Mónica Silva ‘vanished without trace’ more than two months ago
With a man already behind bars on suspicion of having killed missing pregnant mother-of-two Mónica Silva, reports today suggest PJ police have received a new lead.
According to tabloid Correio da Manhã which has been following this story since October, there is the possibility that the 33-year-old’s body was dumped into the work creating foundations for a supermarket in her hometown of Murtosa (Aveiro district).
“Authorities are trying to discover what condition the site was in in the early hours of October 4 (that is, hours after Mónica failed to return home to her two children, having left for a ‘coffee’ with her presumed killer).
Right now, the man being held in preventive custody on suspicion of involvement in Mónica’s disappearance is her supposed former lover, Fernando Valente.
“Manuel Valente, the father of the principal suspect, has a house close by (the supermarket under construction)”, says CM. The rear of the property actually gives access to the site, “which deepens the mystery”, says the paper.
Meantime, local searches have been ongoing, with and without the help of the PJ, since Mónica vanished.
The possibility that the young woman’s body could have been in the water, close to Varela bridge in Rua de Aveiro, has been discounted after dives went ahead at the location yesterday.
“We went down in various spots which the sonar detected”, Sebastião Xavier, the owner of a dive company that carried out the searches free of charge told CM, while Mónica’s mother Celeste has reiterated her message of the last two months: “We are not going to give up. We need to find Mónica to have peace”.
CM’s report adds that Celeste “did not hide her disgust” when she spoke with reporters: “Doesn’t he have any remorse knowing there are two children without a mother? Two children who do not know what happened?”.
Fernando Valente, 39, is understood to have denied any involvement in Mónica’s disappearance. He has also denied being the father of her unborn child – but for the time being at least he remains in police custody, on suspicion of aggravated murder, the profaning of a corpse and aggravated abortion. ND
Source material: Correio da Manhã
