UVM professor killed in Amazon; taught at UMF and UM

SAO PAULO, Brazil – A University of Vermont anthropology professor on a research trip to Brazil was killed Saturday while he was being robbed in a small rain forest town near the Amazon River, an American Embassy spokesman said Sunday.

James Petersen, 51, of Salisbury, Vt., died toward the end of the confrontation in a restaurant in the town of Iranduba, said the spokesman, John Wilcock. Iranduba is about 1,650 miles northwest of Sao Paulo.

Three suspects were taken into custody, according to CBN radio. Wilcock said he could not confirm that information.

UVM Provost John Bramley said Petersen, who was with colleagues when the robbery happened, was shot and died a short time later.

“I am very saddened to inform the UVM community of a tragic incident in Brazil resulting in the death of our colleague Dr Jim Petersen,” said Bramley.

Petersen, associate professor and chair of the Department of Anthropology, was on a research field trip with colleagues in Manaus, Brazil. Sometime on Saturday night, 13th August, he and his colleagues were attacked and robbed. Petersen was shot during the robbery and died shortly afterward.

Federal police in the jungle city of Manaus, about 12 miles from Iranduba, could not immediately be reached to comment.

Petersen also chaired UVM’s anthropology department.

Before joining UVM, Petersen founded the Archaeology Research Center at the University of Maine at Farmington, where he was also a professor from 1983 to 1997. He was also a graduate school professor at the University of Maine in Orono.

The American Embassy was monitoring the police investigation into the killing and helping Petersen’s family arrange for his body to be sent home, Wilcock said.