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Thread: Jose "Carlos" Oliveira-Coutinho Sentenced in 2009 NE Slaying of Family of 3

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    Jose "Carlos" Oliveira-Coutinho Sentenced in 2009 NE Slaying of Family of 3

    Authorities Acknowledge Missing Family Is Dead

    Szczepaniks missing since December 2009

    Police acknowledged Friday for the first time that three members of a missing Omaha family are dead. The Szczepaniks, Vanderlei, Jaqueline and their son Christopher, had not been seen or heard from for more than a year.

    One of the three Brazilians arrested for the unauthorized use of the family's bank cards is now the only suspect in the triple murder.

    At a news conference at the Douglas County Courthouse, attorney Don Kleine said he would seek the death penalty for 30-year-old Valdeir Goncalves-Santos, but the investigation is not over and more charges could be filed.

    Goncalves-Santos was booked for three counts of first-degree murder.

    The last time anyone heard from the Szczepaniks was December 17, 2009. After that, it was like they fell off the face of the earth.

    Douglas County Attorney Kleine stated Friday afternoon what most people already believed, the Szczepaniks were murdered. “For many reasons we would like to find these victims, but we can proceed without them being found."

    Kleine's murder case against Goncalves-Santos would be strengthened if he could provide jurors with the bodies and the cause of death, but bodies aren't critical. If or when the bodies are found, it would bring some sense of closure to the Szczepanik’s daughter Tatiane, who came from her home in Brazil shortly after the family disappeared.

    One thing officials would not disclose was the manner of death. “We still have an ongoing investigation and so there are going to be details about that we specifically can't address at this point, so we are still conducting those parts of the investigation,” said Omaha Police Sgt. Teresa Negron.

    For now, authorities have a theory of what happened to the Szczepaniks and enough evidence to proceed. Kleine said much of the information he could not release will come out during the court proceedings.

    He was also asked about the other two Brazilians behind bars. Kleine would only say that the investigation is ongoing and additional charges could be coming.

    http://www.wowt.com/home/headlines/A...114832534.html

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    Szczepanik Memorial Service

    A Brazilian family that made the Heartland their home was remembered today. The Szczepaniks disappeared in 2009, a man who worked with them has been charged with murder.

    It is the memorial service Tatiana hoped she would never be a part of; the Szczepaniks, her mother, step father and brother are believed dead. A man who had been working for the family has been arrested and charged with a brutal triple murder.

    Tatiana Kline says, "I know that today I am able to tell you I do not understand but I know that in the future He will comfort my heart and I will be able to understand why my family was taken from me so suddenly, so unexpectedly."

    Murder charges against Valdier Gonclaves-Santos are proceeding. Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine is seeking the death penalty in the case.

    But this memorial was about the Szczepaniks and how they impacted the lives of everyone around them.

    "I was so humbled by your family and I respected them so much."

    "It is the memory that I have and like all of us here I don't understand why another human being has so much hate."

    “The impact they had in my life was very, very big. It was great."

    The deaths of the Szczepaniks will be felt by their entire community but nothing can compare to Tatiana's pain and the loss of her family.

    Tatiana revealed today that she had not seen her mother in ten years but they were just a few months away from seeing each other when the Szczepaniks were allegedly murdered.

    Goncalves-Santos has been in jail since February of 2010. He was originally booked on a bank fraud charge.

    http://www.wowt.com/news/headlines/S...116990813.html

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    Detective Testifies Suspect Tortured Szczepanik

    Douglas County District Court Judge Otepka ruled there is probable cause to move forward with the death penalty trial of 30-year-old Valdeir Goncalves-Santos, who’s facing three counts of first-degree murder in connection with the disappearance of an Omaha family.

    An Omaha homicide detective testified that Goncalves-Santos told his wife in Brazil that he was going to torture Vanderlei Szczepanik, "quarter him, put him in sacks with rocks so the body would not float or surface and then throw it in the river."

    Detective Chris Spencer said it sounded like it was done from the South Omaha Bridge.

    There was an audible gasp from several people in the courtroom during the description.

    Sonar equipment never did find anything in the Missouri River. Prosecutors say it's possible that sacks weighed down would be silted over quickly and undetectable to the tracing equipment.

    Three individuals who grew up in the same town in Brazil were allegedly part of a plan that included using the victim's credit cards.

    The Douglas County Attorney's office allege the victim had more than $21,000 in two accounts when they family disappeared and that the account was under $1,000 when they were arrested more than a month later.

