Military officer's deathbed confession — full transcript

The recording was made in a hospice room in southeastern Brazil. The witness was three days from death and aware of it. The room contained the witness, an attending priest he had requested specifically, and one adult relative operating a small consumer recorder. No other personnel were present.

He describes participating, as part of a transfer team of seven enlisted personnel and two officers, in the movement of three subjects from a holding location to a waiting refrigerated trailer in the early hours of January 22, 1996. He is careful to specify that two of the subjects were alive at the time of transfer and one was not.

He describes the live subjects as restrained, sedated, and breathing. He describes the deceased subject as already in a sealed container that had been delivered separately. He says he was instructed not to look at any of the three for longer than was necessary to complete his portion of the move and that he obeyed this instruction except for one moment, which he describes.

Twice during the recording the witness asks the priest to confirm that the act of recording counts as confession. The priest answers each time that the witness should not concern himself with that distinction at this stage.

Near the end the witness asks the relative not to release the recording for at least four years, so that no person who was present that night can be made to answer questions while he is still alive to corroborate. The relative honored that request.