Episode 01 of 10.
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Pico dos Marins | Episode 1: A Grave Without an Answer | Globoplay Original Podcast
Globoplay 2022, December 9th.
#Globoplay #Podcast #PicoDosMarins
In 2021, the police excavate a simple adobe house in Piquete, at the base of Pico dos Marins. They are searching for any clues about Marco Aurélio. As they dig through the earth, they reopen old wounds, from a case that began in the mid-1980s and remains unresolved to this day.
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[ July 29, 2021, base of Pico dos Marins, Piquete, State of São Paulo, it's cold in the Serra da Mantiqueira, 15 degrees. I'm in front of a simple adobe house, three rooms, with mud walls painted a white already stained by time. The little house is on land surrounded by Atlantic Forest. No one lives there anymore, but today it's especially full of people, and they've already started excavating. I go around the house to reach the only window that leads to the room where everything happens. I'm looking for a different angle. The place, which is small, is packed with journalists, but 20, 30 people. I notice that I, my camera, and Flávio Guedes, the sound technician who accompanies me, wouldn't have the slightest chance there. Those guys, the real press, are used to this kind of situation. It's 2021, but this story actually begins back in 1985, and it's a nightmare for those involved even today. [Music] We open it up for you, photographers, just as it is. Then, during the excavation, we'll take a break, and you'll do your story. This is the police chief in charge of the case, Fábio Cadete. [Music] I slowly open the wooden window so as not to be noticed. I rest the body of the camera on the frame, which is about waist height. I stabilize the shot and press the record button. I breathe a sigh of relief. I can't believe it worked. I frame the excavation scene: yellow isolation tape, material collection equipment, metal detectors, two sniffer dogs, strategically placed, flashlights, and chalk marks delimiting the space of a body on the ground. It looks like a fictional set, but it's not. Until what time is it expected to end? I can't say. Two employees of the Municipality of Piquete are making holes in the ground, which has a thin layer of concrete. They use a hoe and a pickaxe. [Music] Suddenly, the concrete is broken, revealing damp earth. Three other men closely follow the duo's work and give an order: "Move it here, move it there." These men have different police badges hanging around their necks, red with gold details. I think they are the forensic experts. I've seen a lot of things in my years of making documentaries, but not what I was seeing there. The scene of a possible crime. They are looking for a body, or what's left of it. Someone who disappeared without leaving a single hair, not a trace, for almost four decades. This area is eminently linked to, well, to the ML because, in the event, if we find anything, then he already has the knowledge to give an opinion. He has a large team there. No one can affirm that it's a crime, let that be clear, but the police are looking for a corpse, some trace, some explanation. At this moment, a person comes to mind, the reason for all this happening, the reason I'm here telling this story: Ivo Simon, or Seu Ivo, Mr. Gentil. Extremely polite, a thin man, slightly stooped with age, with deep-set eyes, now 83 years old. At first glance, he seems fragile, but it's quite the opposite. The reopening by the police in 2021 of a case from 1985 turns the damp earth and reopens very old wounds. Seu Ivo, who is the key piece in this turn of events, preferred not to be present. He stayed at his home in the East Zone of São Paulo, but asked that from time to time I send him messages by cell phone with the details. The anxiety that the excavation situation causes makes me perfectly understand Seu Ivo's absence there. And out of nowhere, the forensic experts inform that the probes they are using are detecting metallic material under the ground. I write this to Seu Ivo, but I immediately delete the message. I try to rephrase the sentence and decide to send a photo of my field of vision with the two employees digging, what already appears to be a grave. I immediately regret it. I imagine how this image hits a father who has been searching for his son tirelessly for almost four decades. But Seu Ivo is strong, very strong, capable of moving mountains, literally, to find out what happened to his son. Seu Ivo is the father of the person those men with red and gold badges are hoping to find in the excavation: Marco Aurélio Bezerra Simon, the scout who disappeared at Pico dos Marins at the age of 15 in June 1985. This triggered one of the biggest searches for a civilian in the country's history, with at least 200 people involved, including military personnel, firefighters, trackers, alpinists, speleologists, and even psychics. A mystery never solved by the police. A boy who simply vanished without leaving any trace. This is Pico dos Marins, the case of Scout Marco Aurélio, Episode 1, A Grave Without an Answer. My name is Marcelo Mesquita, and I'm just one among many obsessed with this story. When we contacted the Simon family in 2017, our proposal was to make a film about their search for their son, understand the mystery, and what drives a family after so many years, and perhaps turn it into a feature film or a documentary series. I had a 15-year career in audiovisual, some released films. Seu Ivo then gave us carte blanche. However, as I delved deeper into the story, I realized that the disappearance touched upon the possibility of finding Marco Aurélio alive as well as the possibility of finding him dead, a crime or not a crime. So, I realized I was in a new narrative environment, a bit challenging for me, pure investigative journalism, far from my previous documentary works. I then decided to contact writers, journalists. Ivan Mezzomo, author of successful podcasts like "Caso Evandro," "Uma História Criminal," a difficult and sensitive story to approach that caused a stir and changed the fate of those involved. We talked a few times about