José Paz Bezerra was a man from Paraíba who was investigated in São Paulo state in 1970 for the killings of several women, fled north to Belém, the capital of Pará, and was arrested there in 1971 after more women died. In December 1974 a jury in Belém found him guilty and sentenced him to 68 years of reclusão. He was then sent back to São Paulo, where he was reported to have been convicted of seven homicides, and he was released from prison in 2001.
The homicide file of his Belém case survives at the Court of Justice of Pará, and in 2022 Leiliane Sodré Rabelo and Paula Carina de Araújo published a study of it. Most of the deaths are said to have occurred in São Paulo, and only part of the number attributed to him was ever tested in a verdict.
The Belém court file places his birth in December 1945 in Lagoa Nova, a town in the state of Paraíba. His surname is written both Paz and Paes, and his first name is sometimes given as João. The Belém court file records a childhood of abandonment and family breakdown; he was sent out of the family home at about the age of eight, and part of his youth was spent in Rio de Janeiro. His schooling and early adult years are not on record.
Accounts of the São Paulo killings give a span of 1966 to 1971 for the whole series. The Belém file says that before he left for Pará he was being investigated for the killing of women in São Paulo state and was wanted by that state's police. The names of the São Paulo victims and the dates of their deaths are not on record.
His identification followed a theft. The Belém file records that he was reported to the police by his own companion when a theft was caught at the home where the two of them worked. Aventuras na História and the Correio de Corumbá date that event to October 14, 1970, and place it in a wealthy district of São Paulo city. After the report he left São Paulo.
The file gives the date he reached Belém as September 2, 1970. Portal Amazônia gives the month of arrival as November 1970, after a journey north with truck drivers. In Belém he used false names.
Three women died in Belém in the period the court later examined, and two other women survived attacks.
Maria Tereza Marvão was 43 years old. The date of her death is not on record. The file places the first Belém killing in December 1970 in one passage and nine months after he settled in the city in another, so the date is not settled. A second woman, whose identity was never established, died in Belém a few days later; the exact date is not on record.
Anibalina Ataíde Martins was 35 years old and died on September 26, 1971. Another woman survived an attack that the court treated as robbery. In October 1971 another woman survived an attempt on her life in Marituba, near Belém.
A relative of Anibalina Ataíde Martins noticed him and told the police. On that tip, officers arrested him in Belém. The exact date of the arrest, which came after the October 1971 attempt in Marituba, is not on record. The Correio de Corumbá places it in September 1971. The arrest drew attention from radio stations and from national newspapers and magazines.
Two psychiatric reports were prepared in Belém: one by the state medical-legal institute, Instituto Médico Legal Renato Chaves, and one by the Juliano Moreira psychiatric institute. The file dates the examination December 11, 1972. According to the file, he had confessed to the killings after his arrest but denied them when examined by the psychiatrists. A public defender asked the court to have him committed to a psychiatric hospital.
The charges were brought by the first public prosecutor's office of Pará. The file sets out qualified homicide under article 121, paragraph 2, items II and IV of the Penal Code for the first two victims; robbery under article 157, paragraph 3; and attempted homicide under article 121 with article 12, item II, with the penalty reduced by one third for the attempt. He was questioned on December 12, 1974, and denied all of the charges.
The jury trial took place on December 13, 1974, before the presiding judge, Dr. João Paulo de Lameida Couto Alves, in the Tribunal do Júri in Belém, in the first criminal court. He was tried for the killings of three women and the attempted killing of a fourth. The jury found him guilty, and he was sentenced to 68 years of reclusão. The breakdown of the sentence by count and the questions put to the jury are not on record.
The defense filed an appeal, asking that the trial be annulled and the case re-examined. The date of the appeal and its outcome are not on record.
He was held at the São José prison in Belém. The prison reports describe aggressive behavior and self-harm. In February 1975 the Belém police asked the São Paulo police to arrange for his return, noting that he would have to be moved under police escort.
He was later reported to have been tried in São Paulo by the jury court of the São Paulo Court of Justice and convicted of seven homicides. The dates, charges and sentences of the São Paulo trials are not on record. A 2020 profile in the magazine Aventuras na História also says he was convicted in seven cases and gives a combined sentence of more than 100 years.
Rabelo and Araújo write that he served his sentence in São Paulo until 2001, when he was released, and that his present whereabouts are unknown. Several popular accounts say he served about 30 years, the maximum term in Brazil, and that he has remained free since. Nothing further about his life after release is on record.
Three figures circulate. The Belém court file lists three deaths in Belém, with attempts on two other women. The reported São Paulo convictions are for seven homicides. Several popular accounts say he confessed to killing 24 women between 1966 and 1971; others say "more than 20." No verdict tests the figure of 24; it is a reported confession, not a conviction. The Belém file itself says that after his arrest he confessed and later denied the crimes to the psychiatrists.
Proven by verdict: the Belém jury found him guilty on December 13, 1974 and sentenced him to 68 years of reclusão. The outcome of the appeal is not on record.
Reported, with no judgment on record: seven homicide convictions in São Paulo, and the combined total of more than 100 years.
Confessed, reported, not tested: 24 killings between 1966 and 1971.
Details that vary: the spelling of his name (Paz, Paes) and first name (José, João); the date he reached Belém (September 2 or November 1970), and the date of the theft that led to his identification (October 14, 1970 in two accounts, which falls after the September arrival date in the court file); the date of his arrest (1971, with September given in one account); the date of the first Belém killing; and whether his sentence was served in full in São Paulo or in Belém.
December 1945: José Paz Bezerra is born in Lagoa Nova, Paraíba.
1966 to 1970: killings of women in São Paulo state are attributed to him; the number tried is reported as seven.
Before his flight: his companion reports him to the police after a theft (October 14, 1970 in Aventuras na História and the Correio de Corumbá; this date does not fit the court file's arrival date).
September 2, 1970 (court file) or November 1970 (Portal Amazônia): he reaches Belém under false names.
December 1970: first Belém killing, on one passage of the file.
September 26, 1971: Anibalina Ataíde Martins dies in Belém.
October 1971: a woman survives an attempt on her life in Marituba.
1971: he is arrested in Belém.
December 11, 1972: psychiatric report dated.
December 12, 1974: he is questioned and denies the charges.
December 13, 1974: Belém jury finds him guilty; 68 years of reclusão.
February 1975: Belém police ask for his return to São Paulo.
Later: São Paulo jury convicts him of seven homicides, reported.
2001: released after serving his sentence in São Paulo.
2022: a published study of the Belém court file gives his whereabouts as unknown.