Suspected killer of gay men in Brazil says crimes were not hate-motivated

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Suspected of killing at least 3 gay men in Brazil’s southern states Paraná and Santa Catarina states, José Tiago Correia Soroka, 33, denies that the murders were motivated by homophobia and that he premeditated them. In an interview with Folha de S.Paulo, he said that the victims were selected for the “ease” to approach them and that he only intended to rob them.

“It had nothing to do with their sexual orientation, but because it was easy to get into their homes, regardless of whether they were male or female […]. I will make it very clear that it was not out of hatred or homophobia. Had it been a hetero [sexual] man who called me into the house and I saw that I had a chance to succeed in the situation, I would have gone,” he said.

Soroka was captured by the Paraná police last Saturday, May 29, in a boarding house in the Capão Raso neighborhood in Curitiba. According to the detectives, he confessed to three murders, which occurred between April 16 and May 4, and the attempt against a fourth gay man on May 11 – who survived and helped identify the suspect.

Calmly, gazing into her eyes at all times, Soroka talked to the reporter for about 15 minutes in a room at the Curitiba Homicide Precinct on Monday, May 31. With his hands and feet shackled, he said that, that day, he called the attorney of one of his four cellmates to also conduct his defense.

Read also: Brazil police identify alleged killer of three young gay men lured by app

The suspect denied being attracted to men and being bisexual -as reported in one of his social networks- and said that the information was just bait for the victims. Regarding the allegation that he had asked the victims to take off their clothes during the meetings, Soroka denied the fact and said that, when this happened, he himself was taken by surprise.

For the police, there is evidence of sexual motivation in the crimes, as Soroka would dress up the victims’ bodies, cover them with blankets or pillows and lock them in, as if trying to “conceal” the encounters.

The suspect said that he had two long-lasting relationships with women, from which his two children were born, aged 9 and 4. However, a man interviewed by the police said that he had been living with him for four years and that he had been abused during the relationship.

In the case of the Curitiba murders, of nurse David Levisio, 28, on April 27, and medical student Marcos Vinício Bozzana da Fonseca, 25, on May 4, Soroka said he used the same method: using fake profiles, he approached the men through social networking apps and arranged to meet them at their homes. Both lived alone.

The suspect stated that his initial intention was to rob them, but not to kill. He said that as soon as he entered the apartments, he would ask the victims to turn around and he would put them in a sleeper hold until they passed out. Then he would wait for them to wake up and “explain the situation,” claiming “that he just wanted to take something.”

“I explained that I didn’t want to hurt them and that I didn’t want harm for myself. They tried to react, started hitting me, swearing at me, they said they were going to call the police, and I ended up squeezing their necks a little tighter, and they didn’t wake up again,” he said.

In the case of the murder of university professor Robson Paim, 36, on April 17, Soroka said it was the victim himself who approached him while he was jogging in a park in the small Santa Catarina town of Abelardo Luz, where he was visiting family.

“I had a profile on Grindr [dating app aimed at the gay public] and I believe that he must have viewed it and seen that I was nearby. Through the tattoo, something like that, he located me. He talked to me, I explained some of my situations to him, that I was in need of money and so on, and we set up a meeting,” he said.

According to Soroka, his intention in this case was not to steal, but rather to ask Robson for money. “But he went into the bathroom and when he came back to the room he was already naked. So that was the whole situation. I was surprised because at no time had he talked about sexual intercourse. He jumped on me wanting to have intercourse, I didn’t accept it, and this whole thing happened,” he said.

According to the suspect, in the last attack on May 11, the victim cooperated with the robbery after a physical struggle, so he did not kill him. Soroka also denied that he had identified himself at the time as “the Curitiba killer” or as “Joker,” according to the witness, an architect from Curitiba, in a statement to the police.

“Also because I don’t want to be known that way [as a serial killer],” he said. “I truly think it was a mistake to have done all this, both for me, for my life, and for families and people’s lives. It was a mistake, really.”

Soroka said that in that last approach, he even warned the man about the danger of welcoming strangers into his home. “In between threats, I told him: ‘you can’t bring someone you don’t know into your house,'” he said.

He said that his fighting skills come from the time he served in the Army, and were later enhanced with a security guard course.

When asked why he didn’t steal other items – in general he took cell phones and laptops, as well as the car of one of the men – Soroka said he “took what he could carry.” He told the police that he used the money from the sale of the victims’ belongings to buy drugs.

He refused to tell Folha when he began to commit the crimes. In his statement, he confirmed that he had robbed other victims, but denied that he had killed more people. The police are investigating other potential cases that may involve him.

“Some people have denounced me after they saw my picture, and they are talking about it. But they are people that maybe cooperated, didn’t react, I don’t know if it’s true or not. That will be up to the course of the proceedings to determine. I don’t know if it’s true or not,” he said.

After the interview, more at ease, Soroka asked one of the detectives in the case if she had been involved in a search in a suburban neighborhood in Curitiba, even before the arrest. She said yes, and he said, laughing: “I saw you.”

Soroka then said that he had been approached at the time, but he offered a false name and managed to mislead the team, which eventually arrested a friend of his who was in the same area. The suspect had been arrested before for drunk driving, passing counterfeit bills, and two auto thefts.