    Investigators say three people, including the suspect, were seen on video during the transactions.

    Vanderlei, Jaqueline and their 7-year-old son Christopher Szczepanik were last seen in December of 2009.

    Santos's attorney Kevin Ryan questions how this case can move forward with no bodies and no physical evidence.

    He also points out that police found more than $100,000 in the victim's home that was untouched.

    The judge ruled there was probable cause to hold Goncalves-Santos for trial, which is scheduled to begin on August 15th.

    The state plans to have two women from Brazil testify to what was said about the victim -- including the suspect's wife.

    The victim was the boss of the three men as they renovated a South Omaha church. Investigators say the suspect hated him regarding the work and firings and followed through on a plan to get rid of him.

    Investigators did not say if they believe the mother and son were also tortured.

    http://www.wowt.com/news/headlines/D...k.html?ref=068

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    Trial Begins for Man Accused of Killing Missing Family

    This was day one of a murder trial for the man accused of killing a family of three. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Valdeir Gonclaves-Santos for the murder of the Szczepanik family. Even without a body, prosecutors believe they have enough for a murder conviction.

    "It's been over a year and half since the Szczepanik was last seen in Omaha, today the third and the last suspect charged in the family's murder was in court, both the defense and the state started today, with opening statements."

    Prosecutors John Alagabon and Jim Masteller filter into the court room this morning facing a case that the defense says, presents very little physical evidence.

    Kevin Ryan, Santos’ court appointed defense attorney, says "In this case you have no body and no scientific or forensic evidence that's a huge difference; we'll see what happens with that."

    And despite that, prosecutors said in their opening statements the evidence they'll present to the jury which is split dead even 7 women and 7 men -- two sitting in as alternates -- will show beyond a reasonable doubt that money is key motive behind Gonclaves-Santos killing the Szczepanik family.

    But Ryan says momentum is on his client's side because the murder charges against the other two men in this case have been dropped. "We have a situation where the other two cases there is no, nothing has happened with those, so we're kind of the guinea pigs on this."

    Later prosecutors called their first two witnesses -- Omaha Police Sergeant Marlene Novotny -- who initially filed the missing person’s report of the family and Omaha Police Officer Jeff Cozeny, who searched the Park Avenue home within a few months of the families disappearance. The home where the family was staying as Vanderlei worked on renovating a local church.

    Diane Luna, with A Hand to Hold says, “She’s been real nervous jumpy… worried." Luna is sitting through the entire trial and she's been by Tatiane Klein's, the daughter of the missing family, side every step of the way. "She’s just hoping justice is done all you can do is hope, and hope it goes the right way,” Klein said.

    "Now, Channel Six news is told that this trial is set to last at least three weeks and part of that Tatiane is expected to appear on the stand, that is the daughter of the family gone missing, she's appeared at several vigils throughout the city. Her husband is also slated to appear as well, we are uncertain though, if he will make an appearance on the stand.”

    Also expected to testify -- for prosecutors -- the defendant's one-time wife and the wife of another man once suspected in the murder.

    http://www.wowt.com/news/headlines/T...8.html?ref=838

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    Establishing Deaths In A Murder Trial

    Day four in the trial of a Brazilian man prosecutors say wiped a family from the face of the earth. Valdeir Gonclaves-Santos faces a potential death penalty if convicted of the Szczepanik family but prosecutors have to present a very complex case to the jury.

    Both the prosecution and defense are going to want to focus the jury's attention on the family’s house. The Szczepaniks were renovating when they disappeared.

    Prosecutors will use it to show the family is dead and has been since the time they disappeared.

    The defense wants to point out to the jury the lack of blood evidence authorities were able to find inside the home.

    Without any bodies prosecutors are relying on personal connections to the Szczepaniks in an effort to prove the family was murdered.

    First to take the stand on Thursday afternoon was Keith McClasky, the man who hired Vanderlei Szczepanik to help clean up lead paint.

    McClasky testified that he often prayed with Vanderlei and that because their sons were the same age the two became good friends.

    McClasky told the courtroom the last time he saw any of the Szczepaniks was at a Christmas party he threw in the middle of December. "Vanderlei was there, he was late but he showed up." McClasky said. "We made plans for a hunting trip at the end of December." but that he never saw any of the Szczepankis after that.