Marco Aurélio's case. He got excited about the possibility of collaborating and guiding me, but I had never done a podcast before. However, the idea of doing it and then following up with the documentary series seemed interesting. My only condition was that since I was already filming the case and the family for a long time, I should continue the process with a camera, not just an audio recorder. So, a good part of what you'll hear here is being recorded on camera, a dynamic that brings a slightly different feel to this podcast. [Music] For now, what we have is an absolute mystery, many hypotheses, some of them absurd and even tragic, as Seu Ivo told me. This story is so unreal that many people don't believe it happened. Many people still don't believe it today. Some even said Marco Aurélio never existed. This is a mountaineer's story, in fact. There are legends about this story, but it itself is not a legend. Marco Aurélio existed, or still exists. And for you to understand what happened and how we got here, we'll have to go back to the 1980s. [Music] 1985, the year of the first Rock in Rio, the year Sarney took office as the first civilian president after 21 years of military dictatorship in Brazil. The heavy climate of the authoritarian regime still lingered, and due to unusual polar air masses, 1985 was especially cold. June 5th, São Paulo capital, it's a Wednesday, the eve of Corpus Christi holiday, and also a big event for four boys from a scout troop. They were teenagers between 14 and 15 years old: Marco Aurélio, Ricardo, Osvaldo, and Ramatis. They had a mission: to climb Pico dos Marins, one of the highest in the State of São Paulo. If they completed this mission, the scouts would be elevated to the status of "Senior Scouts," like a level change in the hierarchy, a rite of passage. With over 2,400 meters of altitude, climbing the peak is today a well-known adventure among mountaineers in Brazil and even abroad. Remember that influencer who put many people in danger during a climb in January 2022? Well, this case of the influencer who became a meme was there, climbing that peak. It's no joke. Later in this series, I'll tell you more about it. The fact is that several accidents happen every year at Pico dos Marins. [Music] Back to 1985. Now, imagine with me: Scout Marco Aurélio at home, 15 years old, 1.60m tall, brown hair and eyes, a thin boy who had a severe degree of strabismus. This vision problem made him tilt his head slightly to talk to people, to see them better. And despite his physical limitation, Marco Aurélio, or Caquéio, as he was called by the family, was known for being cheerful, communicative, and very studious. He was very mystical, and his vision problem started when he began using glasses, then he stopped using glasses because the doctor said it was no use. He also rode a bike, but always happy, laughing. On that cold June night, besides being cheerful, Marco Aurélio was especially excited. It was the first time he went out alone, without his siblings. He was always very excited because for them, going out alone without the family was a victory, because he knew about his vision deficiencies and never mentioned it. He was very cheerful, but we knew that deep down he must have wondered, "Why am I not like the others?" And even knowing he had to sleep early for the mission that would start the next day, Marco Aurélio called his brother, Marco Antônio, to show him a song he had been enjoying. The two were very close, as Marco Antônio himself told me in a conversation at his home. The band Blitz was emerging. "Everything is going great, everything is going well," and he came to me with a song, "Look, what a cool song!" and I had never heard it. "It was 'Você não soube me amar'," which was a big hit that launched Blitz in Brazil, and he kept playing that song. I found it very interesting, "What a cool song! I hadn't heard it." And we kept listening to this song, we talked, we had dinner. Besides Marco Aurélio and Marco Antônio, Seu Ivo and Neuma had three other children: Adriana, the eldest, Fábio, and Patrícia, the youngest. Adriana remembers this childhood period well: "So, as we always learned at home, it's being a social girl, you know? We were being prepared for life, you know, how to share and how to divide things." Patrícia also has good memories: "Oh, I liked it, our family was always very united. Mom used to do my braids, get all of us dressed up nicely to go to school, then we'd do the marching band, all together. Then came scouting. So the family was always very united and welcoming." And that night, they were hosting a 36-year-old man named Ruan Bernabel. You'll hear his name a lot more around here. Ruan was the scout leader for the expedition. To understand what a scout leader is and other issues, from time to time in this podcast, we'll need to delve a little into scouting. [Music] To start, we need to understand that besides the children and young people in training, there is always an adult responsible for the patrols: the leader. In our story, the leader was Ruan, a Spaniard based in Brazil, responsible for guiding the boys' expedition. He was a good leader. People loved him, especially because he was strict, and children like discipline. I didn't know it was like that. All my children had character formation, respect for others, respect for nature, within scouting. Ruan met and became close to the Simon family within the Olivetano scout group, founded in 1979 in São Paulo. The Olivetanos no longer exist today, but it's important to understand that groups are fundamental in scouting. It's in them that activities are organized. Today, there are over a thousand scout groups in Brazil. To give you an idea, many people have a folkloric view of scouting. I myself did, but gradually I discovered the complexity of the movement, which is focused on the formation and education of young people, full of principles, rules, and values. The family is central. Fathers, mothers, daughters, and sons get very involved in the activities. In our fourth year, I think, we slept in the living room with them. There was no bad time, you know, Marcelo? We weren't used to scouting. We didn't