Rádio Vanguarda and Vale do Aço
March 8, 2013, in Ipatinga, Brazil

Two unidentified men on a motorcycle shot Neto as he was getting into his car after attending a local barbecue in Ipatinga, in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais, according to news reports. The journalist died at a local hospital.

Neto was the host of the show "Plantão Policial" (Police Shift) on Rádio Vanguarda in Ipatinga and had started working the week before as a reporter at the daily Vale do Aço. He was also a press aide for the local mayor, according to Fernando Benedito Jr., a journalist in Ipatinga and a friend of Neto.

Benedito told CPJ that Neto, who had once wanted to be a police officer, had aggressively covered police corruption throughout his career. He said Neto had frequently received threats, especially for his coverage of cases in which police officers were suspected of being involved in local murders. Durval Ângelo, a state congressman and president of the state assembly's human rights commission, said that Neto had been working on a book about one of these cases at the time of his death that he planned to title "The Perfect Crime," Vale do Aço reported.

News accounts reported local authorities as saying that they would be primarily looking into his journalistic work as the possible motive. In the days after the murder, law enforcement officers said Neto had twice reported being threatened to the authorities, most recently in February 2012, according to news reports.

Journalists in Ipatinga told CPJ that the local press corps had formed the "Rodrigo Neto Committee" to investigate the murder and keep pressure on authorities to solve the case.

Medium:Print, Radio
Job:Broadcast Reporter, Print Reporter
Beats Covered:Crime
Gender:Male
Local or Foreign:Local
Freelance:No
Type of Death:Murder
Suspected Source of Fire:Government Officials
Impunity:Yes
Taken Captive:No
Tortured:No
Threatened:Yes

This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.