Obscure Occurrences : The Mystery behind the body on the Billings Reservoir

 On the warm spring afternoon of September 29 1988, a young boy was walking along the banks of the Billings Reservoir in Sao Paulo, Brazil with intention of hunting birds and other small creatures that inhabited the woods around the water body. During his quest for prey, he spotted a large wake of vultures gathered around what appeared to be the carcass of a strange large animal on the other side of the reservoir. Intrigued by the sight, he catapulted a stone into their midst to have a better look at the carcass. When the scavenging birds finally dispersed, the young boy understood that the carcass was not a dead animal but a horrendously mutilated human corpse.

Billings Reservoir (Source: Wikimedia)

 The young boy darted to the nearby village in fear and whilst still falling short of breath, told its residents about what he had found on the reservoir’s banks. The police were quickly called and two officers from the Santo Amaro Police Department reached the scene in less than no time. After a quick assessment of the scene, they understood that the situation was beyond their understanding and thus, by late afternoon, the area was covered with investigators trying to come up with a possible explanation.

 In the hours that followed, information about the mutilated corpse spread across the surrounding villages but nothing about the discovery was reported by the media. As the sun began to set, the number of investigators on the scene slowly reduced and when it rose again to mark the beginning of the next day, all that remained on the scene were discarded strands of police tape.

 With no more updates on the case, the incident slowly faded from the minds of the locals. But, six years later, the case was rejuvenated after the coroner’s report and photographs of the mutilated corpse were anonymously leaked to the press. The identity of the unfortunate 53-year-old victim, which had been discovered through dental records, was not made public. However, despite being public, the details regarding the mutilated body were not for the faint of heart.

Leaked Reports

 In line with the autopsy report, the eyes of the victim had been gouged out and his eyelids and tongue had been expertly removed. His left ear, lips and flesh around the lower jaw and neck had been excised. Also, a large piece of his jawbone was missing.

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 The armpits of the victim had been punctured by a single hole whose diameter was approximately 1.5 inches. Similar holes were also found on the legs and arms where the entirety of the flesh had been extracted. These perfectly made circular openings were all uniform in size and most of them were made on opposite sides of the victim’s body. Also, they were found to be symmetrically aligned with each other.

 When the forensic experts attempted to inspect the state of the victim’s internal organs, they were dumbfounded by what they discovered. The victim’s liver, kidneys, stomach, intestines and pancreas were all missing and as a result, his abdominal cavity had sunken inwards. To add to the oddity, no incision was found on his abdomen and the only opening present was a small hole in the place of his navel. These findings made the forensic experts conclude that the organs of the victim had been sucked out through the small, circular openings present on his body. To add to the list of his missing body parts, his colon and scrotum had also been removed and the missing colon left behind a hole in place of his rectum. Also, not a single drop of blood was left in his body. 

 The mutilations on the victim's body suggested that they were made with surgical precision and they showed no signs of bleeding. This put forth two plausible possibilities. Either the blood of the victim was simultaneously being removed while his organs were being extracted or the wounds on his body had been cauterized.

 The toxicology report of the body showed no signs of anaesthesia or a paralyzing drug. This meant that the victim was fully conscious when his body was being mutilated. The Autopsy reports suggested that the victim had died due to cardio-respiratory arrest which had been caused by extreme pain. Also, the fact that the victim’s body showed signs of cerebral edema despite having an undamaged skull suggested that his death must have been extremely painful.

 It was determined that the victim had died 24 hours before the discovery of his body but strangely, rigor mortis had not set in. Although the body was discovered while being covered by flocks of vultures, there were no signs to suggest that they had fed on its flesh.

Official Cause of Death

 The victim, a 53-year-old man, suffered from epilepsy and alcoholism. He had apparently frequented the reservoir to fish and three days prior to the discovery of his body, he had been reported missing by his family. 