need luxury, we didn't need any of those things. We adapted. Scouting taught people how to adapt. At one point, we even agreed here, when we had dinner, that I would take him to the bus station the next day. Ruan, the guide, said: "Don't climb without a guide." There's a proverb that says: "Accidents don't happen; they are caused. If you take care, the accident won't happen." [Music] The adventure had been planned for months by leader Ruan. The idea was to climb Pico dos Marins with more scout youths, including Marco Antônio, Marco Aurélio's brother, and even some scout fathers, like Seu Ivo himself. A total of 17 people were planned, but people dropped out, and circumstances ended up bringing together a patrol of only five: one adult and four boys. And their lives would never be the same. [Music] To the Tatuapé metro station, and there the other parents took Osvaldo, Ricardo, and E. They all met there. From there, they went to the Santana terminal at the station. Seu Ivo said goodbye to his son. A moment frozen in memory. "I took Marco Aurélio to the metro. That's where he hugged me, and at that moment, it crossed my mind that I would never see him again." [Music] On Thursday morning, June 6th, the holiday, the four teenagers and leader Ruan went to the bus station in the north zone of São Paulo, where at 7 AM they took a Viação Cometa bus to Lorena, a neighboring city to Piquete. This information is in one of the reports made by the Union of Scouts of Brazil (UEB) almost two months after Marco Aurélio's disappearance. The report is based on the testimonies of leader Ruan, Ramatis, Ricardo, and Osvaldo. Here, it's worth a parenthesis. We will use these reports as one of the references to reconstruct the story of the expedition to Pico dos Marins that led to Marco Aurélio's disappearance. Some of these reports were even attached to the police inquiry records of this case, which we will discuss later. And to interpret these reports and all other official documents we will use in this and subsequent episodes, you will hear from someone who understands this type of thing well: Ivan Mezzomo. During the trip, they held a secret vote to choose the patrol monitor for the joint patrol, a provisional patrol for this camp. Due to the seniors belonging to different patrols. Regarding the vote, the four seniors voted, with Ricardo being chosen as monitor. The votes were opened by the leader: two for Ricardo, one blank, and another illegible. Trying to understand what was written, Senior Marco Aurélio said it was in his name because he had voted for himself, being a little dissatisfied with the final result at the time. The report mentions "seniors" in the voting, and that's why I'm bringing here a little more context about scouting. The scout movement was created in 1907 by the British General Robert Baden-Powell in England. And attention, don't confuse him with Baden-Powell, the bossa nova violinist, of whom I am a big fan, and who had this name precisely because his father was a big fan of the founder of scouting. The reflections of General Baden-Powell were what attracted Seu Ivo. "Scouting is a preparation of young people for life because when he founded scouting, he observed that in the group he commanded, the soldiers were excellent soldiers, but they had no preparation to face adversities. So he created scouting, and the best-selling book in the world for many years, Scouting for Boys, is fantastic. Teachings about respecting others, what I told you, and always doing your best. My children still remember that from scouting." According to age, participants gain experience, changing branches and graduating, similar to military ranks. Between 6 and 10 years old, they are Wolf Cubs. Between 11 and 14, Scouts. Between 15 and 17, they become Senior Scouts. And from 18 to 21 years old, they become Pioneers. This whole universe also attracted Scout Ricardo, the one elected monitor of Patrol 240. According to the 1985 report, Ricardo is now 52 years old and received us at his home in São Paulo. "The monitor has a role in organizing actions, he also has a role in identifying opportunities for improvement and development. So, there is a dedication from the monitor in terms of leading a team, much more than autocratic leadership. It's a much more participatory leadership. Much of what Ricardo has become today is due to the principles of scouting formation itself: loyalty, proactivity, friendship, respect, collegiality, empathy, resilience. I understand it as an organization, you know? This pre-military precept, let's say, is necessary for you to have an organization and bring some discipline. It wasn't a discipline that bothered anyone, you know? It wasn't something..." [Music] At Ricardo's house, as if to remind us that time is another essential character in this narrative, an old wall clock sometimes intruded on the recording. "This matter of having an order, let's say, that seems with militarism, let's say, is very light in scouting. It was more for the purpose of organization, for the purpose of bringing some discipline. It was for the purpose of group formation, you know? Knowing who the monitor is, who the sub-monitor is, who the leader is, what we should do, what is right, what is wrong. That guided us in terms of attitudes, but not in terms of thought." [Music] Thursday, 9 AM, when the boys arrive in the city of Lorena, in the Paraíba Valley. Here, it's already possible to have a first view of the Serra da Mantiqueira and its seas of hills. The boys are welcomed by scout leaders from another group operating in the region, the Puri group, who were helping with the logistics of organizing the expedition with Ruan. From Lorena, they go to Piquete, the last small town before the ascent to Marins. Leader Paulinho was waiting for them there. "At the time, I was the leader of the scout group, the Puri Scout Group from Piquete. So, we did the basic scouting, you know? We had the troop, the scout troop, and we also had the Wolf Cubs. So, our activity was every Saturday here at the gymnasium of the factory here in Piquete. I liked it because I participated, my son and I." Paulinho told me about the group's arrival at