    On cross examination the defense asked about the method of payment for the lead paint work Szczepanik did for him. McClasky told the jury that almost all of the checks were sent by direct deposit into Vanderlei's bank account except for the last two checks. McClasky testified those Vanderlei asked for physical checks instead of the direct deposit.

    At the start of this afternoon's session Judge Thomas Otepka called one of the jurors out. Apparently she was seen talking to a witness for the prosecution earlier in the day.

    That was true but she did not know he was a witness, he did not know she was a juror. The attorneys for both sides and the judge were satisfied with the explanation.

    http://www.wowt.com/news/headlines/E...3.html?ref=463

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    Prosecutors had little more than circumstantial evidence, strong suspicion and the words of two wives in their case against a worker accused of killing his Brazilian boss and family in Omaha.

    Now, in a staggering development, they may have the linchpin their case lacked:

    The defendant himself.

    A day before his first-degree murder trial was to end, Valdeir Goncalves-Santos offered to testify against the co-workers suspected in the disappearance and presumed deaths of Vanderlei Szczepanik; Vanderlei's wife, Jaqueline; and their 7-year-old son, Christopher.

    In the rarest of twists — veteran prosecutors say they couldn't recall another murder defendant turning state's witness at the end of his own trial — Goncalves pleaded guilty Thursday morning to second-degree murder.

    In return, the state agreed that Goncalves would be sentenced to the mandatory minimum: 20 years. That translates to 10 years under state sentencing guidelines. Goncalves' plea comes with one requirement: He must testify truthfully against the two co-workers suspected in the case.

    Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine acknowledged Thursday that he had reservations about the sentence recommendation.

    However, he said, Jaqueline Szczepanik's daughter, Tatiane Klein, was OK with it because of her desire to try to hold everyone accountable for her family's murder.

    The stunning about-face may bolster prosecutors' floundering case against the suspected ringleader of the crime — Jose "Carlos" Oliveira-Coutinho — and a third co-worker, Elias Lourenco-Batista.

    In the next day or two, Kleine said, he will file a death-penalty case and three first-degree murder charges against Oliveira — the same charges that Goncalves faced. Prosecutors also will seek to have Lourenco extradited to the United States from Brazil, where he lives.

    Kleine acknowledged that prior to Thursday, prosecutors didn't have as strong a case as they wanted against any of the three men. During Goncalves' seven-day trial, prosecutors' strongest evidence was the testimony of the workers' wives. Both Goncalves' wife and Oliveira's wife traveled to the U.S. to testify that their husbands admitted to involvement in the killings.

    But beyond the women, authorities had no bodies, no blood evidence and no DNA tests matching any presumed blood stains to the victims. In fact, they would find out that they may have had the wrong crime scene.

    Goncalves reportedly told authorities that they had nailed many aspects of the case, except for the location of the crime scene. Authorities originally believed the family was killed at 524 Park Ave. — a house they were renovating for Szczepanik.

    However, Goncalves told authorities the killings happened at the family's residence: the former Paul VI High School in South Omaha that Szczepanik was renovating into a missionary training center.

    Goncalves' burst of conscience came moments after his wife, Wanderlucia, testified Tuesday that he had confessed to killing Szczepanik. He offered, through his attorneys, to tell police what he knew.

    A law enforcement official with knowledge of the police interview said Goncalves told authorities they were very close in their account of what happened to the family.

    Goncalves told authorities that the workers were mad at Szczepanik over money. He also confirmed what authorities already believed: that Oliveira had the biggest grudge against his longtime boss.

    Goncalves told authorities they killed the boss first, then killed his wife and child.

    Goncalves led Omaha police homicide detectives Wednesday to a river area where he says they dumped the bodies. But authorities reportedly got no closer to finding the bodies with Goncalves beside them.

    As Goncalves led police through the events, court officials scrambled to make it appear that the break in the trial was normal. Douglas County District Judge Thomas Otepka gave jurors Wednesday off — telling them nothing about the developments.

    Kleine and his prosecutors, Jim Masteller and John Alagaban, spent much of Wednesday haggling over what charges Goncalves would face if he testified against the other men.

    The attorneys also were in contact with the Brazilian Embassy about Lourenco, who was deported to Brazil this spring after prosecutors determined they didn't have enough evidence to charge him.

    Kleine said prosecutors will seek to have Lourenco returned to the U.S. — although Lourenco would have to face charges that do not involve the death penalty. Brazil does not extradite in cases that involve the death penalty, Kleine said.

