Investigation
Detective Daniel Gomes learned through speaking to shopkeepers and others in Vila Cruzeiro that Lopes had arrived at the favela in the afternoon and was accosted by traffickers at around 8:00pm. Before entering Vila Cruzeiro, Lopes had arranged to have someone wait in a car, outside of the favela, in order to give him a ride home. When the prearranged time to meet that night came and went, the driver continued to wait until midnight. At which point he contacted Rede Globo. And Globo subsequently waited 11 hours before contacting police.
The chief detective in charge of the Tim Lopes case was Inspector Daniel Gomes of the 22ª DP, bairro da Penha (of the Penha neighborhood precinct). On Monday June 3, 2002 at 11:00am, Gomes was sitting in his office at the police station when he was notified that an attorney from Rede Globo was there to see him. Accompanying him was the driver who had waited for Lopes outside the favela the night before.
When Lopes and other armed police started investigating in Vila Cruzeiro that Monday, the word on the street was electric, as residents spoke about a man who had been captured and beaten by traffickers. It was related that the traffickers had taken this man to the top of Vila Cruzeiro hill and incinerated him in the microonda (microwave oven) constructed in a rock formation. Gomes was directed to the area and found burned tires, fresh blood, and human remains. It seemed to the police at the moment that Lopes' fate ended at that location, but through DNA testing they discovered that it was in fact not Lopes.
Days after Lopes' disappearance, two suspect traficantes (traffickers) were arrested by the 38ª DP-Brás de Pina Military Police in the Morro da Caixa DÁgua (Water Box Hill), which is in Penha near Vila Cruzeiro. Both traffickers were part of Elias Maluco's gang. During interrogation, they went into detail and explained the entire course of events, stating that it was Elias Maulco who assassinated Tim Lopes. They described how Lopes was transported by car to the Grota in the Complexo do Alemão to meet Elias Maluco and others of the gang and how Lopes was recognized from television and made to suffer humiliation and torture and his body burned to destroy evidence. This led the detective, with substantial reinforcements, to dilligently search the Grota and the Pedra do Sapo for Lopes' remains.
Following an anonymous tip, on June 11, 2002, detectives discovered a secret grave site in a field near a rudimentary soccer field at the top of Pedra do Sapo hill. There they uncovered a few burned bone fragments of several individuals. Through DNA testing they were able to positively identify a small part of a rib bone belonging to Tim Lopes. Also found buried at the site were Lopes' wrist watch, his crucifix, and the micro-camera that he had been using that night. There was also what remained of a burned ninja sword.
Inspector Daniel Gomes final police report was 658 pages in length. Gomes concluded in his investigation that Lopes had not filmed at the baile funk in Vila Cruzeiro that night. Gomes wrote that Lopes filmed traffickers dealing drugs and carrying guns that night. Lope's boss at Globo said that Lopes was working on a story about sexual exploitation at the baile funk, with the understanding that Lopes would have tried to obtain footage at the baile funk had he not been accosted relatively early in the night. Gomes wrote that if Globo would have notified the police at midnight on June 2, there was still a chance that Lopes' life could have been saved through police interdiction
The Globo program Jornal Nacional subsequently televised a response, including an editorial by newscaster William Bonner criticizing Gomes' report. Jornal Nacional stated that Lopes' recorded footage was destroyed that night in the microonda and that the community at Vila Cruzeiro had asked for Lopes help concerning minors being prostituted at the baile funk in their community. Jornal Nacional also stated that Tim Lopes was the behind-the-scene producer on the 2001's "Feirão de Drogas", so his likeness would not necessarily have been well-known. Rio Governor Benedita da Silva subsequently took Gomes off of the case.
On July 7, Lopes’ remains were buried at the Jardim da Saudade cemetery in the Rio suburb of Sulacap. The funeral was attended by Rio Governor Benedita da Silva.
Five years after Lopes' death, a teenager was arrested in southern Brazil who had been at the scene of Lopes' murder. Now going by the name Cinqüenta ("Fifty"), he was a 12 year old boy in 2002 when he was told to buy diesel gasoline and bring it to the top of the hill in order to set fire to Lopes. Upon his arrest in 2007, he gave a detailed account to police about that night and spoke to a group of journalists, adding to what had been previously said during the investigation.
Read more about this topic: Tim Lopes