Signs of something 'buried' in Amazon disappearance of journalist

Authorities combing a remote corner of the Amazon for a missing British journalist and Brazilian indigenous expert are investigating possible human remains and a spot where something appears to have been buried, officials said Friday.

Fears have been mounting over the fate of Dom Phillips, 57, a veteran contributor to The Guardian newspaper, and Bruno Pereira, 41, a respected specialist in indigenous peoples, since they disappeared Sunday after receiving threats during a research trip to Brazil's Javari Valley, a far-flung jungle region that has seen a surge of illegal fishing, logging, mining and drug trafficking.

Authorities have arrested a suspect named as 41-year-old Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, nicknamed "Pelado," who witnesses say pursued the man upriver. A blood spot found on a tarp in his boat has been sent for analysis at the crime lab in Manaus, the capital of Amazonas state.

Emergency official Geonivan Maciel said investigators now had a new lead in the case: a suspicious site with "overturned earth" in a community called Cachoeira, on a bank of the Itaquai river, where the men were last seen.

"It's as if someone had dug something at the site, buried something there," Maciel told journalists accompanying the search.

Federal police later said in a statement investigators had found "apparently human organic material" during their search.