The discovery of a naked body in woodland near Portalegre has ended the six-week long hunt for a sports fanatic who went missing from his home 134 kms away.
But it has opened a whole new set of questions: not least, who clearly wanted Luís Miguel Grilo dead.
The body of the 50-year-old IT engineer was discovered in an advanced state of decomposition, but it was instantly clear that the death was sinister: there was a bag over his head, reports tabloid Correio da Manhã, and signs of head injuries.
Whether these were enough to have caused Grilo’s death is what an autopsy will now be attempting to find out.
Grilo was last seen, purportedly by a schoolteacher, in a ‘discussion’ with another man roughly six kms from his home near Vila Franca da Xira on July 16.
The triathlon fan had left home two hours earlier, telling his wife he was going for a cycle and would be back in a couple of hours.
In other words, he was seen in discussion with the unidentified man at around the time he was due home.
Since then – and despite multiple appeals by police and the family – very little ‘changed’ beyond Grilo’s mobile phone having been discovered on the side of the road near where he had last been clocked by CCTV cameras (shortly before the discussion with the unidentified man).
Says CM, “right now very little is clear”.
While PJ police search the area near the Estrada Municipal 1020 near Alcórrego, Avis, where Grilo’s body was discovered, the whereabouts of his clothes and indeed his bicycle remain unknown.
The dead man’s identity was verified following finger-print analysis.
natasha.donn@algarveresident.com
