Alarm in Brazil for a serial killer: he is still at large and chooses his male victims via dating apps

Authorities in southern Brazil warned on Monday against a suspected serial killer who kills his victims after making contact with them on virtual dating platforms.

The suspect was identified by the Paraná police as being José Tiago Correia Soroka, 33 years old and still at large. Already murdered three men in Curitiba and Santa Catarina and a possible fourth crime, a 27-year-old man found dead on April 30.

According to a police investigation, the young man was found in circumstances similar to those of the other victims and had a connection to the suspect. “He is a person known to this murderer. We strongly suspect, but we can not confirm anything until we have the report of the Forensic Institute in hand, to know the cause of death, ”said the commissioner of the civil police of Paraná on the site. , Camila Cecconello. G1.

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“According to investigations, this person has committed these crimes in the last 30 days, indicating that once a week he ended up killing or trying to kill homosexuals,” Cecconello said.

Security camera footage located Correia Soroka at the crime scenes, Brazilian media reported.

The alleged serial killer has been denounced to the police for one of his victims who managed to escape, the magazine said Forum.

Police have published six notices with the various photographs Correia Soroka uses to establish contact with her victims on dating platforms. Investigators say all victims have met the suspect in their own homes, after chatting in the apps.

Suspected killer’s “modus operandi”, police say, is to catch his victims unawares ends up suffocating with a pillow or quilt, then leave the premises with one or two of their personal effects.

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Both Paraná and Santa Catarina police are trying to locate the suspect, since the events took place between April 16 and May 4 in the city of Curitiba, and a week later the attempted murder of the suspect took place inside Santa Catarina.

The authorities recommend that people who generally seek dates in this type of virtual platform before inviting a foreigner to their home, to make contact first. Public places “Since this murderer is still at large planning meetings using false names and accounts.”

According to a report by the NGO Grupo Gay de Bahía (GGB), some 224 LGBT + people were killed in 2020 in Brazil, victim of homotransphobia. Crossdressers and trans women were the main victims, with 161 cases, followed by gays (51) and lesbians (10). The record year for violent deaths (murders and suicides) by the NGO was 2017, with 445 deaths, followed in 2018 with 420. The figure has fallen to 329 deaths in 2019 and now 237 in 2020.

The GGB estimates from studies that there are around 21 million gay men in Brazil (10% of the population), 12 million lesbians (6%) and 1 million trans people (0.05%).