Worried family and friends hadn’t seen or heard from the 32-year-old since February 8, but detectives in Rio de Janeiro had been tracking her mobile phone, and could even see selfies she was taking
Police in Brazil claim they have solved the disappearance of British journalist Charlotte Peet, revealing they had been tracking her movements since she was reported missing 19 days ago.
Detectives were even able to access photos the 32-year-old was taking on her mobile phone revealing the places she had been, according to reports.
Ms Peet’s family and friends have become increasingly desperate for news with her father Derek reportedly flying to Brazil to join the search and a specialist missing persons company employed to look for her.
But police in Rio de Janeiro last night said they believed she “disappeared voluntarily” after they tracked her to various locations in the Brazilian city, including bars, beaches and hostels.
Among photos released by Rio’s Civil Police were several selfies they were able to access on one of her two mobile phones, including one of the journalist sitting in the coach she took from Sao Paulo to Rio.
Another shows her at a beachside bar in the Leme district of Rio de Janeiro, taken on February 15 – a week after she was reported missing to the city’s tourism police.
In another photo Ms Peet is wearing sunglasses and pouting for her camera, on a street close to Rio’s famous Hotel Hilton Copacabana.
Police chief Elen Souto said detectives believe Ms Peet has been staying in hostels in Rio and visiting various locations around the Babilonia favela, on a hillside between Leme and Rio’s famous Sugarloaf mountain, where she did voluntary work when she lived in the city – but that she doesn’t want to have contact with friends of family.
She said: “The main line of investigation is voluntary disappearance. We have two mobile phone numbers for her. The British number receives messages and calls. The Brazilian number, which has an area code for Sao Paulo, is programmed to not receive calls.
Charlotte, who worked as a freelance journalist in Brazil for two years, returned to Brazil in November from Gatwick Airport, but didn’t tell her worried family.
She was last heard from on February 8, when she messaged a friend telling her she was in Sao Paulo and planning to visit Rio de Janeiro. She asked if she could stay with her but the friend explained her house was full and she couldn’t accommodate her.
Several days later, Ms Peet’s family contacted the friend to say they had lost contact.
Ms Souto said detectives were able to track her movements, saying she arrived in Rio on February 8, then stayed in a hostel in Copacabana until February 17 – the day she was reported missing to Rio police and her disappearance reported around the world.
Ms Peet then went to another hotel in the Botafogo distict, staying until Monday this week. Since then, she has been “wandering around Rio”, according to police.
Ms Souto said: “We have sent her photos, which show her getting off the bus in Rio, and in various places around Rio, to the Missing Persons Facial Recognition Programme.” During at least two days she was in bars in Copacabana and Leme, according to police.
Her worried family even employed a firm which specialises in locating missing people. LBT Global describes itself as an “overseas crisis support” service, which “provides family with information, liaison, advice and support throughout a missing person’s case”.
In his only interview, Charlotte’s father Derek told Sky News that they didn’t know she had travelled to Brazil. He said: “I wouldn’t say that it was normal, there was something on her mind obviously otherwise she would have let us know.”
He said that after she was reported missing “she was then traced to Gatwick Airport and was found to have boarded a plane to Sao Paulo and then the trail went cold.
“It’s very worrying but I don’t have any more to say, I’m very concerned but I just don’t know what’s going on, we’re just trying to pick up the pieces really.”
The Brazilian Foreign Press Association (ACIE) also released a statement to “publicly express its concern about the disappearance of 32-year-old British journalist Charlotte Alice Peet and show solidarity with her family and friends.”
The statement continued that Ms Peet’s family had provided information about her flight to Brazil as well as a passport photo to help the investigation.
“As a freelance journalist Charlotte knew some of the foreign correspondents who are members of the Brazilian Foreign Press Association. She reported from Brazil for foreign media, including Al Jazeera and British and even Portuguese media outlets. The ACIE and its leadership calls on the relevant authorities to intensify their work to try to find the missing British journalist as soon as possible.”
