Gardai travel to Brazil to investigate death of three year-old

The child’s skeletal remains were found in September last year and Gardai launched a full murder investigation after it emerged he had not been seen for years.

It is understood that they have now interviewed the wife of one of the two main suspects.

Daniel was last seen alive in 2021.

One man moved to Brazil in 2023 — two years after the boy was last seen alive.

He was deported by Brazilian authorities in February for violating their immigration laws and was arrested on his return to Ireland.

Irish detectives travelled to Brazil several weeks ago and interviewed the woman to establish what she knows about Daniel and his death.

A post-mortem on Daniel’s body was inconclusive and could not clearly identify his exact cause of death.
A man and woman, a former couple, were both questioned in the case and helped Gardai locate a shallow grave on waste ground in ­Donabate, north Co Dublin, where he was buried by them in the middle of the night.

They were both formally interviewed and released without charge, pending a file being sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The two suspects told Gardai the youngster died of natural causes and they ­buried him because they didn’t know what to do.

Gardai, the Department of Social Protection and Tusla only discovered Daniel was missing after it was flagged that the woman was claiming benefits for the boy despite there being no trace of him.

So far, more than 400 statements have been taken in the case but no one has yet been charged.