Canadian is now prime suspect in indigenous healer’s murder

LIMA, Peru – A Canadian man who was lynched in Peru is now the prime suspect in the murder of an indigenous healer who was shot to death on April 19.

The chief prosecutor in Peru’s remote Ucayali province told the country’s RPP radio Monday that forensic experts had found traces of gunpowder on clothes worn by Sebastian Woodroffe.

The Canadian was lynched by a mob who had accused him of killing 81-year-old healer Olivia Arevalo.

Prosecutor Ricardo Jimenez said that the powder, witness accounts and gun purchase records make it “very likely” that Woodroffe shot the indigenous woman. Woodroffe had gone to Peru to learn about medicinal plants and was a pupil of Arevalo’s at the time of her death.