Chilling final moments: Missing woman seen walking alone in dark boatyard before vanishing without a trace

A MISSING woman’s last movements have been revealed in a chilling timeline after she was seen walking in a dark boatyard before vanishing.

Vitoria Figueiredo Barreto was last sighted on eerie CCTV footage in the early hours of March 4 as police scramble to build a full picture on what happened to her.

The 30-year-old Brazilian psychologist had met up with a friend at the University of Essex campus in Wivenhoe on Tuesday, March 3.

That marked the last day Vitoria had any contact with her loved ones and her heartbroken family and friends are desolate as the search enters its fourth week.

Vitoria was reported missing to Essex Police on March 4 and since then, officers have desperately sought answers to uncover her whereabouts.

She was last seen wearing a dark coat, a blue turtleneck jumper, light blue jeans, and black trainers – she was also carrying a white shoulder bag with the words “people over profit”.

As the days passed with no sign of Vitoria, cops became increasingly concerned for her welfare.

On the day she met her friend, CCTV footage shows her boarding the number 87 bus at Wivenhoe just after 1pm.

Vitoria is then spotted exiting the bus 30 minutes later on Bellfield Avenue in the quaint seaside town of Brightlingsea in Essex.

About an hour later, she was sighted on a doorbell camera in the Hurst Green area standing on the side of the road.

From there, police suspected she may have traveled to the Brightlingsea Harbour that evening.

Just under a week later on March 9, a member of the public discovered her bag on nearby Copperas Road.

New CCTV also emerged showing a person jumping over a fence into a boatyard, close to where the bag was found.

This occurred shortly after midnight on March 4, confirming suspicions that Vitoria had been in the area and prompted a major search.

Speaking for Vitoria’s loved ones, close friend Liliane Silva said at the time that they were “really worried” and pleaded for the local community to help find “this amazing person”.

She said: “We know she is probably not in a good place. We don’t know really why and we don’t want to judge it now, we just want her with us.

“[This] was never her behavior which is why we are so scared.”

Massive searches were launched in Brightlingsea covering vast amounts of area on land and across the coastline.

That search expanded on Wednesday, March 11 to the River Blackwater, the Dengie peninsula, and River Crouch coastlines as well as 2.5km of coastline on Mersea Island.

That day, alarm bells started ringing when officers became aware of a boat being taken from its mooring in Brightlingsea between 12:15 am and 12:36 am.

The vessel was located adrift in the water close to Bradwell-on-Sea with an orange-horseshoe buoyancy found to be missing which hasn’t been located.

From then, officers explored whether it was Vitoria who had unmoored the boat from the pontoon in Brightlingsea given her proximity to the area.

The last sighting of Vitoria on CCTV was then put at 12:16 am on March 4.

Police tracked her walking alone in the waterfront area, having climbed over a nearby metal fence close to where the boat was unmoored.

Vitoria’s mum said at the time: “I know Vitoria would tell us, ‘don’t give up, please keep going’, so that is what we are doing.

“We know Vitoria is probably not feeling herself, she might be scared. To anyone who sees her, please make her feel welcome, make her feel loved and help her feel calm.

“We are here for you Vitoria – please come home. You have done nothing wrong and you are loved.”

Her loved ones urged the Brazilian community in Essex to display Brazilian flags in the hope it would catch Vitoria’s attention and create a safe and welcoming space for her.

The day before Mother’s Day, Vitoria’s laptop was located in Brightlingsea.

As the search continued, police also turned their attention to Vitoria’s communications and financial data, looking to access them through international channels with the help of the Brazilian embassy.

On Wednesday, April 1, Essex Police released new CCTV footage with further sightings of the Brazilian.

A new clip reveals a person, believed to be Vitoria, walking across a field south of Hurst Green on the afternoon she had been picked up by doorbell CCTV.

The force said the eerie footage was taken from a distance between Back Waterside Lane and Mill Street at 3:33 pm.

Cops also released a new clip which shows the Brazilian beyond their initial last sighting of 12:16 am where she was seen jumping over a fence into the boatyard.

Footage shows Vitoria walking through an industrial site on the south side of Copperas Road, close to the Brightlingsea Creek and the marina.

The last confirmed sighting of Vitoria is now confirmed as 12:22 am.

Detective Superintendent Anna Granger said this week: “We’re continuing to work to close the timeframe between the last known sighting of Vitoria and the time which we know a boat was unmoored from a pontoon.

“Whilst we are not able to conclusively say that it was Vitoria who unmoored that boat, which was then found adrift at Bradwell-on-Sea, this new confirmed sighting brings her closer to that area and does strengthen the view that it was her.

“We’ve always based our searches on the basis that the person is Vitoria but we would dearly love to provide her loved ones with certainty – and we’re continuing to work to do that.

“We’re continuing to work with international partners to gain access to Vitoria’s communication and financial data which we hope could open up further lines of inquiry.

“All our requests have been made through the correct channels and we’re ready to receive that information as soon as possible.

“I would again appeal to anyone with information which could help us find Vitoria to please come forward. Did you see her walking in a field between Back Waterside Lane and Mill Street on the afternoon of March 3?

“Have you seen her since the early hours of March 4?

“Vitoria’s loved ones have many questions and we’re working incredibly hard to give them the answers they need.”