How police caught a Brazilian killer who hid in Paraguay for decades

The suspect spent more than 30 years on the run from justice after stabbing his ex-wife to death in 1989.

For more than 20 years, the Brazilian Marcos Campinha Panissa lived in Paraguay with another identity. He got married, raised a family, opened a business.

To neighbors and friends, he was José Carlos Vieira, just a merchant who led a discreet life. No one suspected that, decades earlier, he had been convicted in Brazil of a brutal crime.

The life built on false documents began to crumble on the morning of the 15th, when Marcos was approached by agents from the National Anti-Drug Secretariat of Paraguay (Senad) upon leaving an establishment in San Lorenzo, approximately 15 kilometers from the capital, Asunción.

“Marcos!” the police called. The Brazilian’s reaction was immediate.

“He looked at the agents with an expression of astonishment. It was like someone who I haven’t heard my own name in many yearsand was surprised to hear it again. He was paralyzed,” the minister responsible for Senad, Jalil Rachid, told BBC News Brasil.

Marcos was on the run from Brazilian justice more than 30 years ago. He was convicted of kill ex-wifeFernanda Estruzani, with 72 stab wounds. The crime occurred in August 1989, inside Fernanda’s apartment, in Londrina, Paraná.

At the time, the case was treated as a homicide. The crime of femicide did not yet exist in Brazilian legislation.

Marcos was freed from two juries. But before the third trial took place, in 1995, he disappeared.

Since then, his name appeared on the Interpol red broadcastlist of internationally wanted criminals.

“This was one of the oldest active red alerts from the Federal Police at Interpol,” said the PF superintendent in Paraná, Rivaldo Venâncio.

In 2008, with the change in legislation that allowed trials without the presence of the defendant, Marcos was sentenced in absentia to 19 years in prison.

But he never served his sentence, which would have kept him in prison until 2028, because he had not been located.

The crime

Fernanda Estruzani was 21 years old when she was killed, on August 6, 1989. Marcos was 23 years old.

According to the Public Ministry of Paraná, the couple had a young daughter and had been separated for about two yearsbut he did not accept the end of the relationship.

On the morning of the crime, Marcos went to the building where Fernanda lived, in the center of Londrina.

After his ex-wife refused to let him in, he broke into the place, where found Fernanda with a boyfriend.

According to a complaint filed by the Public Ministry at the time, Marcos became jealous of his ex-wife, the two argued and he left.

Around 10pm that same day, Marcos returned to the place and managed to enter the apartment using a copy of the key.

Fernanda was lying down, about to sleep, when she was attacked by her ex-husband and hit by 72 knife blows.

The body was found the following day, following an anonymous tip, according to reports at the time. The crime caused great commotion, leading to protests in the city.

Marcos was always the police’s main suspect. He was ordered into preventive detention, was on the run for two months, but later came forward and confessed to the crime.

Trials and escape

In October 1991, Marcos was tried for the first time and sentenced to 20 years and 6 months in prison.

As the sentence was more than 20 years, the defense resorted to the so-called “protest for new jury“, a mechanism then provided for in the legislation that allowed a new trial to be held. The suspect remained free.

At the time, defendants sentenced to sentences equal to or greater than 20 years by the Jury Court had automatic right to a new triala rule that was only abolished years later, with the reform of the Criminal Procedure Code.

In March 1992, Marcos was submitted to a second jury and had his sentence reduced to 9 years.

The decision, however, was annulled in 1994 by the Court of Justice of Paraná, which pointed out irregularity in the formation of the Sentencing Council: one of the jurors could not have participated in the trial.

A third jury was scheduled for May 1995, but Marcos did not appear. From then on, was considered a fugitiveand the trial was suspended indefinitely.

In 2008, with the reform of the Criminal Procedure Code, which now allows trials even in the defendant’s absence, he was tried in absentia by the Londrina Jury Court and sentenced to 19 years in prison.

Escape and life in Paraguay

Investigators believe that, after the crime, Marcos spent time in São Paulo before leaving Brazil and heading to Paraguay, where he entered using a false identity.

There is no exact date for his entry into the country, but it is estimated that this happened at least two decades ago, as he married in 2001.

“Logically, the geographical circumstances, being neighboring countries, facilitate entry into Paraguay through Brazil, as our land borders are easily accessibleespecially considering that, 30 years ago, we were in the process of transition to democracy”, stated Senad minister, Jalil Rachid.

In Paraguay, Marcos took the name José Carlos Vieira and built a new life. He had a daughter, acquired property and opened a businessincluding a hardware and agricultural materials store in the department of Concepción, about 470 kilometers from Asunción.

The Paraguayan police believe that the family did not know about “José Carlos”’s past or his true identity, Marcos Panissa.

Rachid reported that both the Brazilian’s wife and daughter, who are Paraguayans, were “absolutely shocked” upon learning that he was on the run from the police and that he had killed his ex-wife.

“When his daughter came to visit him here, she burst into tears, deeply hurt and shocked by her father’s situation. It seems they [esposa e filha] really they had no idea of what he had done in his previous life”, he stated.

Cooperation between police

Marcos’ arrest was only possible thanks to joint work between the Federal Police, the Public Ministry of Paraná and the National Anti-Drug Secretariat of Paraguay.

After years of searches and reports that the Brazilian could be in the United States or even in Europe, the Federal Police received, last year, the information that he lived in Paraguay.

“Due to the proximity between the two countries and the ease of crossing, there was always a suspicion that he could be there. But more concrete data arrived last year, and We passed it on to the Paraguayan authorities“, stated the superintendent of the Federal Police in Paraná, Rivaldo Venâncio.

Using this information, Senad was able to cross-reference data until it identified the false name used by Marcos and began monitoring him.

“We developed a shared intelligence networkexchanging information between the two institutions. That’s how we were able to locate him in Paraguay and place him under surveillance,” said Rachid, adding that the period between monitoring and arrest was about a week.

Last week, the police set up the Operation Memento Mei — Latin expression that means “remember me”, in reference to not forgetting the victims of femicide in Brazil.

For the Public Ministry, the arrest represents the end of a search that was never interrupted.

“We never stopped looking for him. The fact that the arrest occurred, even so many years later, shows that the Justice system does not forget victims“, says the attorney general of the Public Ministry of Paraná, Francisco Zanicotti