Francisco de Assis Pereira

Case details

Francisco de Assis Pereira was a motorcycle courier who became known as the “park maniac” in relation to bodies found in a forest reserve on the skirts of São Paulo.

Background

Pereira lived in Santo André, in the ABCD region of Greater São Paulo. He was born and raised in an extremely religious family and was named after the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. He told judge José Rui Borges: “I was possessed by an evil force.” He added that he had a double-sided personality and that the “bad side” sometimes took over.

Pereira had been investigated at the beginning of the year after a girl he was going out with disappeared. He had been jailed after being accused of rape in São José do Rio Preto (interior of São Paulo) in 1995, and posted bail and was let go at that occasion.

The offence

Pereira was said to have approached young women in Parque do Estado (State Park), a 550-hectare forest park on São Paulo’s southern border. He presented himself as a talent scout looking for models and said he wanted to take their pictures. He flattered his victims by telling them they had a bright future in modelling and drew them into secluded areas of the park for a “photo shoot.”

He was described as strangling his victims with shoelaces or scarves after sexually abusing them. He was also described as biting victims and sometimes taking pieces of their vulva. In court-related material, it was also stated that the spermatozoids found in Selma Ferreira Queiroz’s body indicated anal sexual relations.

Pereira confessed to having killed nine women, and later also led police to a discovered body as evidence he was telling the truth. He told investigators he was about to start eating his victims if his six-month killing spree had not been uncovered.

A press conference and investigative proceedings described him as having been indicted as the murderer of Selma Queiroz.

Investigation

The first hint of a serial killer came after the finding of two female bodies at Parque do Estado. Two days later, two other bodies were found in the vicinity of the first ones. The bodies were described as naked, lying face down, with their legs spread.

On July 7, the police identified one of the bodies, that of Selma Ferreira Queiroz. On July 9, authorities added to the list of victims another young lady whose body was found in January in the same area, and then another found in May. By the end of the month, the list had grown to include eight dead girls.

By July 15, several ladies told authorities about their experience with the same man. After divulgings drawings of the suspect based on witnesses’ recollection, the police were able to get a picture of Pereira on July 17 thanks to an anonymous tip.

It was revealed that semen discovered in Selma’s body on July 30 led police to believe they were close to obtaining serious evidence, but the semen sample was mishandled and could not be used. It was also stated that São Paulo police had no laboratory to examine such samples and relied on the good will of college labs. Police officers complained they did not have enough vehicles for patrol and sometimes made a collection among themselves to buy material for fingerprinting.

A partially burned ID card was found in a clogged toilet where Pereira worked. The document was from 18-year-old basketball player Selma Ferreira Queiroz, one of the victims.

On August 7, during a press conference in São Paulo, police indicted Pereira as the murderer of Selma Queiroz. Pereira denied being a murderer and launched a challenge to his accusers: “You have to prove it!” The phrase became the headline of Jornal da Tarde, sister publication of traditional O Estado de São Paulo.

After his confession, the suspect took police to a still-undiscovered body as evidence that he was saying the truth.

Folha de São Paulo described a police finding: “The spermatozoids were found in the rectum channel of Selma Ferreira Queiroz whose body is among those found at the park. They indicate that she had maintained anal sexual relations” The Folha ombudswoman Renata Lo Prete criticized Folha, writing: “What if the girl did not maintain anything and was simply raped? She is not here anymore to tell her story,”

The police were also assisted by a fisherman denouncement. Pereira was arrested near the Brazil-Uruguay border after a fisherman, João Carlos Villaverde, denounced him after seeing his picture on TV.

Arrest

Pereira was arrested on August 4 in Itaqui, state of Rio Grande do Sul, after being denounced by fisherman João Carlos Villaverde. It was also stated that he was caught near the Argentine border after a 23-day manhunt.

Authorities stated that Pereira had left the country for a short stay in Argentina and passed several police barriers without being identified. He initially proclaimed innocence, saying he was unaware he was wanted by police and was heading to a skating competition, but later confessed to journalists and took police to the bodies, all of which were buried in the park.

After his arrest, Pereira was nearly lynched by a mob of 200 people as police escorted him to a maximum security prison. Authorities said he would be held in an isolated cell and would almost certainly be killed if jailed with other prisoners.

Trial

Pereira’s lawyers decided for a plea of insanity, hoping for a lighter sentence than 30 years in prison, which was described as the maximum sentence allowed under Brazilian law.

A lawyer, Maria Elisa Munhol, told reporters in comments broadcast by Globo Network television: “My client is guilty. My client is sick”

Pereira explained the crimes and said he used shoelaces to strangle his victims after sexually abusing them. On the night of August 7, 1998, he informally confessed to his lawyer and two others. The next day, he told police he was responsible for the eight bodies found in São Paulo’s State Park.

Pereira also confessed to having killed Isadora Fraenkel and led police to her remains, a partly covered skeleton that he had burned with gasoline three days after the murder. He also tried to locate a tenth body, of a 15-year-old girl, but failed. He testified about each killing in detail, but said he may have lost the actual count of his victims.

Sentencing

Pereira was sentenced to 268 years in prison.

Appeals

No information about appeals was included in the provided material.

Outcome

Aftermath

On December 18, 2000, inmates at the Taubate House of Custody and Psychiatric Treatment tried to kill Pereira during a prison riot. Four inmates died in the disturbance. Authorities moved Pereira to another psychiatric facility to spare his life.