Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is helping Brazilian authorities in the investigation into the murder of three Finns near the city of João Pessoa in the state of Paraiba on Friday last week.
“The local police have told us that the investigation has proceeded well. The police have continued their investigation by interrogating people”, says Jari Luoto, the Finnish Ambassador to Brazil.
The victims, a retired married couple from Savonlinna, were selling their winter home on the Brazilian coast when they and a friend were killed.
The NBI confirms that the theory that the killings may have involved difficulties that a prospective buyer of the property may have had in getting the money to pay for the house.
The victims were a retired surgeon and his wife, a retired gynaecologist from Savonlinna, as well as a friend, a semi-retired nurse.
A friend of the victims, anaesthesiologist Pekka Mononen, said that the couple had acquired property in Joao Pessoa Brazil for health reasons, and because cheap housing was available there. However, they had grown tired of constant problems in Brazil.
“They had been robbed once, and they have had money and goods stolen. They were also let down by a person whom they trusted.”
Authorities in Brazil reportedly suspect that two people were involved in the triple murder.
According to the head of the investigation, who was interviewed by the Finnish television network MTV3, police have one suspect, but nobody has been arrested yet.
Police believe that the three were killed in the house, and that the bodies were taken to a nearby sugar cane field where they were found.