 The man had been taking Gadernal to treat epilepsy and investigators initially believed that he must have mixed alcohol with his medication which could have caused a strong and deadly reaction. They speculated that his body was then scavenged by creatures like rats and vultures that were found in abundance in the woodlands surrounding the reservoir. In line with their initial theory, his injuries were a combination of decomposition and post-mortem animal predation.

 However, this theory was soon falsified by the other findings in the reports. The duration between his death and discovery was proven too short for neither a natural decomposition of that magnitude to occur nor for animals to have completely consumed the sheer amount of missing flesh and organs. Also, the body showed no signs of predation and the incisions on his body were completely unnatural. Despite the evidence suggesting otherwise, the authorities quickly closed this case stating that the unfortunate victim had died of natural causes. This raised a lot of eyebrows and the authorities were accused of covering up the details of the death. In fact, there is evidence to support this accusation.

 The fact that the intricate details of this case were internally leaked six years after the incident suggests that the police wanted to keep it away from the public ears. Furthermore, the public was intentionally misled by the authorities spreading reports that stated that the body of the 53-year-old victim was found in the Guarapiranga Reservoir which was nothing but a falsehood. These factors created a general disbelief in the official statement which in turn led to the formulation of multiple theories.

Theories

 Theories regarding what really happened to the unfortunate man have been vastly varied. However, this broad spectrum can be reduced into four major categories.

Natural Death

 When we consider the details of the autopsy report, the presence of cerebral edema suggests that the man died an agonizing death. Although epilepsy patients do not suffer any pain during a seizure, their body is traumatized due to the uncontrolled surge of electrical activity in their brain. Thus, although extremely rare, cerebral edema can still be a possible outcome of a bad seizure.

 A bad seizure can potentially cut-off oxygen supply to the brain but the autopsy report clearly states the reason for the victim’s death to be a cardiac arrest. Again, although extremely rare, seizures can cause cardiac arrest under the right body conditions. Although the probability of all these variables falling perfectly in place seems to be an extreme stretch, it is still a plausible possibility.

 However, this theory loses its footing when it comes to the reason behind the injuries on the body. While some have speculated that the openings in the body could have been due to burrowing scavengers, the precision with which they were made and the duration between the death and the discovery of the victim's body suggest otherwise.

Homicide

 Murder was quickly ruled out during the investigation due to the lack of evidence suggesting the involvement of a supposed murderer. Also, no tracts other than the ones of the victim were found on the site where the body was discovered. However, considering the police’s efforts to brush this case under the carpet, the possibility of a murder involving a politically influential person cannot be completely ruled out.

 Due to the surgical precision in the apertures on the victim’s body and the fact that he was not given any form of anaesthetic or paralyzing agent, researchers speculate the involvement of an inhumanely skilled surgeon. Extraction of organs with the help of suction devices is used in a multitude of medical procedures but the extracted organ is almost always rendered useless. Thus, if the 53-year-old man was indeed murdered, the motive of his supposed murderer would have been nothing but the infliction of excruciating pain on the victim.

Extra-terrestrial Involvement

 Although this theory requires an open mind to accept, the similarities between animal mutilations that have been attributed to UFO activity and this case cannot be denied. In fact, when the coroner was shown images of the animal mutilations that were recorded in the years following the investigation, he was dumbfounded by the similarities between the incisions found on the cattle and the body of the victim. Particularly, the way in which the eyes and the skin around the jawbone had been removed, had a striking resemblance.

 Also, considering the fact that the victim’s organs had been extracted while he was still conscious and free to move, extra-terrestrial involvement seems to be a viable explanation. However, this theory can never be finalized due to the significant lack of scientific backing.

Conclusion

 People have divided opinions on this case. While some believe the police’s statements, others doubt them due to the lack of credence. Due to the horrendous nature of the wounds found on his body, we sincerely hope that the man had naturally died before they were inflicted on him. However, if this was not the case, the pain he would have gone through while having his skin peeled off his face, his eyes gouged out, his rectum and scrotum removed, and his organs sucked out of his body while he was still fully conscious is terrifying to imagine.