Woman becomes police officer, arrests father’s killer 25 years later

A woman whose father was murdered when she was young became a police officer so she can arrest his killer years later.

The Daily Mail reported on Monday, Oct. 14 that Gislayne Silva de Deus, 36, from Brazil recently helped put behind bars the man who shot her father, Givaldo, at point-blank range in February 1999 over a debt worth 20 pounds (around P800 at the time; P1,500 now). He was 35.

The wanted man, 60-year-old Raimundo Alves Gomes, had been on the run since 2016. Gomes was arrested in Boa Vista, the capital of the Brazilian state of Roraima in September this year.

Gomes was first caught, put on trial, and sentenced to 12 years in 2013, though he was allowed to stay out of prison pending his appeal, according to Metro.

After his final appeal was rejected in 2016, a warrant of arrest was issued against Gomes but he disappeared.

At the time, De Deus's family was devastated by the seeming injustice.

"We got used to living with uncertainty, always wondering if we would ever be able to locate him," she told local newspaper G1.

De Deus went to law school, became a lawyer, and eventually joined the police force. She became a prison officer in 2022.

The following year, De Deus' uncle spotted Gomes in the city but disappeared before authorities could arrest him.

"When I was a prison [police officer], I always imagined [the killer] arriving there to serve his sentence," she is quoted as saying.

She became a clerk at the General Homicide Division last July, during which she gathered information about Gomes. Through her work, were able to track and arrest him.

When Gomes was arrested, De Deus confronted him, saying he's going to pay for what he did.

"When I saw the man who was responsible for my dad’s death was finally in handcuffs," she said, "I couldn’t hold back the tears."