Missing James Petersen

http://www.uvm.edu/news/?Page=News&storyID=6562

This is the U. of Vermont's obituary for one of its own, a professor in the Anthropology Department and apparently a well-loved man. No better thing to leave behind than a good reputation and some useful research, but I wish he had had a chance to do more. I imagine his family does, too. Here was Reuters's take on his death:



SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) - Three suspects arrested in connection with the killing of a U.S. anthropology professor during a robbery were high on cocaine when one of them shot him, police said on Monday.

University of Vermont professor James Petersen, 51, was shot once in the chest on Saturday at a restaurant in the Amazon rainforest town of Iranduba, about 14 miles west of Amazonas state capital Manaus, police said.

Initial media reports quoted witnesses as saying Petersen was shot after a struggle with the robbers in the town located around 1,200 miles northwest of the capital Brasilia.

But police said Petersen did not resist and died as the suspects were fleeing from the restaurant.

``He (the professor) didn't show any reaction, the individuals were drugged,'' said Iranduba police superintendent Normando da Rocha Barbosa.

An 18-year-old man has confessed to firing the shot that killed Petersen. A 16-year-old and another man have been arrested in connection with the robbery, Barbosa said.

Petersen was on a trip to study ancient Indian tribes in the Amazon when the suspects entered the restaurant where he was eating with colleagues.

``It's an incalculable loss. He had a huge knowledge of the archeology of the American continent,'' said Eduardo Neves, of Brazil's University of Sao Paulo, who was with him at the time of the murder.

Police said Petersen's body was likely to be sent back to the United States on Wednesday. He was the second American to be murdered in Brazil's Amazon this year.

U.S. nun and human rights activist Dorothy Stang was shot to death by hired gunmen in February as she defended poor farmers and the rainforest from illegal loggers and ranchers.

Police said they saw no connection between Petersen's death and his work in the area.