On 5 June 2022, Brazilian indigenist Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips were murdered during a boat trip through the Vale do Javari, the second-largest indigenous area in Brazil.

[7] On 5 June 2022, Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips arrived at Lago do Jaburu, a location near the National Indian Foundation Surveillance Base on the Ituí River.

The meeting aimed to discuss joint work between riverine and indigenous people in the surveillance of the Javari Valley, a territory badly affected by invasions and criminal activities.

However, under pressure from ruralist sectors linked to the government of Jair Bolsonaro, he was dismissed from his post in October of that year by Sergio Moro's then-executive secretary at the Ministry of Justice, Luiz Pontel.

[8] On 7 June, the Military Police searched the residence of Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, known as "Pelado," after receiving an anonymous tip about his supposed participation in the disappearances.

[25][26] On 15 June, Amarildo confessed his participation in the crime[3][27][28] and indicated to the authorities where he had buried the bodies as well as the place where Pereira and Phillips' boat sank.

[35] Police have now charged two more people with the murders including Ruben Dario da Silva Villar and Jânio Freitas de Souza.

[46] The Guardian, a newspaper for which Dom Phillips had written, stated there was "growing fear about the safety of the two men, who disappeared in the forest days after receiving threats.

"[48] The French newspaper Le Monde openly criticized the delay of the Federal Police and the Navy in initiating the search in the far west of the Amazon, pointing out that both only acted after media pressure and urgent intervention of the Public Defender's Office of the Union [pt].