Brazilian crime watch

Here’s a double helping of lurid Brazilian crimes: a man accused of locking his wife in a cellar for eight years; and a fireman accused of killing drug-addicts for vengeance. There's a sort-of explanation in each case, but neither is very good:

Joao Batitsta Groppo, 64, said he confined his nude wife behind padlocked steel bars in windowless cellar because she was mentally ill, aggressive, and “it was the only way he could think of to prevent her from wandering off and getting lost,” according to police investigators in the town of Sococaba, about 50 miles outside Sao Paulo.

Former fire chief Jorge Luiz Thais Martins is accused of killing at least eight drug users in the same neighborhood where his son was recently shot dead during a robbery. No arrests were made in the killing, but police detained a young drug user in connection with the son's death but then released him citing lack of evidence. Authorities aren't saying that's the connection, but they are saying the crime has nothing to do with the fire department.