Prosecutor: Canadian shot indigenous healer before lynching

LIMA, Peru – A Peruvian prosecutor says a Canadian man killed in a brutal lynching in the Amazon is believed to have shot and killed an esteemed indigenous leader days before.

Ricardo Jimenez is the chief prosecutor in the remote Ucayali province and says all evidence now gathered indicates Sebastian Woodroffe did kill an 81-year-old traditional healer.

Bullet cartridges found near the body of Olivia Arevalo were traced back to a gun the 41-year-old had purchased earlier in April and gunpowder was found on his clothes.

Woodroffe had gone to Peru to learn about medicinal plants in order to help people suffering from addiction. He was one of Arevalo’s students at the time of her death.

Investigators are searching for two people believed responsible for Woodroffe’s death.