Luiz Baú

During the winter of 1974, Baú moved to Linha Jubaré in Itatiba do Sul, where he was welcomed into the family of Maria Zarpelon, a widow and mother of seventeen children, who had invited him for work as he was known for his skills in the fields.[1] His work in curandory led him to maintain a close relationship with Francisco, the couple's twelfth child, who suffered from asthma and had been receiving treatment since he was twelve years old.

Their relationship became very close, leading to discussions between Baú, the school teacher, and the local parish's minister, during which Baú demonstrated a feeling of possessiveness over Francisco.[2] After one of the other brothers returned from the military, suspicions that Baú and Francisco were in a homosexual relationship grew. The family were questioning why the pair were in the woods for most of the time, and returned only at dusk.[1] Because of this, the family decided to send off Francisco to a Catholic Church Seminary in Garibaldi. This angered Baú, who blamed the teacher and minister for his decision.

On February 26, 1975, Francisco was asked by his mother to fetch some cornmeal from a mill near his home, going on horseback and passing by some relatives. That same day, Maria told Baú about the decision to send Francisco to the seminary. In response, Baú said that he would be leaving the residence, and wished to leave some money from his wage for Francisco to use at his leisure. However, the boy had gone missing, and when the family started looking for Baú, he was nowhere to be found.[1]

The following day, when passing by some relatives' house, the family believed that Francisco might've stayed over at an acquaintance's place.[1] On the way, they met Baú, who denied knowing any information about the young man's whereabouts; however, the owner of a grocery store reported that he had seen Baú accompanied by Francisco the previous day. When they returned home, one of the brothers found Francisco's horse trotting alone, with blood spots on the harness. This discovery mobilized the community, which scattered to find the young man.[2]

The Aratiba City Police Department conducted a joint search with the residents of Linha Jubaré, and eventually found a body wrapped in bean cloths two days later, in the chapel garden.[1] It was identified as Francisco's, and showed signs of heavy physical aggression. During the autopsy, the report stated the following:

[...] No dia 26 de fevereiro de 1975, em Linha Jubaré, município de Aratiba, pelas 19:00 horas, depois de ligar-se afetivamente à vítima, [...], com treze anos de idade, em razão de seu homossexualismo, o denunciado, cujas ligações homossexuais com a vítima remontava há um ano atrás, prestandose o acusado à pederastia passiva, descobriu que [o menino] estava se preparando para regressar num Seminário em Garibaldi. Irresignado com a iminência da separação, o denunciado, no dia antes mencionado, procurou a vítima encontrando-a quando a mesma retornava de um moinho. Nessa ocasião o denunciado abordou o assunto da separação, dizendo que também iria embora, mas que deixaria suas plantações para a vítima. Depois de uma rápida conversa, foram para o interior de um mato, onde o denunciado prestou-se à pederastia passiva, como acontecia frequentemente entre ele e a vítima. Após a prática homossexual, utilizando-se de um canivete, o acusado produziu profundos cortes no pescoço e na região axilar esquerda da vítima, causando-lhe a morte. Depois disso, amputou o pênis do menor, e, com o auxílio de uma madeira roliça, introduziu aquele órgão no ânus da vítima.[3]

Translated to English, this reads:

[...] On February 26, 1975, in Linha Jubaré, municipality of Aratiba, at 7:00 PM, after affectionately connecting with the victim, [...], at the age of thirteen, due to his homosexuality, the accused, whose homosexual connections with the victim went back a year ago, leading the accused to passive pederasty, he discovered that [the boy] was preparing to move to a Seminar in Garibaldi. Irresigned to the imminence of separation, the accused, on the day mentioned above, sought out the victim and found him returning from a mill. On that occasion, the accused addressed the issue of separation, saying that he should also leave, but that he would leave his crops to the victim. After a quick conversation, they went into the bush, where the accused lent himself to passive pederasty, as often happened between him and the victim. After the homosexual practice, using a pocket knife, the accused produced deep cuts on the victim's neck and left auxiliary region, causing his death. After that, he amputated the minor's penis, and with the help of a wooden stick, he shoved the organ into the victim's anus.

