I too never got to personally interact with James, but in a way I feel that I have. His Portuguese tutorials were helpful, as were his tutorials regarding gaining legal residency in Brazil although some of the laws have changed since he wrote those posts.
Being that this is Brazil, I doubt that even if they catch the perpetrators, there will be no justice. A slap on the wrist and the words "naughty boy, go sit in the corner for a few weeks" isn't justice and won't do anything to teach a lesson/rehabilitate. Neither will the fact that even IF someone "goes to jail" for this they get paid a minimum salary for the duration of their "incarceration" for fuck's sake (Pardon my French.). Every country in the world needs the death penalty for heinous acts such as this. And, instead of like it is in the US, like with puppies and kittens, the sentence needs to be carried out fairly quickly so the convicted and others can draw the proper correlation. By the time a murderer is executed in the US, the appearance that they're paying for their crime is gone and it seems more like the person is being executed because they're sucking up hundreds of thousands of dollars that can more wisely be spent elsewhere.
Maybe I've just been lucky, but except for one occasion personally and three times that I heard about from the victims, I haven't seen this "Brazil is one of the most dangerous countries on the planet."
Someone tried to rob me at gunpoint once. However they were stupid enough to get within range and it didn't work out so well for him. The weapon is probably still sitting in the gutter where it got thrown.
Three other Americans that I knew were mugged for their phones on two separate occasions. However, these young men walked around practically with the word "victim" tattooed on their foreheads-heads down, phones out, head phones in. And no weapons were used in instances.
Two female roommates were coming home late one night and were accosted not far from where we lived. It was just the two of them and other than losing their cellphones and a little money, no harm was done.
I've walked through favelas in São Paulo at night, alone and never had a problem. But I don't walk around anywhere, even during the day, with my head down and phone out. I pay attention to my surroundings and those in them and I let everyone near me know I know they're there. IF I listen to music while out and about, it's not through the speaker or with corded headphones. Those are invitations. I use small, concealable Bluetooth stereo headsets. I also don't have the volume loud enough for anyone but me to hear it and low enough that I can hear pretty much everything going on around me. Pilots call it situational awareness.
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R.I.P wonderful James xx
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may he rest in peace and may his selflessness inspire others like it has inspired me 
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