Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The security guard is said to have confessed to the killings but had no particular motive and knew none of his victims, as Wyre Davies reports 
 
 Brazilian police have arrested a man who they say has confessed to at least 39 murders over a three-year period. 
 
 Police said the 26-year-old security guard targeted homeless people, women and homosexuals. 
 
 They said Thiago Henrique Gomes da Rocha - who approached his alleged victims on a motorbike with his face hidden - was cold but driven by rage. 
 
 He was arrested in the central Brazilian city of Goiania by a special police team investigating the murders. 
 
 Police said he often demanded valuables from his victims before shooting them and leaving without their possessions. 
 
 A police official who had been present at the interrogations told a Brazilian TV channel the killer called his victims by the numbers 1 to 39. 
 
 "We have been shocked by his coldness," the official said. 
 
 He never knew those he targeted, police said, and acted out of an inner "fury" that he felt "against everything", which only subsided when he committed murder. 
 
 He would feel remorse after killings, police said, which only fuelled his anger more. 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Objects found at Gomes da Rocha's house after his arrest 
 
 The alleged suspect had also described accurately the locations of each murder and the emotions he had felt at the time, and police said he fired on his victims while cruising the streets. 
 
 Investigators said they were sifting through evidence, including closed-circuit TV footage, and had seized weapons and stolen license plates from his grandmother's home. 
 
 He is also being investigated over 90 robberies of shops, pharmacies and lottery outlets. 

 A 26-year-old Brazilian security guard who lived with his mother has confessed to murdering 39 people, which would make him one of the world's most prolific killers. 
 
 Thiago Henrique Gomes da Rocha was arrested by police in Brazil when they found he was facing trial for stealing the number plate on a motorbike at a supermarket in Goiania in January. 
 
 Days later he was was stopped by police riding a motorbike with a fake plate. 
 
 After he had been arrested, he confessed to the killings which he put down to the 'fury he felt against everything', which only subsided when committing murder. 
 
 The self confessed killer shot his victims dead from a motorbike, while 'cruising the streets'. 
 
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 Thiago Henrique Gomes da Rocha (pictured) has confessed to killing 39 people, which would make him one of the world's most prolific killers 
 
 Chilling pictures of the objects seized during the arrest of Gomes da Rocha on Tuesday - officers initially targeted him when they discovered he was facing trial for stealing a number plate on a motorbike 
 
 Before pulling the trigger, he would always shout 'robbery', but then flee the scene without taking anything 
 
 Two of Gomes da Rocha's victims - he confessed to killing 16 women in the city of Goiania, where he lived 
 
 Yesterday, he attempted suicide by slitting his wrists after smashing the light bulb in his cell. 
 
 Among the victims were 16 women in the city of Goiania. 
 
 Most of the women, including a 14-year-old girl killed in a park in January and two women in their mid-twenties murdered in May, were gunned down this year. 
 
 Police say the assassin, who lived with his mother in the Goias state capital, has also confessed to killing transvestites and several homeless people. 
 
 He was arrested on Tuesday by a special police task force set up to catch the serial killer after the string of unexplained murders caused panic among the local population. 
 
 Before pulling the trigger, he would always shout 'robbery', but then flee the scene without taking anything. 
 
 Officers swooped on Gomes da Rocha when they discovered he was facing trial for stealing the number plate on a motorbike at a supermarket in Goiania in January. 
 
 Days later he was was stopped by police riding a motorbike with a fake plate. 
 
 The suspected murder weapon, a.38 revolver, was seized from the home he shared with his mother during a search along with a motorbike and stolen plates. 
 
 Local reports said he told police before being taken to prison that he killed his victims to alleviate feelings of anxiety. 
 
