Brazilian student Paulo Netto (23) was found dead after making a frantic phone call

[*crickets*]

23-Year-Old Brazilian Man Disappears In S.F. After Frantic Call Home

Nov 1, 213--Now, here's a weird story. A 23-year-old guy visiting here from L.A. last weekend and originally from Brazil made a frantic call home to Brazil to his sister on Monday before going missing. Paulo Netto was here looking at art schools, and had a bus ticket back to L.A. that he never used, and in the phone call he said he was being followed and told his sister to call police. His last known location, via his cell phone, was 505 Shotwell Street near 19th.

Netto's mother and sister are now in San Francisco looking for him, and passing around his photo in the hope that someone might have seen him. They haven't heard a word from him since Monday, and his sister says he sounded "terrified" on the phone. They've checked local hospitals, but have found no sign of him.

There are some odd details to this story, starting with the fact that he called Brazil to tell his sister to call police, instead of calling them himself. Also, he was staying at Adelaide Hostel near Union Square, but checked out on Saturday night, even though his bus ticket was on Sunday. That would lead one to believe he might have met someone he was staying with. He called home on Saturday saying he was headed home to L.A. and was taking the bus, but then we don't know what he was up to between Saturday night and Monday, when he clearly stayed over in San Francisco. Then on Monday, we're not sure at what time, he was in the Mission and saying that people were following him, and he needed help.

We hope that this is just a case of a weekend bender/passionate hookup gone a little too far, like that time that 22-year-old's mom freaked out because he came here for gay pride, met someone on Grindr, and "disappeared" for a couple of days. People are good at finding love in San Francisco, what can we say. Anyway, we hope for the best with this one.

http://sfist.com/2013/11/01/23-year-..._disappear.php

[Ron_NYC]

Holy fuck. Weirrrd.

[*crickets*]

Photo Released of Man Who Used Missing Tourist's Credit Card

Tue., Nov. 5 2013 at 8:37 AM
Categories: Missing Person

Authorities are looking for this guy (below,) who they say used Paulo Netto's credit card at a Mission District McDonald's three days after the Brazilian tourist disappeared.

Netto had recently moved from Brazil to Los Angeles and was visiting San Francisco for the weekend to check out the art schools here. On Oct 28, Netto made a frantic call to his sister, Ana, in Brazil claiming someone was following him and begged her to call police for help. At the time, he was located on the 500 block of Shotwell Street in the city's Mission District.

When police arrived to that location, they found nobody. Netto has not been seen or heard from since.



Three days later, on Halloween night, ^^ this man was caught on a surveillance camera at a Mission District McDonald's where he used Netto's credit card to buy food. Although Ana says this man is not her brother -- who is clean-shaven and shorter -- police say they're still observing the image, trying to determine who the bearded man is.

Meanwhile, his sister and mother have flown to San Francisco where they've combed the streets, shelters, and hospitals looking for the 23-year-old man. "Something happened. We are sure about it," Ana told CBS News. "But we feel that we are going to find him."

San Francisco Police said Netto, who extended his stay in San Francisco after he met someone, may be in an "altered state of mind."

Netto is about 6 feet tall, weighing 180 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes and speaks English and Portuguese. He may be carrying a dark-colored backpack and iPhone 5. Anyone with information about Netto is asked to contact San Francisco police.

http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/...eleased_of.php

[*crickets*]

I don't think the guy on the surveillance video is him--the face is gaunt and the beard looks like it's more than 3 days' growth (unkess the missing guy had started growing a beard while in LA.)

[Ron_NYC]

San Francisco Police said Netto, who extended his stay in San Francisco after he met someone, may be in an "altered state of mind."

Netto is about 6 feet tall, weighing 180 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes and speaks English and Portuguese. He may be carrying a dark-colored backpack and iPhone 5. Anyone with information about Netto is asked to contact San Francisco police.

http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/...eleased_of.php

Hahahaha that's code for "met some pussy and lost his mind."

[*crickets*]

Hahahaha that's code for "met some pussy and lost his mind."

That's one possibility.. but I think they're referring to drugs (synthetic pot or MDMA) because of the weird behavior, calling his sister in BRAZIL and asking her to call the cops because he was being followed. Unfortunately now, a week later, it seems like he might have met an untimely fate--apparently that part of SF is kind of sketchy.

Or maybe he's trapped in a stairwell at SF General.

[bowieluva]

Hahahaha that's code for "met some pussy and lost his mind."

Not in SF. More like 'got rolled by some guy trick'.

