(Photo of the search for Eric Welterlin) Fire Department.
Photo courtesy: Fire Department.
Attention! This article concerns a true disappearance case. If you can contribute to the truth, please immediately contact the police, or Marco Aurélio's family via email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Have you ever considered if the real hypothesis of a crime was that you or someone you love brutally murdered a teenager? Terrible, isn't it? So let's be cautious.
I apologize to those who like to point fingers and accuse people based on hunches, but here, I'll discuss some hypotheses to demystify the story. Accusing the scouts and Chief Juan without proof is an abomination.
Here I want to point out some hypotheses, as they have been discussed by various sources. And here I want to demonstrate some points.
According to the article that discussed June 8, 1985, some theories. All are suppositions and speculations:
Disorientation and death by hypothermia or starvation.
The most sensible and rational hypothesis. It is supported by several mountaineers and experts who know the accident region well.
The point against this theory is that the search teams supposedly exhausted all search areas, and where the boy's body might be found.
Homicide committed by Chief Juan,
This hypothesis was taken seriously by the police, the press, and the public.
It would have been an easy solution to the case, but no proof or motive for the crime was ever found. Never. Nothing exists against the chief.
Madness that led the adolescent to wander the world ever since.
If there were a motive, madness wouldn't be madness. But would a young person with no history of mental disturbance do that?
Alien abduction.
The proponents of this hypothesis owe us evidence. This supposition has already been discussed here.
The boy ran away from home.
And he ran away right in the middle of the Marins mountains, when his friends were counting on him for help? Not to mention he ran away with only the clothes on his back, no money, no anything?
(Image created by artificial intelligence Bing and Dall-e)
The boy was kidnapped.
Although it is a fact that other people were in the Marins mountains on the day of the disappearance, no ransom was demanded during the searches. Those that happened much later were pranks.
Death after falling into a crevice or hole, or due to injuries caused by it.
This hypothesis is just a variation of Disorientation and death. He got disoriented, got lost, fell, got injured, and died.
(Image created by artificial intelligence, Bing and Dall-e)
Homicide committed by a local resident who mistook him for a thief upon being surprised by the adolescent in the early morning.
This hypothesis was already discussed here, with many attributing it to Seu Afonso's family.
I believe these accusations are cowardly, and only hold up because the accused have already passed away and cannot defend themselves.
Seu Afonso helped in all the searches, and no evidence was found that he was a murderer. In fact, everyone who knew him states he was a simple man of noble conduct.
Murder by a maniac or fanatic
This hypothesis cannot be discarded, although there is no evidence for it, precisely because the police failed to collect it. Unfortunately, the police completely failed in their investigation, considering Chief Juan as a suspect and failing to follow other investigative leads.
We know that tents were set up at the location. This is confirmed by several people. And they never even investigated who those people were. The presence of a vehicle was also almost completely ignored.
Recruitment by a fanatical group.
To say that an intelligent 15-year-old boy was magically enchanted by a mystical doctrine through a brief contact on an afternoon is somewhat fantastical. Although abduction by radical groups or cult members was never investigated or taken seriously by the police authorities.
(Image created by artificial intelligence, Bing and Dall-e).
Some mention a sect, the Blue Butterfly, but pointing to religious groups without concrete evidence is primarily related to prejudice.
He was killed by an animal and then devoured.
The credibility of this theory is questioned because death by animal leaves a lot of evidence. Unlike humans (murderers), animals don't clean up traces or hide evidence. In this case, there would be clothes and body parts. An animal attack leaves tracks. Many! And although it's possible to find maned wolves and jaguars in the Serra da Mantiqueira, none, even if capable of a fatal attack, could devour a fifty-kilogram human being.
(Image created by artificial intelligence Bing and Dall-e)
He was murdered by Seu Afonso's son
This hypothesis, which emerged on social media, especially on WhatsApp, became the most debated theory in 2022 and 2023.
Proponents of this theory claim that João, Seu Afonso's son, got scared of Marco Aurélio who arrived alone asking for help, and because João has an intellectual disability, he killed the boy. Then Afonso would have hidden Marco Aurélio's body.
The proponents of this theory allege that all searches were conducted upwards from Seu Afonso's house, and that Seu Afonso would have buried Marco Aurélio's body downwards. Therefore, they would never have searched the burial site.
This theory, "constructed" more than thirty years later, arises within Seu Afonso's family. As one of his daughters even dug holes in the area looking for a body.
Well, a body. But not Marco Aurélio's body, but the body of a poor boy, João, who disappeared in the same region and was forgotten because he was poor.
Those who don't believe this theory think that blaming the "crazy one" in the story is great prejudice. People with intellectual disabilities carry the stigma of "evil."
"Be careful with the crazy one" - many mothers say to scare their children.
But in fact, most people with intellectual/mental disabilities are not dangerous, and when they commit a crime, they don't worry about details or perfection. In this case, Seu Afonso would be the intellectual mastermind of the corpse concealment.
This theory led to the reopening of the case.
Photo: Laurene Santos/TV Vanguarda
If Seu Afonso's family had money, rest assured that someone would be suing someone for such dishonorable accusations.
In our curiosity, and in the demon that lives inside each of us, it's possible to think, for example, that Seu Afonso got angry with the scouts for being on his land and not paying him anything, nor hiring him to guide them. Seu Afonso needed that money and got angry because he expected that job, as the reports say, he already had food prepared to take the young people. And in this, consumed by hate, he devised a plan to make one of the boys disappear, and succeeded since Marco Aurélio arrived there alone. Opportunity and luck together, Afonso killed the boy and hid him. But in this other hypothesis, João saw everything, and Afonso would have asked him to keep the secret. But since Afonso knew that his son would have tantrums when he didn't take his medication, he always insisted that his son take his medication. It happened that one day João refused to take his medication and went into the woods. Afonso went after him and found him talking about the death of the lost boy. Afraid of the secret being revealed, Afonso killed his own son and buried him where the scout lay, thus ending his worry about the secret being revealed.
Is this possible? Yes. But it could also be another absurd and disrespectful theory that offends the image of some people who are already at rest in death.
Indeed, this case will not end. Rest assured that soon other theories will emerge.
On my part, I express my full solidarity with the families of Seu Ivo and Seu Afonso for the loss of their sons. I am sure that many people are hurt by unfounded speculations, and I will always be here for the rational treatment of everything that happened. If nothing serves to bring the truth about the scout, let it serve as a lesson, so that other people do not disappear in this region.
