Paturis Park murders

Between February 2007 and August 2008 (with sources also giving a first-murder date of 4 July 2007 and a last of 15 March 2009), 13 gay men were killed in or near Paturis Park ("Parque dos Paturis") in Carapicuíba, in the São Paulo metropolitan area of Brazil. The victims ranged in age from 20 to 40. Twelve of the thirteen were shot, with most shot in the head; one victim died from blows to the head rather than gunfire. The final known victim was shot twelve times. Brazilian media reported that the park was an area frequented by prostitutes at the time of the killings.

Police investigating the murders referred to the unidentified perpetrator as the "Rainbow Maniac," a name derived from the rainbow gay pride flag, reflecting that all known victims were gay men. Officials from the São Paulo State Public Safety Department stated that the killer could potentially be a state police officer. As of 2008, forensic testing was underway to determine whether the same firearm had been used across the various shootings, which would help establish whether a single perpetrator was responsible for the full series.

On 10 December 2008, police arrested Jairo Francisco Franco, a retired state police sergeant, in connection with the case. His arrest followed witness statements implicating him in a murder that occurred on 19 August 2008. One witness reported seeing Franco shoot a black gay man twelve times on that night. A second witness told investigators that Franco had a pattern of visiting the park to look for gay men, and for victims.

Franco was tried in connection with the case, and on 23 August 2011 he was released after the jury declared him not guilty, by a vote of 4 to 2. No other named suspect has been publicly charged in connection with the broader series of killings, and the case is documented as unsolved with respect to the majority of the thirteen deaths attributed to the "Rainbow Maniac."

The available Wikipedia-sourced summary of this case does not provide the individual names of the thirteen victims, nor does it specify further details of the police ballistics investigation beyond noting it was ongoing as of 2008. Contemporaneous news coverage from outlets including the Los Angeles Times and The Guardian reported on the case at the time of Franco's arrest, though the specific factual content of that coverage is not reproduced here.