[Ron_NYC]

Not in SF. More like 'got rolled by some guy trick'.

Touche.

[bowieluva]

My guess is he met that guy with his money somewhere, they went to bang, and the guy robbed him.

[*crickets*]

My guess is he met that guy with his money somewhere, they went to bang, and the guy robbed him.

But that doesn't explain the phone call (actually there were several calls.)

Friday, Nov. 8, 2013
SAN FRANCISCO--The search for a young Brazilian man, missing in San Francisco, is becoming more desperate.

23-year-old Paulo Netto hasn't been seen since Monday October 28, the same day he made a series of frantic phone calls to friends and family. And it turns out, he also made a call to Emergency dispatchers.
"He called 911" sister Ana Reis told KTVU. It's a detail San Francisco Police Inspectors just shared with her.

A patrol car went to the Shotwell Street location of Netto's calls, but there was no sign of him. Missing Persons investigators have not released the 911- recording. But if it's like the calls Netto made to his sister and parents, he was likely pleading for help, claiming he was in trouble an hiding from unidentified people who wanted to harm him.

Netto's friend and classmate, Kevin Viriato, received a panicked call in Los Angeles, where both are arts students. "It was like Kevin, please please help me, please help me, please help me," recalled Viriato, to KTVU. He urged Netto to call authorities. "I told him, if you're in trouble, call the police, they're the best people to help you. He's like 'Oh, oh, oh' then he hung up."

This week, Viriato retrieved Netto's laptop computer from his apartment, and turned it over to Los Angeles detectives, who sent it on to San Francisco. Inspectors are now combing it for contacts he may have made before his visit to the city. They have determined, through Netto's cell phone history, that he stayed with someone in San Francisco, when he wasn't at hotels or hostels.

Police have interviewed that person, but have not said whether he is a person of interest in the investigation.

"Somebody out there knows what happened to this kid. Somebody out there has information," Rick Smith of Canon Street Investigations told KTVU. Smith is a retired FBI agent, turned private investigator, helping Netto's family with their search. "Right now it's a sad story. It could still have a good ending, but it needs to happen fairly soon," said Smith.

For the Reis family; Ana, her parents, and an uncle, all from Rio Verde, Brazil, it is an agonizing wait for answers, but they are not giving up. They only want one thing from this six thousand mile trip, Paulo home safely.

The family plans to raise awareness by leafleting in the Mission District, on Sunday November 10. They're asking volunteers to meet them at 1p.m. in Dolores Park, and they're reaching out to fellow Brazilians in the community for help.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/crime-...ppeared/nbnMY/

Weirder and weirder...he calls family in Brazil and a friend in LA all panicked saying "HELP ME HELP ME, CALL THE POLICE!"--from SF?? His family said he has no history of drugs or mental illness and was a quiet guy, not a partier - but he might have changed while living in LA. It sure sounds like he was in some kind of altered state when he made those phone calls..

[sweetleftpeg]

I have to say, and this is no dig at you *crickets* by the way, that I never really take that much notice of what the family and friends say when someone goes missing, murders, etc. He may have never taken drugs or drank before or partied, but when you're in a new city meeting new people miles from your family then you're not necessarily going to be the same kid that pops round to the families for Sunday lunch.

It's a bit like when it appears people have gone missing because they have killed themselves and the family always says 'it's not what they would do, we know they wouldn't kill themselves.' Do you really though? No one can really tell how much of a private hell someone might be going through in their head. Not everyone who kills themselves spends years leading up to it saying 'hey everyone, I'm depressed and going to kill myself eventually!'

Just saying anyway.

[Ron_NYC]

I have to say, and this is no dig at you *crickets* by the way, that I never really take that much notice of what the family and friends say when someone goes missing, murders, etc. He may have never taken drugs or drank before or partied, but when you're in a new city meeting new people miles from your family then you're not necessarily going to be the same kid that pops round to the families for Sunday lunch.

It's a bit like when it appears people have gone missing because they have killed themselves and the family always says 'it's not what they would do, we know they wouldn't kill themselves.' Do you really though? No one can really tell how much of a private hell someone might be going through in their head. Not everyone who kills themselves spends years leading up to it saying 'hey everyone, I'm depressed and going to kill myself eventually!'

Just saying anyway.

Fucking agreed! I'm sure my family would say the same shit. My friends? Not so much.

[sweetleftpeg]

Actually yeah, friends probably have a better idea than family. Families are bias, that's just human nature and I'd expect them to be. It's like when you get articles on murderers etc on here and their FB walls are full of their family posting about how great they are.

