Human trafficking investigated in search for missing former Miss Brazil

Police are not discarding the possibility that human trafficking played a role in the disappearance of a former Miss Brazil who hasn’t contacted her family in nearly six months.

Taiza Thomsen, 24, who inherited the title of Miss Brazil in 2002 after the titleholder was stripped of the crown for being married, last talked to her parents in September, saying she was in London. She represented Brazil at the Miss Universe pageant in Panama.

“At this moment we can’t rule out anything, not even the possibility she was a victim of human trafficking,” police investigator Marcos David Salem told Brazilian TV today.

Police began investigating the case yesterday at the request of her family, which decided to report her missing on Thursday.

Thomsen’s family said in some of their conversations before she went missing she left them with the feeling she was being threatened. The family did not elaborate.

Police said they had no leads yet but have started looking into her whereabouts before disappearing.

Authorities said they would request access to her family’s phone records to try to track her location when she last made contact.

The Brazilian police asked for assistance from the Interpol and will also contact British authorities to try to confirm whether she was in England.

According to some of her friends, Thomsen had worked briefly in Belgium and there was a possibility she was still there.

Following her time as Miss Brazil, Thomsen moved to Sao Paulo in 2005 from her hometown of Joinville, 250 miles south of Sao Paulo in Santa Catarina state. She said at the time she would work as a model.

A journalism student with bright blue eyes and long dark hair, Thomsen inherited the title of Miss Brazil in 2002 when titleholder Joseane Oliveira acknowledged being married and was stripped from the title.