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Search Ends as Former Miss Brazil Tells Police She's OK

Associated Press
Published | Updated

SAO PAULO, Brazil – The former Miss Brazil, who disappeared five months ago, has contacted Brazilian police from London to say she is well and does not want to be bothered, authorities said Monday.

Taiza Thomsen, 24, had not talked to her family since September, prompting her parents to request help from authorities last month. In her last conversation with her family, she said she was in London.

The Brazilian federal police said Thomsen called investigators on Saturday to say she was in England and nothing had happened to her.

"Thomsen informed that she was doing well in London and that she didn't want to be found, not even by her parents," the police said in a statement.

The investigators said it did not appear she was being pressured or coerced by anybody, and that they would close the case.

"She has the right to stay isolated," the statement said.

Authorities had been trying to find Thomsen since Jan. 25, when her parents reported she was missing. Police had said it was possible that human trafficking played a role in the disappearance.

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

As news of her disappearance spread, rumors about the case began surfacing throughout Brazil, and there were several reports that she was working in Europe.

One friend said she had spoken to Thomsen by phone several months ago and she was not talking to her parents because she fought with them.

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 of the title. Thomsen then represented Brazil at the 2003 Miss Universe pageant in Panama.

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