'Apart from kidnapping, torturing, and chopping up those 3 hookers, he was a great guy!'

[Ron_NYC]

Actually yeah, friends probably have a better idea than family. Families are bias, that's just human nature and I'd expect them to be. It's like when you get articles on murderers etc on here and their FB walls are full of their family posting about how great they are.

'Apart from kidnapping, torturing, and chopping up those 3 hookers, he was a great guy!'

You should post more.

[mydeathspace]

[*crickets*]

I have to say, and this is no dig at you *crickets* by the way, that I never really take that much notice of what the family and friends say when someone goes missing, murders, etc. He may have never taken drugs or drank before or partied, but when you're in a new city meeting new people miles from your family then you're not necessarily going to be the same kid that pops round to the families for Sunday lunch.

It's a bit like when it appears people have gone missing because they have killed themselves and the family always says 'it's not what they would do, we know they wouldn't kill themselves.' Do you really though? No one can really tell how much of a private hell someone might be going through in their head. Not everyone who kills themselves spends years leading up to it saying 'hey everyone, I'm depressed and going to kill myself eventually!'

Just saying anyway.

Good point...pretty much every murderer's mother swears "my baby would never do that!"

[Olivia]

http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/...ed_as_body.php

Medical authorities this morning said that the body found washed up near Pier 48 last month was that of Paulo Netto, the missing Brazilian man who had made a frantic phone call to his sister before he disappeared.

After more than a month of DNA testing, the San Francisco medical examiner this morning confirmed to SF Weekly that it was Netto's body, however, they would not say how he died.

Netto, 22, had recently moved from Brazil to Los Angeles and was visiting San Francisco on the weekend of Oct. 25 to check out the art schools here. On Oct 28, Netto made a frantic call to his sister, Ana, in Brazil claiming someone was following him and begged her to call police for help. At the time, he was located on the 500 block of Shotwell Street in the city's Mission District.

When police arrived to that location, they found nobody, and Netto had not been seen or heard from since.

On Halloween night, a man was caught on a surveillance camera at a Mission District McDonald's where he used Netto's credit card to buy food. Netto's sister told media outlets that the man seen in the video was not her brother. Police never determined who the man was.

Both his mother and sister flew to San Francisco where they combed the city looking for Paulo. Police later said that Netto had extended his stay in San Francisco after he apparently met someone. They also said he could have been in an "altered state of mind."

Officer Albie Esparza said police couldn't confirm whether or not this is a homicide case at this time.

[bowieluva]

Man, that sucks. Or the ghost who killed the chick in L.A at the hotel also got this guy. :scream:

[*crickets*]

RIP Paulo.

The body was found on Nov. 9, twelve days after he went missing. I wonder if they will release the full coroner's report and how long he had been dead? Also wondering how far the spot he was found is from where he disappeared. And were there drugs in his system? So many questions...

[bowieluva]

He washed up on the pier, so he ended up in the ocean somehow.

Maybe a body dump. Ugh.

[*crickets*]

Here is what was reported when the body was found..."badly decomposed" so he had been dead awhile.

The medical examiner has determined that the death of a person found dead near McCovey Cove in San Francisco this morning does not appear to be suspicious, according to a police spokesperson.

The body, which was seen floating in the Bay around 8:10 a.m. by a person walking their dog near Pier 48, is that of an adult, Sgt. Danielle Newman said this afternoon.

The gender has not yet been confirmed, Newman said.

Because the body was badly decomposed, it could be some time before further information is available, Newman said.

http://sfappeal.com/2013/11/foul-pla...-mccovey-cove/

[bowieluva]

Well, we knew he was found 12 days after he was last heard from. 12 days in water, especially the ocean....that's going to leave you pretty gross.

[*crickets*]

I was wondering if he might have been alive wandering around SF for a few days after he disappeared, then killed and dumped (or accidentally fell into the water or...) but it looks like whatever happened, happened right after he went missing.

ETA: on the map, purple marker is where he made the phone calls (500 block of Shotwell St.), red dot is where he washed ashore (pier 48.) They're a fair distance apart...

[sheeppiss]

I was wondering if he might have been alive wandering around SF for a few days after he disappeared, then killed and dumped (or accidentally fell into the water or...) but it looks like whatever happened, happened right after he went missing.

ETA: on the map, purple marker is where he made the phone calls (500 block of Shotwell St.), red dot is where he washed ashore (pier 48.) They're a fair distance apart...

Also, it's not a straight shot between the two locations. It's super hilly.