Home / Crime and Justice / Brazilian Academic Vanishes: New Sighting Sparks Search
Brazilian Academic Vanishes: New Sighting Sparks Search
26 Mar
Summary
- Academic Vitoria Barreto last seen March 3, reported missing day after.
- CCTV shows person believed to be Barreto jumping fence into boatyard.
- Police face challenges accessing international communication data.
Brazilian academic Vitoria Barreto, 30, has been missing for over three weeks, with new CCTV evidence surfacing.
Ms. Barreto was last in contact with loved ones on March 3 after meeting a friend at Essex University in Colchester. She was reported missing the next day.
On the afternoon of March 3, Ms. Barreto took a bus from Wivenhoe to Brightlingsea. Later, CCTV footage from just after midnight on March 4 appears to show a person, believed to be Ms. Barreto, jumping over a fence into a boatyard near Copperas Road.
Police are now expanding their search in Brightlingsea, focusing on her movements between a sighting in Hurst Green at approximately 2:35 PM on March 3 and the boatyard incident at 12:16 AM on March 4. A further CCTV image from March 3, at 3:33 PM, shows a person believed to be Ms. Barreto between Back Waterside Lane and Mill Street.
Investigators are also attempting to access Ms. Barreto's communication and financial data, but difficulties arise as these are registered outside the UK. Detective Superintendent Anna Granger stated that accessing this data through international channels presents a challenge, and they are working to narrow the gap between the boatyard sighting and the unmooring of a fishing boat shortly after.
Despite these challenges, the physical searches continue, and police remain determined to find Ms. Barreto and provide answers to her loved ones and the Brazilian embassy.
