Douglas Baptista

Before his trial would start, Baptista was examined by psychiatrist Guido Palomba, who concluded that he was abnormal and "absolutely unrecoverable." After this, he was put on trial for the murders of Ribeiro and De Jesus, was swiftly convicted, and subsequently sentenced to 30 years imprisonment. Two years later, in August 2017, he was given an additional 30-year sentence for the murder of Priscila Elias Inácio.

Eventually, authorities managed to connect Baptista to the Christmas murders and arrested him at his home in Praia Grande on December 8, 2015. He reportedly attempted to flee after seeing the police cars, but was cut off and apprehended. After he was taken into custody, Baptista initially claimed that he did not know he was sought by police and claimed that he was innocent, but eventually confessed and revealed that he had killed six other children, including his stepdaughter, and later showed where he had disposed of the bodies. When pressed for a motive, Baptista claimed that he "felt pleasure in seeing the victims struggling when they were drowning" and was possessed by a strange force.

Baptista was initially arrested for the murders in 2004, but despite confessing to them, he was not convicted and was released. Some time later, Baptista moved to Porto Alegre, where he lived for the next few years. In 2013, he was arrested for the murder of Fabiana dos Santos and sentenced to serve 18 years at the São Vicente Penitentiary for her murder, but was later paroled.

On Christmas Day in 2003, two girls disappeared from their homes in São Vicente. The victims were Nathaly Jenifer Ribeiro and Najila de Jesus, both five years old. Their bodies were found four days later floating in the Mambu River near Itanhaém, with both hands and feet tied. Authorities rigorously searched for the criminal at the time, but were unable to link any potential suspect.

Douglas Baptista (born 1962), known as The São Vicente Maniac (Portuguese: Maníaco de São Vicente), is a Brazilian serial killer who drowned at least eight children in the Baixada Santista metropolitan area from 1992 to 2003. Arrested and convicted for several of the crimes, he is currently serving a lengthy sentence.