the house where people camped before climbing the mountain. "At that time, I had a Kombi, so I took the boys there to Seu Afonso's house. When I got there, I talked to Seu Afonso, explained the group to him. He also talked to Seu Afonso. Based on that, we arranged the time for him to pick us up on Sunday and bring us back to Piquete. Based on that, people went to arrange where they would camp, more tents, business, and I went home." Seu Afonso is another central character in this story. He lived in the only house at the base of Pico dos Marins. Keep that information in mind. [Music] [Music] Now, think about what was going through those four boys' minds on the way to Pico dos Marins. On this road, the silhouette of the mountain imposes itself in the background. There are many layers up to the summit, which is entirely surrounded by sharp rocks. There's no typical vegetation of the Mantiqueira, of the Atlantic Forest. It's a lot of rock, which scares and enchants. From afar, it looks inaccessible. On a trip there once with Seu Ivo, we stopped on the road to observe the peak, and I started filming. Cars passed us on the asphalt, and Seu Ivo had an expression of someone who had traveled far. "For 1985, I imagine, Marcelo, when the children passed by here in that euphoria of 'we're going to climb this mountain!' They didn't know what it was, but they were going to. I imagine the joy the children were feeling to make this journey, this conquest of the mountain. And today, I'm here looking at the mountain with sadness. They with joy, and me with sadness because of what happened. I say, it's not fair, it's not fair." [Music] "First, I think it's a beautiful, wonderful place. On one hand, on the other hand, for me, if Pico dos Marins didn't exist, if this wonderful range didn't exist, I wouldn't have gone through this problem in my life. What can I say? What can I imagine in my head? I don't know, I don't know what feeling I have, you know? Because I know that's where the tragedy happened. That's where it all began." [Music] And let's see where this story will end. [Music] Going back in time and chronology, it's Thursday, June 6th, 1985, around noon. The boys and Ruan arrive at Seu Afonso's house. This is the base of Pico dos Marins, the last point of shelter before the trail begins. You know those Everest climbing movies that always have a camp where people acclimatize before climbing? Relatively speaking, Seu Afonso's house is like that, but in the Mantiqueira. Seu Afonso lived with his wife, Dona Maria, and their children. He was considered a reference in the region for guiding groups up the mountain. Visitors camped in his yard and also used the house's rooms for occasional needs, the kitchen, and a small bathroom. The boys and leader Ruan agreed to settle in there the next day, Friday. The idea was to acclimatize and then climb on Saturday. Ricardo remembers these first moments of the expedition: "We prepared, we dug a corner of a small slope without any embankment to make a fire. We had our first meal. We did some activities. We went to take a bath in a river, an extremely cold rocky river, very cold water, you know? On the first night, we sometimes put things in the water, like butter, margarine, we put it in the water because otherwise it melts, you know? When it's in the water, it's literally like it tries to stay a bit more pasty and so on. On the morning of the next day, when we woke up, there was a layer of ice on top of that water, for example. It was very cold. We didn't imagine that all that cold, negative temperatures, would be part of the moment. We weren't even prepared for it, with so much clothing because of the cold." The task of washing the dinner dishes was left for the next day. When they came out of the tent in the morning on Friday, they noticed some things out of place. This really caught the group's attention. Leader Ruan was the first to leave the tent. Ricardo noticed that his boots, inside a plastic bag, were not where they had been left, outside the tent. The oil can that was outside the tent, leaning against the embankment, was found empty near the boots, heading towards the house, far from the pots that were to the left of the tent. Something distant. Traces of oil from the can were not found. They started looking for everything. They noticed the absence of a fork and the lids of the lunch boxes. Leader Ruan and Marco Aurélio said, "The eggs and the butter can were not found, only a piece chewed by the dog further ahead." In the investigations, the fact that the group's belongings were rummaged through would lead to much discussion. Marco Aurélio, who was very thin, 43 kg, washes the dishes and his hands become stiff, cold from head to toe. He tries to wrap himself in newspapers and cloths. Ramatis lends him gloves, and Osvaldo massages his hands. Leader Ruan teaches them exercises to warm up, but it's only in front of the bonfire that this finally happens. Friday still has a bath in the river, after a good walk, pasta with sardines for lunch, and a break to cut wood. Despite the cold and the apparent hardships, I can see a scout leader and four teenagers happy, fulfilling their tasks at the camp at the foot of the mountain, on the eve of the much-awaited climb. However, an important issue remained pending: talking to Seu Afonso about the climb. The local scout group, the Puris, had told leader Ruan that he should climb with Seu Afonso. And remember Seu Ivo's advice at dinner at my house? He slept at my house the day before traveling, but at dinner, I said, "The guide is available. Don't climb without a guide." This is a point that still causes much discussion, something that still keeps Seu Ivo awake at night. The reports and testimonies about why the expedition led by Ruan did not go with Seu Afonso are contradictory. There is a conflict of versions. The leader, Ruan, stated in the records at the time that Seu Afonso was busy and could not climb. Seu Afonso, on the other hand, says he was available but that Ruan preferred to climb alone. [Music] We contacted Ruan, who lives in Manaus today. He did not want to record an interview for the podcast but said we could use his public