head of Brazilian footballer discovered in a bag on his front doorstep

Police in Brazil have launched a manhunt
after the severed head of a former
professional footballer was left on the
doorstep of his home. The horrified wife of
Joao Rodrigo Silva Santos, 35, made the
gruesome discovery as she left the house in
Rio de Janeiro for work early yesterday
morning.
The player's eyes and tongue had been cut
out and his head placed inside one of his
own rucksacks, police said. Mr Santos
retired from football two years ago after a
successful career playing for several teams
in Rio de Janeiro, as well as for clubs in
Sweden and Honduras.Contuinue..
He had recently set up his own business
selling health foods and dietary supplements.
Police said today that Mr Santos is believed
to have been snatched from outside the
shop he had opened in the Realengo
district of Rio as he closed up at around
7.45pm on Monday.
Witnesses said they saw several men
bundling him into his car, a Hyundai i30,
and speeding off just before midnight, a
spokesman said. He was reported missing
by his wife at 9pm on Monday.
Mr Santos' brother-in-law, who didn't
want to be named, told Brazil's Globo G1
website that the player's wife, Geisa Silva,
31, stayed up all night after her husband
failed to arrive home. He said: 'Every time
a car passed by she would go to see. 'She
was getting ready to go to work at around
5.30am when she heard a noise, opened
the front door and saw his rucksack.
'When she opened it she discovered it
contained his head. 'I did not want to look
but the people who saw it said they had
gouged out his eyes and cut off his tongue,'
said the horrified relative. Neighbours
living close to the crime scene reported
hearing a woman screaming: 'My God, it's
Joao! It’s Joao’s head.'
From what I know, he didn't have any
enemies and neither did his wife,' the
relative added.In a statement Mr Santos'
widow said the couple had not been
subjected to any threats.
Lead murder investigator Rafael Rangel
from the 14th Military Police Battalion
(BPM) in Rio, said witnesses saw armed
men kidnap the businessman. 'We believe
that the people who took him knew the
family’s routine,' said Rangel.
Investigators are working on the
hypothesis that Mr Santos could have been
murdered by a drugs gang because of Mrs
Silva's work at a military police base in a
local slum. The Police Pacification Unit in
the Morro do Sao Carlos is one of dozens
set up in Rio's favelas to retake control of
the city's slums from violent drug
traffickers.
However, according to police chief Rafael
Rangel, Mrs Silva worked as a social
worker in the base and didn't patrol the
streets or make arrests like other police
officers. He told Brazil's O Dia newspaper
the motives of the murder are still
unclear. He said: 'Mrs Silva has no idea
who would have done this. Neither she,
her husband or any other member of the
family have suffered any type of threat as
far as she knows. 'There is nothing that
would justify such a barbarous crime.'
Santos did not have a police record.
Later today Brazilian police said body
parts dumped beside a city river were
believed to be those of Mr Santos. The
player's brother-in-law told Brazil's Globo
G1 website that family members had
positively identified a torso found next to
the Guandu river in Queimados, greater
Rio de Janeiro, by a birth mark on Mr
Santos' stomach. A police spokesman said
other body parts had also been found in
the area and were being DNA tested.
He said the murder bears the hallmarks of
an execution by drug gangsters, but
stressed that "every line of investigation" is
still open.
The couple had been together for 11 years
and were described as ‘lovely’ by
neighbours. 'They were a happy, quiet
couple,' said a neighbour, who asked not to
be identified. 'But you never know what
may have motivated a crime as stupid and
as senseless as this.' Mr Santos’ played as a
professional footballer between 1996 and
2005 - during which he scored 33 goals in
103 matches as a striker. Nicknamed
Humble Hero, he was signed to a number
of second division teams. He also played
abroad for Swedish Club Oster Vaxjo and
Olimpia in Honduras. A recent United
Nations report into drug trafficking-related
crime in Brazil found that more than half
of the homicides, robberies and thefts have
a direct or indirect link with this criminal
activity.
Source:UK Daily Mail