A Brazilian woman who dedicated her life to catching her father; ‘s killer managed to finally bring her family peace by catching the runaway criminal to justice 25 years after the murder.

On February 16, 1999, Givaldo José Vicente de Deus was shot and killed after a heated argument at a bar in the Brazilian city of Boa Vista. He had gotten into an argument with one Raimundo Alves Gomes over a debt of 150 Brazilian reals (the equivalent of $29 in 1999) that Givaldo reportedly owed Gomes. At one point, the latter walked out of the bar for a few minutes, then came back in with a gun and shot the father-of-five in the head at point-blank range. Gomes fled the scene and although an arrest warrant was issued in his name, he was never caught. Givaldo’s grieving family never gave up hope of bringing his killer to justice, and his eldest daughter, who was only nine at the time of his death, dedicated her life to catching Gomes.

[Gomes] left behind a broken family, with five children, and our mothers had to fight hard to raise us. This event could have led us down other paths, but our mothers always taught us to follow the right path,” Gislayne Silva de Deus told Brazilian news outlet Nova1.

As the eldest of five children, Gislayne had to help her mother take care of her younger siblings and also do chores around the house, but she never neglected her studies. Her father had always encouraged her to study hard and was always ready to help her with her homework, and she didn’t want to disappoint him. She put in the work and dreamed of one day bringing closure to her entire family by catching her father’s killer.

At age 18, after graduating high school, Gislayne was accepted into law school and became a licensed lawyer seven years later. However, in 2022, she gave up on her law career in order to become a police officer, and two years later, on July 19, 2024, she passed the exam and was officially appointed as a State Police investigator. She immediately requested a position in the Homicide Division, which gave her an opportunity to pursue Raimundo Alves Gomes.

In 2013, Gomes was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the killing of Givaldo José Vicente de Deus, but since he had never been apprehended after the crime, the sentence was never carried out. His lawyers appealed the decision in 2014 and 2015, but both appeals were rejected by the High Court of Justice. The most recent arrest warrant for Gomez was issued in 2019, so the statute of limitations runs out in 2031, meaning that the faster Gislayne could find Gomes, the more time he would have to spend behind bars.

On September 25, just two months into her career as a police officer, Gislayne Silva de Deus fulfilled her dream of bringing her father’s killer to justice, after a long 25 years. She and her team found him hiding on a farm in the Nova Cidade region near Boa Vista and arrested him.

“When I saw him at the police station, I made a point of telling him who I was and that I had been responsible for carrying out the arrest warrant,” Silva de Deus said. “I shared the news with my family, and everyone felt a great sense of peace and justice. We waited a long time, and even though we were in disbelief, we managed to reach this moment. I cried with relief because after so long, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders.”

 

Gislayne’s story and her dedication to honoring her father and bringing her family peace touched the hearts of millions in Brazil and the whole of South America since the news was first reported last month.