Fugitive killer captured in Paraguay after 30 years living under false identity
Marcos Campinha Panissa, condemned in Brazil for killing his ex-wife in 1989, was arrested in San Lorenzo on 15 April. He had spent more than two decades in Paraguay under the name José Carlos Vieira.
Captured in San Lorenzo after three decades on the run with false name
On the morning of 15 April, agents from Paraguay's National Anti-Drug Secretariat (Senad) approached a man as he left an establishment in San Lorenzo, around 15 kilometres from Asunción. When the agents shouted "Marcos!", the man froze. It was Marcos Campinha Panissa, sought by Brazilian justice for more than 30 years for the murder of his ex-wife.
According to elcomercio.pe, the minister responsible for Senad, Jalil Rachid, described the scene to BBC News Brasil: "He looked at the agents with an expression of astonishment. It was as if he had not heard his own name in many years and was surprised to hear it again. He froze."
For more than two decades, Marcos had lived in Paraguay under the false identity of José Carlos Vieira. To neighbours and acquaintances, he was simply a discreet businessman. No one suspected that, in August 1989, he had stabbed Fernanda Estruzani, 21 years old, 72 times in her apartment in Londrina, in the Brazilian state of Paraná.
The 1989 crime and three failed trials
Marcos was 23 years old when he committed the crime. He and Fernanda had been separated for approximately two years and had a small daughter in common. According to the Public Prosecutor's Office of Paraná, he did not accept the end of the relationship.
On the morning of 6 August 1989, Marcos went to the building where Fernanda lived in central Londrina. After she refused to let him in, he forced his way in and found Fernanda with a boyfriend. According to the accusation presented at the time, the two argued and he left. Around ten o'clock at night he returned to the apartment using a copy of the key. Fernanda was about to fall asleep when she was attacked and received 72 stab wounds. Her body was found the next day following an anonymous report.
The case was treated as homicide, given that the crime of feminicide did not yet exist in Brazilian legislation. "They were separated, but he did not accept the end of the relationship. This type of crime still occurs, marked by the idea of treating women as property, as objects," declared the General Attorney of the Public Prosecutor's Office of Paraná, Francisco Zanicotti.
Marcos was always the principal suspect. He was a fugitive for two months but eventually turned himself in and confessed. In October 1991 he was convicted for the first time to 20 years and 6 months imprisonment. As the sentence exceeded 20 years, the defence appealed and obtained a new trial, a mechanism provided for in the legislation of the time that was later abolished by reform of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
In March 1992, a second jury reduced the sentence to 9 years, but that decision was annulled in 1994 by the Court of Justice of Paraná for an irregularity in the composition of the jury. A third trial was scheduled for May 1995. Marcos did not appear and was declared a fugitive. The case was suspended indefinitely.
In 2008, legal reform made it possible to hold trials in the absence of the accused. Marcos was convicted in absentia by the Londrina Court to 19 years imprisonment, a sentence that would have kept him in prison until 2028.
Three decades hidden under another identity
Investigators believe that after fleeing in 1995, Marcos spent time in São Paulo before crossing into Paraguay. The exact date of his entry into the country is not known, although it is estimated to have occurred at least two decades ago, given that he married in 2001.
In Paraguay he adopted the name José Carlos Vieira and rebuilt his life: he had a daughter, acquired property and opened businesses, including a hardware store and an agricultural supplies shop in the department of Concepción, around 470 kilometres from Asunción. In the capital he maintained a house and led, according to Rachid, a discreet and modest life.
"Logically, geographical proximity facilitates entry into Paraguay from Brazil, given that our land borders are easily accessible, particularly considering that, 30 years ago, we were in a process of transition to democracy," said minister Rachid.
His name had appeared in Interpol's red notice since he was declared a fugitive. "This was one of the oldest active red notices from the Federal Police to Interpol," declared the superintendent of the Federal Police in Paraná, Rivaldo Venâncio.
The arrest and pending extradition
The operation on 15 April brought to an end more than three decades on the run. Marcos was arrested by Senad agents in San Lorenzo as he left a local establishment. His reaction to the name he had been born with, which he had not heard in years, revealed the double life he had built on Paraguayan soil.
With the arrest, Brazilian authorities are resuming the extradition process so that Marcos can serve the 19-year sentence imposed in 2008, a sentence of which he has served no days.
Source: Google News PY — Crime