Beheaded Brazilian Footballer Had Posted Photos Online Of Men Who 'Stole From His Shop' Days Before His Death

Police investigating the brutal death of a Brazilian footballer believe he may have been killed by gangsters he had tried to catch by posting their photos on Facebook.

The mutilated head of Joao Rodrigo Silva Santos, 35 was delivered in a rucksack to his horrified wife Geiza Silva at their home in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday morning.

DailyMail reports that officers had originally suspected the grisly crime was the work of drug dealers from a slum where Ms Silva, 31, worked but it later emerged the former professional footballer, had recently published photos on the internet of three men he claimed had robbed his new business venture, a health food shop called Forga Natural.

The 20 photos, which were posted on his shop's Facebook page two weeks ago, showed images from the store's CCTV cameras of the street in front of the shop just before the armed robbery in August.

Mr Santos had written:

"Guys, help me put these shop thieves in jail, I was robbed by these criminals, 13/08/13. Whoever recognises on of them help me!

Witnesses claim a group of men snatched Mr Santos - who recently retired from football after a successful career playing for teams in Rio de Janeiro - as he was closing his shop late on Monday night.

 Ms Silva, a police social worker, found her husband's severed head - minus his eyes and tongue - after opening the rucksack which was dumped on the doorstep of the couple's home at around 5.30am the next morning.

Yesterday police said body parts, believed to belong to the footballer, had been discovered beside the Guandu river in Queimados, greater Rio de Janeiro.

Mr Santos' brother-in-law told Brazil's Globo G1 website that family members had positively identified the male torso because of a birth mark on Mr Santos' stomach.
He also told the 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.'

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.

DailyMail.