    Inside the courtroom Thursday morning, Goncalves was emotional. In his native Portuguese, he spoke to his interpreters in an anguished voice, punctuating his loud flourishes with deep breaths and tears.

    He dropped his head into his chin. He looked off to the side, pressing his fist into his cheek — and occasionally chewing on his index finger. A sheriff's deputy took him a box of tissues. Goncalves nodded and let out a sigh.

    As the judge asked him how he wanted to plead to second-degree murder, Goncalves' garbled out his plea through his tears.

    "Guilty," he said, sniffling. "Guilty."

    http://www.omaha.com/article/2011082...97/708259786/0

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    Murder Charges Filed in Case of Missing Family
    Warrant Issued for Third Suspect

    Murder charges have been filed against a man in the disappearance of a Brazilian family in Omaha.

    Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine says three counts of first-degree murder were filed against Jose Oliveira-Coutinho on Thursday. He's jailed on no bond. There is no listing for his murder case on the online court system, and it not known if he has an attorney.

    He's one of three men suspected of killing Vanderlei Szczepanik, his wife and young son. They disappeared in December 2009.

    The men were originally charged in May 2010 with using the family's credit cards.

    Valdeir Goncalves-Santos pleaded guilty to second-degree murder during his trial last week. Kleine says a warrant for three counts of murder has been issued for the third suspect who's in Brazil.

    http://www.kmtv.com/news/local/128982403.html

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    Finding boy's body a 'miracle'

    Photo Showcase: The Szczepanik family

    Video: Omaha Police Chief and Douglas County Attorney talk about finding remains

    The images reel in Joao de Brito's mind.

    The Omaha man, a native of Brazil, knew 7-year-old Christopher Szczepanik. He helped teach and take care of him in an after-school program for much of the year before Christopher, his mom, Jaqueline, and his father, Vanderlei, disappeared from their South Omaha home in December 2009.

    He had watched the shy, well-behaved boy clutch his violin and keep his distance from the rowdy kids at the school. Took pictures as Christopher shed his bashfulness and danced in a 2009 Cinco de Mayo celebration.

    Saw, and still can see, the sweet boy rushing to him on the last day of school in 2009, throwing his arms up and squeezing de Brito in a tight hug.

    Now, de Brito must reconcile those images with disturbing ones of the boy's death, images that are the very reason why prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against the purported ringleader of the murders.

    The latest news was both miraculous and morbid: The recovery of little Christopher's remains, a Thomas the Tank Engine bedsheet tethered to them, from the Missouri River bottom where his body was dumped 22 months ago.

    As authorities on Tuesday announced the discovery, de Brito said he couldn't help but cringe and, at the same time, commit himself to a cause: helping Jaqueline Szczepanik's daughter, Tatiane Klein, persuade Brazilian authorities to extradite the third man accused in the killings to the United States.

    “Christopher was so young and so defenseless,” de Brito said between tears. “Surely, he could have been spared. The details are so sad — so full of things that you cannot imagine that human beings could do to another human being, let alone a child.”

    The discovery of the boy's remains in the river — his parents' bodies still have not been found — brought a sobering reality to a point prosecutors have pressed since last year: That the family was killed by workers who resented Vanderlei, their boss.

    De Brito, who talked to Klein on Tuesday, said the discovery of Christopher has her reeling and resolved to bring all the killers to justice. Authorities say they will continue to search for Vanderlei and Jaqueline Szczepanik.

    “I can see such a change in Tatiane,” de Brito said. “For the first time, she mentioned these guys as animals, as people with no feelings, no emotions. And you can understand why she feels that way when you consider the inhumane way they killed her mom and her little brother and her stepfather.”

    As prosecutors continue to press their death-penalty case against purported ringleader Jose “Carlos” Oliveira-Coutinho, they also are focused on ways to secure the return of co-defendant Elias Lourenco-Batista from Brazil.

    Prosecutors dropped theft charges against Lourenco earlier this year — and federal immigration officials deported him to Brazil in April.

    After authorities notified her that DNA tests confirmed the identification of Christopher's remains, Tatiane Klein talked with prosecutors about efforts to return Lourenco.

    Prosecutors have been in contact with the U.S. Department of Justice, and any extradition likely will have to involve negotiations between the two countries' State Departments. Brazil traditionally does not extradite its residents to face trial in other countries.