Luiz Baú was arrested while searches were conducted for Francisco's body, with him placing the body near the minister's chapel with intention of incriminating him.[1] The press from across the region reported the crime as being one of the most barbaric committed, with the newspaper A Voz da Serra featuring on the cover of its March 6 issue the headline: "A Beast in Itatiba", with other outlets like Zero Hora also mentioning it on their covers.[4] Baú was taken to the Forensic Psychiatric Institute Maurício Cardoso in Porto Alegre, with the objective that specialists could determine the state of his sanity for the upcoming criminal process. In the subsequent report, it was determined that Baú was a schizophrenic, and on June 28, 1979, he was sentenced to four years and seven months imprisonment.[5]

While imprisoned, Baú spent most of his time tending to the vegetable garden, and even supported detainees and law enforcement by providing them with produce from it.[1] He was characterized as an extremely peaceful individual, and was allowed free rein to any part of the prison.[2]

Considered an exemplary prisoner by prison guards, Baú nonetheless was never visited by friends or relatives, but met with the relatives of other prisoners. During one of these meetings, he threatened the family of another murderer that he would burn his house down, a fact which left the Linha Jubaré community alerted for a few months.[1] Still, he was allowed to work at a penal colony in the Frinape neighborhood, about ten kilometers from the prison, in addition to helping out the farm owner of the prison, in the Aeroporto District, which was eight kilometers away from the prison.[6]

On January 20, 1980, Baú was working on the farm when he disappeared around noon.[2] Even after his escape, there was no mobilization of law enforcement to recapture him, and only 23 days later, local and state media began reporting that the "Erechim Psychopath" was gone.[1] During his time, Baú was confirmed to have wandered through several communities in Erechim, Gaurama, Áurea and Getúlio Vargas. He was spotted on February 9 in the vicinity of Povoado Argenta in Erechim, carrying a backpack on his back and noticeably barefoot.

Upon entering the Rio Toldo community, around February 12, Baú committed his second murder, which was eerily reminiscent of his first one back in 1975. Jandir Cardoso, 12, was out to buy some candles and matches from a warehouse for his parents around 4 PM.[1] When he failed to return home, his family traveled to the warehouse, finding that the boy had purchased the items and then promptly left. Since nobody had seen him since, the community organized a search to find him.[6]

The next day, at 3 PM, Cardoso's body was located by residents who had seen blood dripping from some corn. A machete was found lying in some nearby grass and, under the machete, the body had been buried in a hole upside down.[1] The autopsy report at the Hospital de Caridade de Erechim confirmed that Cardoso had had his anal sphincter ruptured and his genitalia completely amputated.

After this happened, suspicions immediately fell upon Baú, who was ordered to be captured by the Erechim Police. By then, Baú had reached another village, in Rio Tigre, where he would commit two more murders.[6]

On February 15, Gelson Ribeiro and Paulo Grando, both 8, were herding their neighbor's cows about a kilometer away from their home, but didn't manage to return in time.[2] This fact left the boys' parents in distress, who decided to start looking for them, accompanied by twenty other local families. The bodies were subsequently found the next morning, near an area where the boys were known to feed the cattle.[1] Autopsies conducted at the Hospital de Caridade confirmed that they had similar deaths to Cardoso.

Baú attempted to kill another boy on the next day, when he arrived in Povoado Argenta and approached 11-year-old Lindomir Truylia. He chased after the boy into a pottery, but the latter managed to find his father and escape unscathed. When shown a photo of Luiz Baú, the boy identified him as the man who had chased him.[1]

At the end of that day, Baú arrived at the prison farm in the Aeroporto District, where he had worked for several years.[1] Aparicio Amâncio Bueno, 65, was the farm owner and resided there. During the time they lived together, Bueno made his discontent of how the guards treated Baú evident, but was never reprimanded for it. According to contemporary sources, the two encountered each other that night, with Baú subsequently cutting his neck with a knife.[2] He then proceeded to steal clothes, food, a 32-gauge shotgun, a 22-gauge revolver and cartridges.