One of eight dead males was found in the mangrove after a Rio de Janeiro police operation. The victim’s wife claims that their husband was forced from her home, and then executed by officers following an ambush.

Residents found the bodies Monday morning at Salgueiro’s favela complex after Sergant Leandro Rumbelsperger Da Silva (38), was killed on Saturday.

A series of gun battles erupted between a special elite team of the military police and a gang in the municipality of São Gonçalo on Saturday and Sunday evenings before the corpses were discovered in the mangrove. 

The wife of one of the dead men, who declined to provide her name in an interview with Brazilian newspaper Extra Globo, said that Jhonata Klando Pacheco Sodré, 28, was removed from their residence and murdered by authorities along with seven other individuals at the swamp.

She said that they took their bodies and stabbed them to the death. This was quoted by G1. They all lack genitals. Except for the ones who are blind, unable to move, and those without legs. 

Pacheco Sodré, who was married for nine years, had a criminal record that included drug trafficking and theft, the online news portal reported. 

Residents stand near the bodies of some of the eight people who were found dead in a mangrove in the Rio de Janeiro slum complex of Salgueiro on Monday

Residents stand near the bodies of some of the eight people who were found dead in a mangrove in the Rio de Janeiro slum complex of Salgueiro on Monday

Police officers in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, watch as firefighters remove one of the eight bodies that were found by residents at a mangrove near the slum complex of Salgueiro on Monday

Police officers in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, watch as firefighters remove one of the eight bodies that were found by residents at a mangrove near the slum complex of Salgueiro on Monday

Jhonata Klando Pacheco Sodré's wife said he was taken by force from their home before he was found dead at a mangrove in a slum outside Rio de Janeiro on Monday

Jhonata Klando Pacheco Sodré’s wife said he was taken by force from their home before he was found dead at a mangrove in a slum outside Rio de Janeiro on Monday

Sergeant Leandro Rumbelsperger da Silva, who was assigned to the Rio de Janeiro 7th Military Police battalion, was ambushed by alleged gang members and shot dead while he was patrolling the slum complex of Salgueiro on Saturday

Sergeant Leandro Rumbelsperger da Silva, who was assigned to the Rio de Janeiro 7th Military Police battalion, was ambushed by alleged gang members and shot dead while he was patrolling the slum complex of Salgueiro on Saturday

Igor da Costa Coutinho, 24, reportedly shot dead Sergeant Rumbelsperger da Silva before he was died after a gun battle Sunday night

Igor da Costa Coutinho (24) reportedly shot Sergeant Rumbelsperger da Silva dead before he succumbed to his injuries in the gun battle on Sunday night.

The grisly find comes after 75 members from the Military Police’s Special Operations Battalion were deployed to regain control of the slum, according to an internal police memo uncovered by Extra Globo.

It is now a slum. drug gangs operated under the direction of Antônio Ilario Ferreira, who was released from prison in 2019 after serving a 27-year sentence. 

In the nine-person shooting attack, at least eight police officers were involved in using their firearms. 

The authorities have dispelled the notion that the officer involved in this operation had tortured any man found in the mangrove. 

 Cleonice da Silva Araújo told Extra Globo that her brother Élio da Silva Araújo, 52, who was arrested for robbery in 2013, was reportedly ‘beheaded’ by the cops.

‘If he was shot, I would accept,’ Cleonice da Silva Araújo said. “But they beheaded me brother. Unfortunately justice doesn’t work this way. 

Carlos Eduardo Curado de Almeida

Élio da Silva Araújo was among seven of the eight men whose bodies were found in a mangrove in a slum outside Rio. His sister said the 52-year-old was 'beheaded'

Élio da Silva Araújo (right) and Carlos Eduardo Curado de Almeida (left) were among eight men whose bodies were found in a mangrove. Araujo’s sister claimed that the 52-year old was ‘beheaded.

Vinícius Medeiros de SouzaI

Ítalo George Barbosa de Souza

Vinícius Medeiros de SouzaI (left) and Ítalo George Barbosa de Souza (right) were among the eight bodies found by residents at a mangrove in a slum outside Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Rafael Menezes Alves

David Wilson Oliveira Antunes

Rafael Menezes Alves  (left) was shot in the leg and chest, according to his sister. David Wilson Oliveira Antunes’s body was found next to Menezes Alves’

Authorities identified, 17-year-old Kauã Brenner Gonçalves Miranda, pointing out to the camouflage clothing he was wearing, thus connecting him with the criminal network that operates in the slum.

The news outlet was informed by his mother that one of his fingers had been severed. 

O GLOBO obtained access to eight autopsies on the victims found in the mangrove. The results showed that the rifle bullets had struck their head and chest. The families claimed that the victims had suffered torture and other injuries, but the autopsy report didn’t mention this.

Sergeant Rumbelsperger Da Silva was a father-of-2 who was on patrol in the slum at 6am Saturday.

One of the suspects in Sunday’s gun battle was identified by military police as Igor da Costa Coutinho (24). He was taken to a local hospital but died shortly after being shot.  

Officers from the 7th Battalion have killed 1,096 persons so far in this year. This is the most of any battalion within the state and an increase of 17% over the nine-months last year.

Firefighters cover the dead bodies that were located by residents in the Rio de Janeiro slum complex of Salgueiro on Monday

Firefighters cover the dead bodies that were located by residents in the Rio de Janeiro slum complex of Salgueiro on Monday