at the killer so he can go to jail. He cannot go free. I have forgiven him. And sometimes people say ‘you’ve forgiven him, but you want him to go to jail’. I want him to go to jail, not for him to die. He has to live to see a mother’s pain. He must feel the pain I’m feeling for a long time.
“He hugged me. He hugged me and said he was emotional along with me. Even so, I do not feel hate for him. God put a wall between me and hatred. I am calm about this because I know God will play his part.”
Large crowds showed up at Andrade’s funeral, as he was much loved in the municipality and had helped many local residents in his capacity as a psychiatrist.
Investigators trying to ascertain the motive of the crime are trying to work out if others were involved.
