Police have tracked the recent movements of a Brazilian psychologist who disappeared a month ago while walking alone in a dim boatyard.
Vitoria Figueiredo Barreto, an academic reported missing on March 4, was last spotted on CCTV in two separate clips released by authorities investigating her sudden vanishing.
According to Essex Police, Barreto went missing in Brightlingsea, Essex, on March 3, after meeting a friend at the University of Essex in Colchester.
One of the clips shows a blurry figure believed to be Barreto walking through a field near the town where she disappeared in the early morning hours. The figure, clad in all black, was seen in the distance walking between Back Waterside Lane and Mill Street at 3:33 pm, an hour after she was seen in the Hurst Green area of Brightlingsea.
The second clip, the final sighting of Barreto, captures her strolling through an industrial site near Brightlingsea Creek and the marina.
Investigators, upon finding an unmoored boat drifting down the coast at Bradwell-on-Sea, suspect that Barreto may have taken the vessel.
Barreto was last seen wearing a dark coat, a blue turtleneck jumper, light blue jeans, and black trainers, carrying a white shoulder bag with the slogan “people over profit.”
Family members closely monitoring the search as it enters its fourth week expressed feeling “scared” and “really worried” about her well-being.
In a statement released during a press conference, they mentioned their belief that she might be “upset” or “struggling,” emphasizing the need for her to feel protected and loved.
Police have issued a significant appeal for information after releasing the CCTV footage, urging any individuals who may have seen her in the field on March 3 or at the boatyard the following day to come forward.
Detective Superintendent Anna Granger of Essex Police stated, “While we cannot definitively confirm that it was Vitoria who untied that boat, subsequently found adrift at Bradwell-on-Sea, this new sighting places her nearer to that area and reinforces the likelihood that it was her.”
“We have operated our search operations on the assumption that the person in question is Vitoria, but we are eager to provide her family with closure, and we continue to work towards that goal.”
