Sailson José das GRAÇAS

AKA "The Monster of Corumbá"

Classification: Serial killer
Characteristics: "Addicted to murder" - Rio police chief Marcelo Machado said Das Gracas also masturbated after the victims were dead
Number of victims: 7 - 43
Date of murders: 2005 - 2014
Date of arrest: December 10, 2014
Date of birth: 1988
Victims profile: 38 women, 4 men and a 2-year-old girl
Method of murder: Strangulation - Stabbing with knife
Location: Baixada Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Status: In prison awaiting trial

Sailson Jose das Gracas is a 26 year-old Brazilian man accused of stabbing a woman to death in a suburb of Rio de Janeiro. He has confessed to having murdered 41 people, almost all of them women, “for the fun of it”, police say.

Gracas says he has murdered 37 women, three men and a two-year-old child over a nine-year killing spree, explaining he killed the child because he feared it would cry and attract neighbours’ attention. He claimed to have first murdered in 2005 at the age of 17.

Brazilian Police Say Man Confessed To Being A Serial Killer In Rio De Janeiro

By Jade Walker - The Huffington Post

December 12, 2014

A man has reportedly confessed to Brazilian police that he was a serial killer and hit man responsible for the deaths of dozens of people, the BBC reported.

Sailson Jose Das Gracas, 26, was arrested on Wednesday after he allegedly stabbed a woman to death. During his videotaped interrogation, Das Gracas confessed to killing another 37 women, three men and a 2-year-old girl in Rio de Janeiro over the past nine years, police said.

Das Gracas, who is black, reportedly said he preferred to kill white women by strangulation, the Daily Mail reported, and that he was "addicted to murder."

Das Gracas said he would go out 'hunting' -- stalking his victims to learn their movements -- and then killed them for the adrenaline rush.

"I observed them, I studied them. I waited for a month, sometimes a week, depending on the place. I tried to ascertain where they lived, what their families were like. I kept watch on their houses and then after a while went there at dawn, waited for my chance and entered," broadcaster Globo's G1 news portal quoted Gracas as saying.

He also apparently killed for money. According to Das Gracas, he was hired to murder his three alleged male victims.

In an interview with reporters at the police station in Nova Iguacu, Gracas said he enjoyed seeing the female victims die.

"I got pleasure from them fighting, screaming and scratching me. I thought that I was crazy, sometimes normal," he said, as quoted by The Telegraph.

Rio police chief Marcelo Machado said Das Gracas also masturbated after the victims were dead.

Police apprehended Das Gracas soon after his alleged slaying of 26-year-old Fatima Miranda, who was found dead in her home.

Das Gracas reportedly began his life of crime when he was just a teenager. At 15, he began stealing handbags. But only two years later, he allegedly killed his first victim, The Globe And Mail reported.

"I started to steal small things, do small robberies. And as I grew up I started having other thoughts. My thinking started to change, understand? From robbing, I started to think about killing," Das Gracas said.

Authorities are in the process of verifying Das Gracas' claims, but they say they believe his account. In the past 48 hours, they've already matched four crimes, Reuters reported.

According to Agence France-Presse, the maximum prison term under Brazilian law that Das Gracas could face is 30 years.

"I don't feel remorse -- if I go to jail for 10, 15, 20 years, then as soon as I get out I'll do the same thing all over again," Gracas said.

Brazil psychopath serial killer 'strangled 38 women for fun'

Police are investigating the claims of Sailson Jose das Gracas, 26, who says he murdered dozens of women and would "do it again"

By Nick Allen, Los Angeles - Telegraph.co.uk

December 12, 2014

A 26-year-old Brazilian psychopath has confessed to being a prolific serial killer who murdered 38 women over the last decade.

Police in Rio de Janeiro are investigating the veracity of the claims made by Sailson Jose das Gracas, who said he murdered "for the fun of it" and because it calmed him down.

Das Gracas claimed he also killed a two-year-old girl in case she cried and attracted attention to one of his crimes. He also told police he had shot dead three men in contract killings.

A police spokesman said: "We are now trying to trying to determine if he is the serial killer he says his, or if he is making it all up."

Das Gracas was arrested on Wednesday shortly after the fatal stabbing of a women in a Rio suburb and subsequently confessed to the other killings.

He was paraded in handcuffs in front of Brazilian media at a police station where journalists were allowed to question him.

Speaking calmly and quietly the suspected serial killer outlined how he had been a petty criminal, stealing handbags from women, before committing his first murder age 17.

He went on to target mostly white women, sometimes stalking them for months, before strangling or stabbing them, he claimed.

Das Gracas said: "At 17 I killed the first woman and that gave me a buzz. I kept on doing it and I enjoyed it. When I wasn't killing someone I got uptight. I would pace up and down at home. Killing calmed me down.

"I'd kill someone and then would think about the victim for two or three months. After that, I'd go off hunting.

"I don't feel remorse. If I go to jail for 10, 15, 20 years, then as soon as I get out I'll do the same thing all over again. I got pleasure from them fighting, screaming and scratching me. I thought that I was crazy, sometimes normal. I'm addicted."

Das Gracas claimed his wife was aware of the murders.

Experts suggested he was a psychopath who was enjoying the publicity that followed his confession, and that his claims should be treated with caution.

But police said his statements tallied with evidence and four crimes had so far been linked to him.

Two months ago Brazilian police arrested Tiago Rocha in the city of Goiania. He confessed to killing at least 39 victims, including homeless people, over the last two years.