Suspected serial killer confesses to 80 murders after arrest while dressed as a woman

A suspected serial killer who tried to escape a police manhunt by dressing up as a woman has confessed to 80 murders after being linked to 16 killings in just three months.

Jorlan Alves da Silva, 33, claimed his homicide total was more than four times the number police initially believed he could have committed after his arrest in a wig, dress and painted nails.

He was also carrying a two-year-old child in his arms who police say is not related to the criminal in a bizarre attempt to evade arrest.

Alves da Silva was held on Sunday in Mulungu, a municipality located in the central-northeastern part of the Brazilian state of Paraiba, following a 48-hour police operation to catch him two days after his near-arrest on a federal highway when a man with him was detained but he escaped.

The fugitive was identified by the large tattoo on his chest hidden under the women’s clothing he had on.

Cops say they are now working on trying to establish whether Alves da Silva, who has claimed he committed his first homicide aged just 13, really has killed the number of people he alleges.

The 16 killings he has been linked to occurred in a three-month period since his latest release from prison in May.

They are said to include the murders of two shopkeepers on 1 August in Rio Tinto, another municipality in Paraiba in Brazil’s northeastern region.

He is also being investigated over the death of a young woman whose body was found after he indicated where it was buried.

Police chief Douglas Garcia said of Alves da Silva’s 80 killings admission: “It is a very significant number. We believe that, if it is not that number, it is something very close to it.”

He added: “He coldly confessed to several murders, even revealing that his first crime was committed at the age of 13, during his police interrogation.”

According to local media reports the suspected serial killer told police the victims were people linked to crime and spoke of a kind of “clean-up” although this has not been confirmed by detectives.

He has been described as a suspected member of a criminal faction of Rio de Janeiro origin operating in Paraiba.

Five warrants were out for his arrest before he was captured, including four for aggravated murders.

The child with him when he was taken into custody is said to be doing well.

No information has been released about the youngster’s identity and police are said to be investigating how the two-year-old ended up with Jorlan.

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