32-year-old, Manoel, and 34-year-old, Miguel, worked in Campos dos Goytacazes as electronic repairman. Both were married, technology enthusiasts with “young families,” and they were, by all accounts, close friends. According to some who knew them, the two had intentions of starting their own business together.
Allegedly, while waiting at the bus stop, the men ran into Miguel’s uncle by chance. They told the relative that they were going to Niterói to buy a car. The uncle pointed out that it would be cheaper to purchase a vehicle in Campos dos Goytacazes, but Miguel insisted that they were also also attending to other matters.
Miguel also mentioned during this encounter, that upon their return, the men were expecting to have had some kind of definitive spiritual revelation. Religiously, both Manoel and Miguel were avowed spiritualists, and according to one friend, they were interested in attempting to “contact extraterrestrials or spirits.”
Other accounts describe Miguel telling a relative that, “he would soon be carrying out an important mission but that it was secret.”
The men were found dressed in “matching formal suits” with “homemade lead masks draped over their eyes.” The eye masks were shaped like sunglasses but did not have frame arms (or any other obvious means of securing them to a face). Neither mask had eye holes. According to accounts, “a packet containing two wet towels” was found near the bodies.
One of the men had a notebook on his person, “[containing] lists of parts and other information related to their occupations as electronic technicians.” In this book, the puzzling notes were found scrawled in Miguel’s handwriting.
The instructions seem to indicate that Manoel and Miguel were “meeting a person or hoping for an event.” Almost every scribbled note is a command: be at a specific location, ingest capsules, protect metals, await a signal. Why were these actions being notated? To what objective were they being performed? And, most mysteriously, who exactly was giving the orders?
An empty bottle of mineral water was also found at the scene. The bottle was determined to be from a local restaurant that Manoel and Miguel visited upon their arrival in Niterói. The water bottle reportedly required a deposit (to be refunded upon its return). The men opted for a deposit return ticket as if they thought (at least during that moment) they’d be returning the bottle later.
Last seen alive at Bar das Relvas at approximately 4:30 PM (which corresponds with the timing of the “16:30 be at the specified location” note), a waitress there remembered the two friends buying water. She described Miguel specifically as checking his watch often and appearing “very nervous.”