statements and clarify specific doubts in writing. Seu Afonso is already deceased. The fact is that the group ended up climbing Pico dos Marins without the local guide. [Music] Still on Friday, the eve of the climb, the report states that the boys chatted about the structure of the pyramids and about flying saucers seen in Campos do Jordão. At dinner, pasta with sausage and vegetables. And then another moment happens that will be relevant for thinking about what would happen next: the so-called council fire. It's a very strong and symbolic moment within scouting. Ricardo talks more about it: "It's a moment where, around a bonfire, you know? We bring there, you know? Situations. Sometimes we do little polls. We do little polls. It was a moment of conversation, a moment of unity. And often the council fire was made on the last day. It wasn't this case, you know? And on the last day, we sometimes do a kind of farewell ritual, a ritual of unity. We talked about the right things we did, we talked about some wrong things we did, we confessed when we did something wrong." In the council fire, they decided to elect a new monitor for the group, replacing Ricardo on the day of the expedition. This time, Marco Aurélio was chosen. Remember that the monitor is the one who coordinates the patrol's activities and is second only to the leader in the hierarchy. A question remains: why was the monitor election held? In my research, I understood that as it was a provisional patrol, changing monitors is something difficult. But I also suspect that because Marco Aurélio was a scout with more theoretical and technical knowledge of the group, leader Ruan may have tried to seek a balance of egos. After all, Marco Aurélio was very much looking forward to the monitor position. He had the most badges, had taken survival courses in the woods with the COE (Special Operations Command of the Military Police), knew the Scout Handbook backward and forward. Marco Aurélio's brother, Marco Antônio, remembers this: "Within the patrol, each one had a role. So we knew by the person's behavior who was qualified or who wasn't qualified to assume certain roles. So, Marco Aurélio, among Marco Aurélio, I, Ramatis, Marco Aurélio had been in scouting much longer. Marco Aurélio had taken many more courses. He was the most prepared." And the second report about the excursion, the description of that Friday evening, June 7th, ends by mentioning that each scout said an individual prayer before going to bed and waking up for a day they never imagined would be so difficult. And in that place, the view of the Paraíba Valley and the wild mountains, we were truly closer to God. At 9 PM, we went to sleep. [Music] June 8th, Saturday, the day of the much-anticipated climb. The group wakes up at 6 AM and starts organizing things, having breakfast, and hygiene. Two groups of mountaineers pass by the boys' camp and offer to climb together Pico dos Marins. First, a family from the region, and then another group of 15 to 20 people from Lorena. Leader Ruan declines both invitations, according to the report. He claims it was still too early when these groups passed and they planned to leave later, around 9 AM. I ask myself: would history have been different if the patrol had accepted any of the invitations? We'll never know. Around 9 AM, with a single backpack containing canned goods and a pot, Patrol 240 sets off to conquer the mountain, or almost. As if history wanted to warn us, the first steps were wrong. Instead of taking the trail through the woods that mountaineers normally follow, they opted to go by a dirt road, which caused a delay of more than an hour until the first stop: Morro do Careca, where they arrived more tired than they should have been. This was the group's first mistake on the climb. [Music] Morro do Careca, literally a bald spot in the middle of dense forest. You walk and walk, and suddenly a clearing opens up. Then you see a large, round, curved stone slab – the bald spot. From there, a first view of the Paraíba Valley opens up on the horizon. It's a point where many, thinking it's the right way, walk along the trail, which becomes narrower and narrower. Finally, breaking through the woods, we managed to get close to a tent set up in a clearing. Ricardo remembers this moment at Morro do Careca: "There was a tent, like a wild camp, with some fire remnants, something like that, but nobody was there. The tent was closed. We looked, we even called. A scout is always very helpful, so we wanted to know if it wasn't mere curiosity, but to offer some support, something. Everything's okay? Everything's fine? No answer. The tent was closed." The group moves on, and the difference in physical fitness among the boys begins to be noticeable. "I was always big. I wasn't the strongest, nor did I aspire to be. But we were walking. After we passed this, this steep climb, when we were walking towards what we thought was the peak, Marco... We heard Marco Aurélio's whistle. Because, you know, we walk and we get a little separated, it's natural. But it was a dirt path, you know? So you walk, walk, walk, walk. So, I don't remember about the first or second, but later, I remember more. And Marco ended up falling behind, and we heard the whistles. Then Ruan said, 'Ah, I think Marcos got lost.' Then I remember very well, Marco Aurélio said, 'No, it's not that I got tired, it's that I reached a point where there was a fork, left and right, and I didn't know which way to go.' No marking was made. We didn't make any chalk marks at that moment. We were going to." The fog was already strong and increasing the sensation of cold, but at that moment, the sky was clear, without clouds. The boys even took off their shirts. Leader Ruan carried the group's backpack. After walking uphill for more than an hour, they reached a spot where a wrought-iron cross was planted in the rock. Today, this cross no longer exists at Marins, but from here, they could already see the summit of the mountain, which gave them a false impression that they would soon reach the peak. But suddenly, things get complicated. "Osvaldo shouted! Ramatis gave the alarm!" The more Osvaldo stepped, the more