Brazilian serial killer found dead in cell

THE Brazilian serial killer, Ademar Jesus da Silva, whom the media here had dubbed the "Luziania Monster", was found dead in his detention cell in Goiania, Goias, on Sunday afternoon at around 2 pm after having hung himself using strips of cloth that he had ripped off the covering of his mattress and twisted into a rope.

The Correio Braziliense newspaper carried a gruesome police picture of Ademar already dead, slumped over on a concrete bench in his cell with a rope around his neck and the front of his t-shirt stained with a trail of blood, on its front page today. Forensic experts are saying it looks like suicide, but the mothers of his six young victims in Luziania said they were suspicious as they believe that Ademar had an accomplice in his deadly killing spree. The mothers told the Correio that they were angry he died so soon before having been able to suffer and pay for his crimes.

One mother told the paper that she still did not believe that one of the bodies dug up by the police last week, after Ademar confessed to the killings and led the authorities to where he had buried the bodies, was that of her son. She said she would only believe it when the DNA tests came back positive. The results for all six bodies are due by the end of this week.

Prisoners being held in a cell next to Ademar's, told reporters that they remembered hearing ripping sounds coming from the killer's cell and that just before he killed himself he had told them he was going to take a shower.

A police investigator told Brazilian television that Ademar had actually asphyxiated himself to death as the cord was too short for him to hang himself properly.

Brazilian authorities are now investigating his death and are waiting for the report of the autopsy that his being done on Ademar's body. The Ministerio Publico, a watchdog arm of the government, is leading the investigation and has already raised questions as to how police guards could have allowed such a thing to happen. Ademar had been moved from Luziania to the capital of Goias, Goiania, a few days ago as they feared for his safety if he remained in the town where he committed the murders.