    Authorities are hopeful that the discovery of the body will bolster their case that Lourenco should be extradited. Unlike before, no one in Brazil can argue that U.S. authorities are just speculating that Christopher died.

    Last week, Klein implored supporters to plead with Brazilian authorities to return Lourenco, who has denied involvement in the Szczepaniks' deaths.

    “For God's sake, help me to fight for justice,” Klein wrote in an email. “It is not fair that only two pay for the crime.”

    Prosecutors said they were floored when they learned last week that a diver from the Yutan, Neb., volunteer fire department had made the discovery nearly two years after the December 2009 disappearance of the family.

    The diver did so by feeling for the boy's remains at the river bottom, then joining with other divers to carefully raise the remains to the surface.

    Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said he had assumed that this year's massive flood would have swept the bodies away. However, Christopher's skeletal remains were anchored to the river bottom very near where Valdeir Goncalves-Santos told investigators he and his two workers had dumped the bodies.

    “It's just unbelievable,” Kleine said. “Nothing short of a miracle.”

    The discovery was the latest in a series of jaw-dropping developments in the case of the disappearance of the Szczepaniks — a Brazilian family who had moved here from Florida to renovate a former church-school in South Omaha.

    In August, Goncalves shocked courtroom onlookers with a sob-filled, last-minute conversion in his first-degree murder trial. After denying involvement in the deaths for nearly 20 months, Goncalves offered to tell police everything he knew.

    That night and the next day, he told police that he and his fellow workers, Oliveira and Lourenco, killed the Szczepaniks. Goncalves took detectives to an area of the river where, he says, they slit the bodies open and dumped them in the river.

    Thursday's search-and-recovery came just a day after authorities testified, in chilling detail, as to how Goncalves says he, Oliveira and Lourenco killed the Szczepaniks at the former school.
    Goncalves told detectives the three beat Vanderlei Szczepanik to death with a bat and metal rod. They then locked Christopher and his mother in a bedroom, while Goncalves and Oliveira drove around looking for a place to dump the bodies.

    Upon their return, the three men hanged Jaqueline in a stairwell, then did the same to Christopher.

    At last week's hearing, Oliveira's attorneys grilled an Omaha police detective on whether they had found any evidence of remains. Todd Lancaster, a court-appointed attorney for Oliveira, argued that investigators couldn't prove there had even been a murder.

    He said the state's case fell far short of the evidence used to convict Christopher Edwards in another murder case prosecuted without finding a body: the disappearance and death of Jessica O'Grady.

    Detective Robyn Ostermeyer acknowledged that a handful of searches for the Szcze*paniks had yielded nothing.

    Then came Thursday's search. Kleine said he believed the search was planned for that day because the river had finally receded, not because of the attorneys' repeated questions.

    Kleine said a forensic examiner — the same one who examined 12-year-old Amber Harris'
    skeletal remains — will study Christopher's.

    Then it will be up to Tatiane Klein to decide how to memorialize her half brother.

    “He was very different from the other boys, the other kids,” de Brito said. “Never loud. Never pushing. A very well-behaved boy.

    “I remember after he hugged me, his mama (Jaqueline) took him by the hand and walked him to the door. She turned and said, ‘I think he likes you' — and Christopher smiled. And that was the last time I saw him.”

    http://www.omaha.com/article/2011101...111019731/1013

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    Lawyer tries to shift blame in Brazilians' slayings

    Asked how he pleaded in the murders of a family of Brazilian missionaries, alleged ringleader Jose "Carlos" Oliveira-Coutinho stood silent Thursday.

    His attorney was anything but.

    Horacio Wheelock came out firing in a pretrial hearing Thursday, alleging that Oliveira's one-time friend and the state's star witness — Valdeir Goncalves-Santos — was the real ringleader, the coldblooded killer who bludgeoned Vanderlei Szczepanik to death, then hanged Szczepanik's wife, Jaqueline, and 7-year-old son, Christopher, before dumping them in the Missouri River.

    So set up the finger-pointing that is expected to take place this fall, when prosecutors seek the death penalty against Oliveira in his trial.

    Goncalves pinned the savage deaths on Oliveira — telling authorities that Oliveira led three Brazilian workers to kill Vanderlei Szczepanik because he was enraged at Szczepanik's treatment of his workers.

    The Szczepaniks — a family of Christian missionaries who were renovating the former Paul VI High School in South Omaha — disappeared in December 2009.

    After months passed with no trace of the family, prosecutors filed first-degree murder charges against Goncalves based largely on incriminating comments he made to his wife.