he sank. Ramatis and Marco Aurélio held Osvaldo, who had his left leg in the hole and his right leg stretched out. Leader Ruan pulled him out of the hole. Osvaldo stood up, screaming in pain. Osvaldo hurt his knee. It was impossible to continue the walk, and we were already in that part... "Osvaldo, for some reason, I don't remember well if he lost his shoe, slipped, I don't remember well, he had a very bad fall, he hurt himself, his knee swelled a lot. And then, he said, 'Look, I can't put my foot down.' And we were in a completely remote area, far from everything." Leader Ruan decided to abort the expedition. However, the group had already gone too far up the mountain and needed time to figure out what to do. First, they tried to improvise a splint on Osvaldo's knee with scout neckerchiefs. It didn't work. The group became tense. It was already close to lunchtime, and Ruan established a break to calm down and think about what to do. They ate legumes with mayonnaise and sardines. The group decided to look for wood to make a kind of stretcher to carry Osvaldo, but that also failed. The conclusion: they would have to carry Osvaldo on their shoulders all the way down. Osvaldo himself even offered to stay behind so the others could continue the mission, but the group decided to stay together. After all, there's a rule in scouting that says the group must never separate. Now, pay close attention to what will happen, because this is where Marco Aurélio's destiny is sealed. Ramatis volunteered to go get help ahead and leave trail markers to facilitate the way back. Marco Aurélio also volunteered. Leader Ruan decided that Marco Aurélio would go ahead because he had more training, and Ramatis would continue carrying the backpack. Leader Ruan took Marco Aurélio back to the trail and gave him instructions for the descent: he should mark the rocks along the path with chalk, with the number of Patrol 240, and whistle from time to time. The rest of the group would follow shortly behind, carrying Osvaldo. Around 2 PM on June 8th, 1985, Saturday, Marco Aurélio set off alone down the mountain to go ahead, reach the base, and ask for help. "So, I understand the decision at the time. It was almost a collective decision. I remember very well the moment when Osvaldo got hurt. Ruan and I, being larger and stronger, were helping Osvaldo on the descent because it's not simple. It might seem like a simple walk, but it's not. It's not a rope climb, but it's not simple. Ramatis was carrying the backpack with our belongings, and I, Marco Aurélio, basically followed, looking at the first place to step, and not looking away. At that moment, Marco himself... I think this is the great moment of our lives, you know? It's crazy to think that this is Ricardo, more than 37 years later, looking at the exact moment that would completely change his life, his friends' lives. But back in 1985, it seemed like everything would go well. He volunteered, saying, 'Guys, while you're having some difficulty keeping up, I'll go ahead. When I get there, I'll have already arranged a car or called an ambulance to wait for you, and we'll minimize the risks of that peak.' We minimized the nuances of that place. Marco Aurélio was indeed more fragile from a physical standpoint, but he was also very studious. Remember? He was ready to exercise leadership as monitor. However, by agreeing and sending Marco ahead, leader Ruan broke that basic rule of scouting: never separate the group. This torments Seu Ivo to this day. Alone to go ahead, knowing that he had a visual impairment. Marco Aurélio couldn't release anyone because the rule for any group, whether it's firefighters, police, student groups, is not to separate a member in the middle of an unknown place. He did that. I mean, on a mountain of rock, you say, 'He'll go for help where...' Absurd! Marins is very interesting because when you say, 'I'm going down,' what do you imagine you're going to do? What are you going to do? As the word suggests, you need to go uphill and follow it. You follow Pico dos Marins from above to go down. You follow it along the ridge. You go, you go, you go, you pass Morro do Careca and you exit. If you go down, you take a section of dense forest, which is what happened. Not only with Marco, but Marco Aurélio going ahead, and the plan seemed to work. But according to the report, in just 30 minutes, everything changes. At 2:30 PM or 2:45 PM, we heard for the last time. Due to Osvaldo's health condition, we could not follow the marked route, deviating and no longer finding the signs. The group passes by two chalk markings on the rocks made by Marco Aurélio. Then, at a fork in the descent, leader Ruan decides to turn right with the three boys. Marco Aurélio had turned left. And this is a major point of discussion, one of the main ones in this story. Why did Ruan choose a different path that would turn out to be much longer to descend the mountain? It was a detour with no return. "From that moment on, we completely lost our sense of direction, and a little later, night fell." Without Marco Aurélio, leader Ruan's group takes a less common trail that leads them into dense forest. A walk that was supposed to take about two or three hours to the base at Seu Afonso's house would last 12 nights inside, probably with a thermal sensation below zero. "We checked the temperatures for '85 and were shocked to see that not only was June the coldest month in decades, but June 8th was the coldest day of the year in the State of São Paulo." "Evidently, but at the same time, I felt protected because I was in the group and because I was together all the time. He gave all his attention and care, and at the same time organized our descent. It was very cold that first night, very cold, and we were in shorts and t-shirts. We weren't very prepared to spend the night. Nobody had a warm jacket. We didn't even have food, barely had a water reserve for that night. And Ruan kept us moving because all the time we asked Ruan to let us sleep, to rest. He said, 'No, no, we're going to keep going today.' I understand why, perhaps we could have suffered hypothermia. Being lost in the woods is something that the vast