Brazilian businessman who went missing for 13 days in Switzerland and was later found in Spain after ‘falling into trap’ laid by his captors finally returns home
- Márcio Rodrigues was reunited with his wife and family in Brazil on Wednesday
- The 44-year-old disappeared on November 8 in Zurich, Switzerland, where he was traveling to meet investors for an online deal they had reached
- Rodrigues was missing for thirteen days before he was found in Spain
A Brazilian businessman who went on a trip to Switzerland and went missing for 13 days before being found in Spain has finally returned home.
Márcio Rodrigues, 44, was reunited with his family on Thursday, his wife Ana Rodrigues told the online news outlet G1.
She declined to give specific details about her husband's return to their home in the southeastern state of São Paulo, saying European authorities are still investigating.
Márcio Rodrigues boarded a flight in São Paulo on November 7 and arrived in Barcelona the next day, where he boarded a flight to Zurich to make a deal with local businessmen and mysteriously disappeared.
He somehow managed to escape his captors and was found in Spain on November 22, according to Zurich police.
Márcio Rodrigues returned to Brazil on Wednesday and was reunited with his wife and loved ones, almost a month after the date of his mysterious disappearance in Zurich, Switzerland on November 8.
Rodrigues was reunited with his wife Ana Rodrigues on Wednesday, but details surrounding his mysterious disappearance and return have not been revealed
Authorities in Spain and Switzerland have not yet released information on how he was released.
Márcio Rodrigues contacted his wife upon landing at Zurich airport, sending her the first of several messages at 5:45 a.m. local time in Brazil.
Eleven minutes later, he contacted her again to express his concerns about not being able to speak English – the language of choice of his fellow investors.
Rodrigues contacted his wife between 8:11 and 8:32 a.m. and showed her a photo of the plane in the background, one of his fellow passengers waiting to walk past the arrival gate, and a video of the terminal.
It would be five hours before he contacted his wife to tell her that he had taken a taxi to his hotel to try to get back this passport, which was allegedly taken from him by a group of people who were going to meet the businessman.
“Pray for me, because I think I've fallen into a trap. My God, in half an hour I know what's going to happen to me,” Rodrigues told his wife at 1:32 p.m. “They said they would bring me my passport in 15 minutes and half an hour. But I've been waiting here for almost four hours.
“I met them and they took a picture of my face,” he said. “(They) brought a machine to take my fingerprints and took my passport (to scan).”
Before he went missing for 13 days, the Brazilian native sent his wife a photo of passengers waiting to walk out of the arrivals hall after getting off the plane in Zurich, Switzerland
One of the last photos Rodrigues sent his wife was of the plane parked at the arrivals hall of Zurich airport
The businessman then messaged his wife at 1.34pm and never responded to her messages as his phone was switched off.
His brother-in-law, Carlos Cera, confirmed to DailyMail.com on November 23 that Rodrigues would travel to another country for a training session with a group interested in his therapeutic products.
Although Rodrigues never mentioned the name of the other country he planned to visit, his sister told G1 that her husband would travel to Spain.
Cera said they spoke to Márcio Rodrigues after he was found and that he feared for his life, but did not elaborate because Interpol had asked them to remain quiet.
