Police have pieced together the recent movements of a Brazilian psychologist who disappeared a month ago while walking alone in a dimly lit boatyard.
Vitoria Figueiredo Barreto, an academic reported missing on March 4, was last spotted on surveillance footage in two separate clips released by investigators looking into the sudden vanishing of the 30-year-old.
According to Essex Police, Barreto vanished in Brightlingsea, Essex, on March 3, after meeting a friend at the University of Essex in Colchester.
The initial clip shows a blurry figure, believed to be Barreto, walking through a field near the town where she went missing in the early morning hours. The figure, clad in all black, appears in the distance walking across a field between Back Waterside Lane and Mill Street at 3:33 pm, an hour after being seen in the Hurst Green area of Brightlingsea.
In the second clip, the final sighting of Barreto captures her strolling through an industrial site near Brightlingsea Creek and the marina.
Investigators, who discovered 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 while carrying a white shoulder bag with the slogan “people over profit.”
As the search reaches its fourth week, family members express deep concern for her well-being, stating they are “scared” and “really worried.”
In a statement released during a press conference, they mentioned their belief that she might be “upset” or “struggling,” emphasizing the need to find her and provide support.
Police have urged the public to come forward with any information after releasing the CCTV footage, particularly appealing to those who may have seen her in the field on March 3 or in the boatyard the following day.
Detective Superintendent Anna Granger of Essex Police stated, “While we cannot definitively confirm that it was Vitoria who untied the boat found adrift at Bradwell-on-Sea, this latest sighting places her closer to that area, reinforcing the likelihood that it was her.”
Granger added, “We continue to operate under the assumption that the person in question is Vitoria, but we are eager to offer her loved ones closure and are actively working towards that goal.”
