Missing Brazilian businessman Márcio Rodrigues is FOUND in Switzerland where he was ‘held captive’ for 13 days after he text his wife ‘I think I fell into a trap’ and could no longer be contacted
- Brazilian businessman Márcio Rodrigues was found alive in Switzerland
- The 44-year-old landed in Zurich on November 8 to close a deal with investors interested in therapeutic products
- His family said he was able to escape his captors and friends accompanied him to a local police station, where he filed a report.
A Brazilian man who mysteriously disappeared 13 days ago while on a business trip in Switzerland has been found alive after escaping his captors, his family claims.
Márcio Rodrigues, 44, contacted his wife and sister on Tuesday and they were able to contact some friends, who tracked him down and accompanied him to the police.
“We contacted some friends, who were close to where Márcio was, and they took him to the police station,” Rodrigues’ brother-in-law Carlos Cera told Brazilian online news channel G1.
Rodrigues filed a police report and was ordered not to release details about the investigation, according to Cera.
Cera declined to provide information about how his brother-in-law managed to flee.
There were no arrests reported Wednesday.
Brazilian businessman Márcio Rodrigues (with his wife Ana Cera) took a flight to São Paulo, Brazil on November 7 and connected to Barcelona the next day for a flight to Switzerland to finalize a deal he made online with investors interested in therapeutics. products before he went missing. He was found alive on Tuesday after escaping his captors
Before he went missing, Brazil’s Márcio Rodrigues sent a photo of passengers waiting at the arrivals hall after disembarking from a plane in Zurich, Switzerland, on November 8.
One of the last photos Rodrigues sent his wife was of the plane parked outside the arrivals hall of Zurich airport on November 8.
Rodrigues boarded a flight to São Paulo on November 7 and connected in Barcelona for a flight to Zurich, landing on November 8 to close a deal he made online with investors interested in his therapeutic products.
While at the airport, he first messaged his wife Ana Cera at 5:45 a.m. local time in Brazil.
Eleven minutes later he expressed concern about not being able to speak English.
His wife said he would contact a Spanish-speaking person to serve as a translator in Switzerland.
Brazilian businessman Márcio Rodrigues has been missing in Switzerland since November 8 and was found alive on Tuesday after escaping his captors. The 44-year-old had traveled to Zurich to finalize a business deal and sent his wife an audio message telling her he feared he had fallen victim to a scam before he disappeared.
It would be three hours before Cera received another message from her husband, who once complained about the language barrier and having to locate his two luggage bags, including one containing the therapeutic products.
Five hours passed before Cera heard from Rodrigues again, who sensed something was wrong with the transcontinental business trip.
In an audio message sent at 1:32 p.m., he told her he felt he had been the victim of a scam and had his passport taken away while he was still at the airport.
“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. They said they would bring me my passport in 15 minutes, half an hour. But I’ve been waiting here for almost four hours.
“I met them, they took a picture of my face,” he said. “(They) brought a machine to take my fingerprints and took my passport (to scan).”
Rodrigues sent his wife another message at 1:34 p.m. before he stopped responding to her messages because his cell phone was turned off.
