DHAKA: A Brazilian man has confessed to killing 39 women in the Rio de Janeiro region, police said Thursday.

In an interview with Brazilian broadcaster TV Globo, the alleged killer, Sailson Jose das Gracas, said that he carried out the first slaying when he was 17 and continued to kill over the next decade, reports CNN.

Rio police said they arrested Sailson on Wednesday on suspicion of killing a woman in the suburb of Nova Iguacu. He confessed to that homicide and then told police about the other killings, they said.

BDST: 1444 HRS, DEC 12, 2014