The truly bizarre story of a 44-year-old Brazilian woman who disappeared without trace after taking out the rubbish from her home in Tabuaço (Viseu district) one evening in June, has taken a new turn.
PJ police have visited the property of her so-called boyfriend: a man who masqueraded as a surgeon with private hospital chain CUF when he in fact worked for a refuse collection company in Loures.
The boyfriend, Luís Jesus, was apparently ‘engaged’ to Ms Santos, even though he appears to live in Lisbon with another woman.
Jesus has already been interviewed twice by police, always claiming that he knows nothing of what might have happened on June 20 – the date on which Francisca went missing.
During investigations and wide press coverage , it has emerged that Luís Jesus is considered violent by neighbours of a property he owns in Loures. Neighbours have described how he used to beat his own sister, who lived and later died there as a result of a brain aneurism.
Today, SIC reports that five inspectors have been to Jesus’ property (a kind of farm) “but what they went there to do is not known. The investigation is taking discreet steps, for the time being without visible results”.
The few ‘clues’ that Francisca Santos left behind her – the fact that the lights were on, and her documents/ wallet etc., remained at home – suggest to police that crime is involved, that she did not disappear voluntarily.
Her family have since come over to Portugal from Brazil; the landlord of the property she rented has ‘demanded it back’, and various domestic appliances have subsequently been sold.
Police have the missing woman’s laptop. Her family surrendered it to them, claiming all the files had been ‘wiped’ before they got to it.
Francisca was carrying her mobile phone when she went missing. The last ‘ping’ reportedly shows it close to where she will have gone to deposit her rubbish.
Francisco Sousa arrived in Portugal four years ago. She worked as a waitress, and has Portuguese residency.
Source material: SIC Notícias
