SAO PAULO, Brazil (AFP) -- A stunned Brazil was learning Monday the details of a series of rape-murders of six teenage boys near the capital Brasilia, allegedly perpetrated by a 40-year-old labourer who confessed after his arrest.

The grisly finds of six bodies in scrubland 40 miles south of Brasilia over the weekend concluded the search by families for their boys aged 13 to 19 who had gone missing in December and January.

The labourer, Admar de Jesus Santos, directed police to the remains after allegedly confessing.

DNA tests were being carried out to identify the bodies.

According to Brazilian media, De Jesus Santos lived in the same town as the victims and lured them into isolated woodland with him under pretext of either offering them odd jobs or paying 100 dollars for sex.

The newspaper O Globo said De Jesus Santos had been sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2005 for pedophilia, but only served four years.

He was released on parole in late December. The first of the six boys disappeared a week later.

De Jesus Santos was arrested last Saturday after police traced a mobile phone owned by one of the victims to his sister.