majority of people, I hope, never have the opportunity, this sensation, this experience, because it's frightening. Complete darkness." They continued walking, worried about Marco Aurélio, but imagining that he would have reached the base of the camp alone. "Romantismo, Osvaldo complained a lot of pain, closed his hand, pain. We're going to get there, screaming with every movement he made, which was a little... At first, right after the accident, he howled in pain when he hit his leg, when he hit his knee. Later, as time went on, he reduced the complaint. We even asked if he was okay. He said, 'Man, it still hurts, but it's something I can tolerate, and I'm managing to put a little more weight on my foot. Let's go, let's go.' Thinking about the group too. We are forged in the fire of scouts, you know, in a good sense, of personality, of group, of organization, of friendship." Meanwhile, Seu Ivo, his wife, their children, and a couple of friends are at the Simon farm, near São Paulo, to enjoy the holiday. In the family's narrative, an episode with Neuma, Marco Aurélio's mother, is always retold. "Marco Aurélio was always very loving, very close to my mother. Neuma, now deceased, is described as a welcoming and sensitive woman, an affectionate mother." A report from Marco Antônio, the brother, and Seu Ivo, the father: Around 2 PM on Saturday, at the same moment they later found out the group had separated at Marins, Neuma felt uncomfortable, sensing something was wrong. [Music] "We brought a couple of friends to spend the weekend with us. How can we leave? I want to leave. Something is happening. And out of nowhere, the Simon family explained to their invited friends that they would have to leave the farm." That was on Saturday. Arriving in São Paulo, she started calling the mothers of the other scouts, asking if there was any news from Piquete. And they said, "No, so far, we don't know anything. Something is happening, something is happening." "Exactly. It was when something happened here. I said, 'No, man, it's because it's the first time he's going alone, right? Everything must be fine. I'm sorry, stay calm, everything is in order, everything is peaceful.' But my mother said so." The Simon family returned to São Paulo, but they still didn't know anything about what was happening many kilometers away at Pico dos Marins. It was 1985. It's worth remembering, young people, no phones, no internet. [Music] In the early hours of Sunday, June 9th, the tired scouts continue towards the west, guided by leader Ruan, following the stars. They continue for hours, facing difficulties in the woods, lost, until they reach a house that finally gives them a clue as to where they are. "When we arrived, we imagined, you know, four, five people arriving there in the middle of the night, 4 AM, 10 AM, I don't remember well, shouting or lost, so they needed help, you know? The person from the farm received us, shotgun in hand, but he was scared. Then we said, Ruan practically led the conversation: 'Look, we are...' And summarizing the conversation, Ruan discovered that the group had walked so much that they had crossed the state border and were already in the south of Minas Gerais, in Marmelópolis. This farm where they arrived was the property of Seu Filhinho, who receives the scouts with a gun. They are 6 km away, believe it or not, from Seu Afonso's house, the base camp, where they would only manage to return around 5 AM on Sunday. Remembering, they had left at 9 AM on Saturday, almost 20 hours earlier. Ricardo remembers this arrival: "When we returned to the camp, we found a very unusual situation. Our tent was knocked down. The tent was made of two poles, you know, a very simple process. One of the poles was knocked down inwards. So, what happened? Could it be Marco? Did he come here? We went there, first thing was to look for Marco, look for Marco, look for him. He's not there. Due to the fact that the tent was knocked down and some things were rummaged through, we said, 'Maybe Marco was here, maybe he took something, and went to look for help.' At that moment, we opened a can of condensed milk to eat something, as there was no ready food, nothing prepared. We opened a can of condensed milk and ate it with a spoon, quickly." At 6:30 AM on Sunday, leader Ruan leaves alone to look for Marco Aurélio on the trail. "Then Ruan said, 'You guys stay here, rest.' And he went. Then we found out that he hadn't appeared." Leader Ruan only returns at 10:30 AM, without success, according to the scouts' report. Keep that information in mind, because Ruan's choice to search for Marco alone for four hours in the woods will raise many suspicions later in the case. "In scouting, we have a habit of sometimes respecting whistles and signals. So, what does a whistle with three continuous sounds mean? Following, even a bit the Morse code model. So, three dots, three long sounds, something like that. We knew it was an SOS. A very strong whistle, it could be heard from far away. So, Ruan went to the nearby area, whistling to see if there was any response from Marco, because Marco also couldn't... We all had some kind of communication device to see if we could establish some contact. We heard Ruan whistle several times, but due to exhaustion, we slept. I don't know how long, maybe 4 hours, 3 hours, 5 hours, I don't know. But we fainted. I can't say we slept, but while we were waiting, perhaps in this sleep, and also distressed by Marco's situation, we heard Ruan whistle several times on the whistle. Okay, so we don't lose track of time, it's Sunday, June 9th. Remember Leader Paulinho, who had taken the boys by Kombi to Seu Afonso's house on Thursday? He arrives to pick up the group as agreed, it's 10 AM. "I was inside the tent because I was certainly tired too. I got my son again. We came here to the barrier to make contact because there was no... At that time, I saw the barrier. Then I called Gugu, narrating what happened." Paulinho mentions Gugu, who was the main leader of the Piquete scout group, the Puris, who had helped the Olivetano group from São Paulo with the preparations for the Marins climb. Then, he activated here in Piquete some support staff from the group, which was, if I'm not mistaken, about five people, who went there to do a sweep. And during this period, it was starting to rain a bit, and there was that dense fog. And we left shouting. Leader Gugu called other members of the Puris to help. These leaders entered the trail again with Ruan to search for Marco Aurélio on their own, and a detail: they chose not to inform the police that the boy was lost. At 4:30 PM, the searches led by Gugu are suspended due to bad weather. "I remember a feeling of 'My God, what happened? My God, where is Marco?' I remember a feeling of deep sadness, all of us distressed, sad, but confident. That was my feeling. 