 A hammer, knives and handcuffs were some of the items seized by the special police task force 
 
 Police chief Joao Gorski, who revealed Gomes da Rocha had confessed to the murders, said: 'I believe he is a serial killer. To start with he killed at random but towards the end he established a pattern' 
 
 If Gomes da Rocha ends up being convicted of the crimes he is said to have confessed to, he will gain a place in the record books as one of the world's worst serial killers 
 
 Three victims - a special police task force arrested Gomes da Rocha on Tuesday after the string of unexplained murders caused panic among the local population 
 
 Police say the assassin, who lived with his mother in the Goias state capital, has also confessed to killing transvestites and several homeless people, as well as women, two of whom are pictured here 
 
 Families and friends of the women murdered this year, including these two victims, staged a series of demonstrations to put pressure on the police and local government 
 
 Gomes da Rocha reportedly shot his victims dead from a motorbike and shouted 'robbery' before pulling the trigger 
 
 Police chief Joao Gorski, who revealed Gomes da Rocha had confessed to the murders, said: 'I believe he is a serial killer. To start with he killed at random but towards the end he established a pattern.' 
 
 Goias state governor Marconi Perillo added: 'I have received confirmation of an excellent piece of news, the identification, arrest and remand in custody of the killer responsible for the deaths of women and street people in Goiania who even confessed to his crimes. 
 
 'I never doubted the investigation would lead to the solving of these crimes that affected the tranquility and integrity of families in Goiania. 
 
 'I know this won't fill the hole left by the deaths of loved ones but I am sure it will serve as some comfort to their families and society.' 
 
 Families and friends of the women murdered this year staged a series of demonstrations to put pressure on the police and local government. They wore white and carried photos of the victims. 
 
 If Gomes da Rocha ends up being convicted of the crimes he is said to have confessed to, he will gain a place in history as one of the world's worst serial killers. 
 
 The list of the 15 most prolific modern serial killers is topped by Colombian Luis Garavito, a child murderer and rapist known as La Bestia or The Beast. 
 
 He is thought to have killed more than 400 mainly street children. His proven victim count is 138. 
 
 Pedro Rodrigues Filho, Brazil's most prolific killer, claimed to have killed more than 100 victims, 47 of them inmates. He was convicted of killing 71 people. 
 
 He killed his first two victims at the age of 14 and murdered his father and ate a piece of his heart. 
 
 Gomes da Rocha was being held in prison last night after being remanded in custody. 

 RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian police announced Thursday that they had captured a man who confessed to 39 murders. 
 
 The man's lawyer said his client was coerced into confessing crimes he didn't commit. 
 
 Investigator Norton Ferreira in the city of Goiania said police had linked a gun found in the home of suspect Tiago Rocha to the killings of at least six women this year. 
 
 Ferreira said that since being arrested Tuesday, the 26-year-old Rocha had confessed to at least 33 other killings in the country's Midwest dating back to early 2013, including several other young women and some homeless people. 
 
 Lawyer Thiago Vidal told the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo that his client confessed to crimes he didn't commit under aggressive questioning.
– A 26-year-old man has confessed to killing at least 39 people in a three-year rampage that makes him one of the world's most prolific serial killers, police in Goiania, Brazil, say. Thiago Henrique Gomes da Rocha, a security guard who lives with his mother, cruised the streets and gunned down his victims—young women, homeless people, and transvestites—from his motorcycle, say police, who were "shocked by his coldness" during interrogations, the BBC reports. Investigators say he would shout "Robbery!" when approaching his victims before shooting them dead and leaving without their valuables. A gun linked to the killings of at least six women was found in his home, an investigator tells the AP. Police say Gomes da Rocha—who has given them details of each murder and referred to his victims by the numbers 1 to 39—has told them he killed his victims to release the "fury" he felt "against everything." The spate of unexplained killings in the city in central Brazil provoked public anger and panic, with family members and friends staging demonstrations to up the pressure on police, and the suspect was caught by a special task force after he was stopped while riding a motorcycle with a fake license plate, reports the Daily Mail. Authorities say that after his arrest earlier this week, he tried to kill himself by smashing the light bulb in his prison cell and slitting his wrists. His lawyer claims the confessions were coerced. (In August, a hit man who killed 300 was freed.)