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Search Continues for Missing Academic from Essex
Vitoria Figueiredo Barreto, a 31-year-old university academic, has been missing for six months following her last sighting in Essex. She was reported as missing from Brightlingsea after being last seen at the University of Essex’s Colchester campus on March 3. Vitoria, who was visiting from Brazil, took a bus to Brightlingsea and did not return to her accommodation in Southend.
Since her disappearance, Essex Police have conducted extensive investigations, deploying officers, detectives, and specialist search teams across various landscapes. Significant areas searched include land and coastal regions, with efforts including checks on her bank records to trace her movements.
Vitoria was last seen getting on the number 87 bus around 1pm from Boundary Road and disembarking on Bellfield Avenue in Brightlingsea approximately 30 minutes later. At the time, she was dressed in a dark coat, a blue turtleneck jumper, light blue jeans, and black trainers, and was carrying a white shoulder bag emblazoned with the words “people over profit.”
CCTV footage captured her leaving the bus and later walking along Hurst Green. A member of the public later found a shoulder bag matching her description near Copperas Road, and additional footage shows Vitoria jumping over a fence shortly after midnight on March 4. Reports indicate that a boat was taken from its mooring around the same time, later found abandoned near Bradwell-on-Sea, missing an orange buoyancy aid.
In the ongoing search, a laptop believed to be Vitoria’s was discovered on March 14. The police have partnered with the Brazilian Embassy to assist in the investigation and have been analysing her financial activities and communications. Further CCTV footage released shows Vitoria on March 4 at around 3.33pm and again at 12.22am as she walked through an industrial area on the south side of Copperas Road, with this being the last known sighting of her on camera.
As of July 4, Essex Police confirmed that despite extensive searches carried out in the Brightlingsea, Bradwell-on-Sea, and Dengie areas, Vitoria remains missing. Detective Superintendent Anna Granger stated that while significant enquiries have taken place, no substantial evidence of her whereabouts has emerged, reaffirming the urgency to gather further information from the public.
Authorities urge anyone with information regarding Vitoria’s disappearance to come forward, emphasising that any detail, no matter how minor it may seem, could prove crucial to the investigation.