    The case took a jaw-dropping twist when Goncalves tearfully stopped his trial in August and offered to testify against Oliveira.

    It then got a bittersweet boost in October, when authorities recovered the body of 7-year-old Christopher from the Missouri River, right where Goncalves said it would be.

    Wheelock and co-counsel Todd Lancaster suggested that there was a reason Goncalves knew where to direct detectives: because Goncalves and another man, Elias Lourenco-Batista — not Oliveira — were responsible for killing the Szczepaniks and dumping them in the river.

    Wheelock wasted no time going after Goncalves.

    Suggesting that Goncalves isn't "right" in the head, Wheelock asked the judge for permission to question Goncalves at trial on allegations that Goncalves once had relations with an animal and routinely shot animals in the head.

    "And any other past violent or anti-social tendencies," Wheelock said.

    Prosecutor Jim Masteller countered that questions about Goncalves' character, beyond any criminal record, were irrelevant.

    "I fail to see how Goncalves' alleged bad acts with animals relates to a material issue charged in the (case)," Masteller said.

    Beyond his allegations against Goncalves, Wheelock asked the judge to allow at trial several statements Oliveira made to Omaha police detectives investigating the family's disappearance.

    Wheelock said that on March 11, 2010, Oliveira told Detective Chris Spencer that he didn't know anything about the Szczepaniks' disappearance but that he knew who did.

    Oliveira told the detective that Goncalves admitted that he and Lourenco killed the family and dumped the bodies in the river.

    "He told (Spencer) he did not know where they killed the Szczepanik family because Valdeir and Elias did not tell him where they killed the family," Wheelock said. "Mr. Goncalves-Santos told Oliveira they threw them in the river."

    Oliveira told Spencer that he didn't know the name of the river but that it was the one "under (Interstate) 80."

    Oliveira told Spencer he didn't ask any more questions of Goncalves. He couldn't.

    "He did not feel well," Wheelock said.

    Oliveira said he did feel better after talking to Spencer.

    "I am relieved because I am telling the truth," he said as he ended the interview.

    Hardly, prosecutors say.

    Masteller suggested that Oliveira, more than any other defendant, had motive for murder.

    In Goncalves' trial, witnesses had overheard Oliveira complain that Szczepanik "only cares about money" and not about his workers.

    Oliveira also spoke of his resentment toward Szczepanik, who ran a small construction business, for having fired Oliveira and then hiring him back at less pay.

    Masteller called Oliveira's statements to Spencer "self-serving" and out of context.

    "If the defendant wants to counter (Goncalves') statements, he has an absolute right to take the stand at his trial," Masteller said.

    Among several other motions, Wheelock asked the judge to order any jurors to be sequestered for the entire four-week trial. Masteller said he would object to such a motion.

    Although jurors sometimes are sequestered during deliberations, they rarely are sequestered for an entire trial.

    Douglas County District Judge Thomas Otepka reserved ruling on the motions, save for one. Otepka granted Wheelock's motion for a continuance, delaying Oliveira's trial until September. The trial originally had been scheduled for April.

    http://www.omaha.com/article/20120106/NEWS97/701069915

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    A man accused of killing a Brazilian family has been convicted of three counts of murder and one count of theft.

    A jury came back with the verdict in Jose Oliveira-Coutinho's case Friday afternoon.

    Prosecutors say he killed Vanderlei Szczepanik, his wife Jacqueline and their son Christopher.

    Two others were also accused in the killings. Valdeir Goncalves-Santos pleaded guilty to murder last year. He testified against Coutinho along with Coutinho's wife. Elias Lourenco-Batista was also charged, but authorities have been unable to extradite him to the United States due to the Brazilian Constitution. The Douglas County Attorney tried to work with Congress to extradite him.

    Prosecutors said Christopher's body was found in the Missouri River last year. His parents still haven't been found. The family went missing in 2009.

    Prosecutors said Goncalves testified that Vanderlei Szczepanik was beaten and that his wife and son were hanged. He helped lead police to Christopher's body.

    Police said the three worked for the family that was renovating a South Omaha school. Police say the three stole from the family's bank accounts.

    Coutinho faces life in prison or the death penalty when he's sentenced. There will be a hearing at 2pm to see if there were aggravated circumstances in the family's death to determine if the death penalty will be considered.

    http://www.kptm.com/story/19747132/g...issing-familys
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