'He'll show up soon. He'll be here soon.' So, we had a certainty, despite the distress. We had a certainty that Marco would show up soon, that he would be here soon. Then we'll give our friend a hug, and we left shouting his name and with whistles. A group shouting. But we got nothing. No response. Then, contact was made with the police, and with Maria, the whole apparatus was activated to... The Piquete police station was notified of the boy's disappearance at 5:15 PM on Sunday, meaning almost 30 hours after the last moment Marco was seen. The fog engulfs the mountains, it gets very cold, and at the beginning of the night, another significant event occurs. The accounts of it vary slightly, but they tell a common story. While having soup prepared by Maria inside Seu Afonso's house, leader Ruan and the scouts hear a whistle. The whistle comes from the woods. They all look at each other, startled, thinking it's a signal from Marco. He runs out, hoping to find the boy. Ruan goes towards the woods, from where he thinks the sound is coming. The whistle stops. Silence takes over again, and suddenly they see a bluish light, a sort of flash in the distance. [Music] Despite the fact being reported to the police, according to the records and testimonies from the time, they never found any whistle in the vicinity or anything that explained this strange blue flash. [Music] As night fell, leader Gugu took Osvaldo, Ramatis, and Ricardo, and leader Ruan to his house in Piquete. From there, Ruan calls Seu Ivo and Nelma. He delivers the news that no mother or father should ever hear in their lives. "At 11 PM, when the phone rang, my father understood. Ruan said, 'Look, Marco Aurélio...'" "The situation was like this in the afternoon. Not knowing, hearing that, and again, we started, 'Is it true?' I remember my father turned pale. He spoke to my mother. I was nearby, and then it was a terrible feeling. 'What's happening?' But it was true. It was true. Even today, 37 years later, a sad truth." [Music] Remember the excavation at the beginning of this episode, in search of Marco Aurélio's body, which happened in July 2021, in a small adobe house? So, this adobe house is Seu Afonso's house. Yes, the very guide who didn't guide. Because the forensic experts were looking for the missing scout right under where the old guide's bed used to be. So many years later, what's the connection between A and B? I promise we'll get there, but there's a long way to go. The fact is that there in July 2021, leaning over the small window that looked out onto the spot where Seu Afonso's bed used to be, balancing a camera in front of the excavation, I was confused and anxious. I could only think about Seu Ivo's tireless search, the man who gave me carte blanche to enter this story. [Music] As the earth was removed and the hole took on the shape of a grave, I could only see a wound, a wound that remained open and that, in a strange way, fueled everything. It fueled that circus of forensic experts and journalists, the city employees. With every jab of the shovel into the ground, it fueled my thoughts and those of Flávio, the sound technician. It fueled the mystery. [Music] "Can it smell after so many years? Depending on how the smell was preserved, yes. How is it? Cold can create a pocket there. And when I say it's strange, it's because the madness of the story is so great that it takes over you. The mystery acts like a drug. It's something bigger, and out of nowhere, you start asking yourself again, 'But will they find a scout there almost four decades after he disappeared? What if there's no body?'" You understand the thought that must be bothering you as you listen to me, ruminating in your head, whether all this is incredible or not. That's exactly what bothered me during the excavations, and at the same time, it's what drove me, what made me continue, what makes me continue. But the truth is that there were also facts and evidence that led the police to excavate that location that day: it was a mistake, a big mistake, a detour. Yet another detour. And so, following the wrong route, despite the entire team of experts and forensic technicians, procedures, and especially all the expectation caused by the excavation, Marco Aurélio was not there. Nothing was found, not a trace, not a single hair. Everyone was betrayed by the mystery. However, not everything was in vain. Because for the excavations to be carried out in 2021, the closed inquiry had to be reopened, and it had been archived since 1989. And thanks to Seu Ivo's persistence, it was reopened, and that is a very important victory for the family of a missing person. Keeping the case alive. Yes, that's exactly what you heard. Other clues and revelations have emerged since 2021, and we will follow this story closely, very closely. To do this, I will have to tell you everything from the beginning. We will go back to June 1985, to the major official search operation for Marco Aurélio in the immensity of Pico dos Marins. "She searched until the end of her life because she didn't believe he was gone anymore. She said, 'I have to stop because you'll understand. I can't stop. I think we have a mission here on earth. I can't tell my son, 'I'll abandon you.' I can't. Until I have proof to the contrary, I will look for him.' She said, 'Until I have an explanation for this, I won't have peace.'" [Music] Now, a quick message before we say goodbye. If you have any information or clue about Marco Aurélio, please contact us at the email:
