In 1990s Lisbon, Portugal, police were baffled when three sex workers all called Maria were killed with the same brutal pattern – and the killer was never caught
‘Ripper copycat’ killer who disembowelled three women on the loose
In the ’90s, a mystery emerged in Lisbon after 22-year-old Maria Valentina was found lying in a pool of her own blood behind a shed. She had been strangled, disembowelled and was missing her heart, liver, intestines and genitalia.
The police launched inquiries, stating they had never witnessed a victim who had been left in such a condition “in over 30 years”. Officers identified her as a sex worker who was known for battling drug addiction, but could not uncover any evidence that would lead to the culprit.
Roughly six months later, 24 year old Maria Fernanda was also discovered behind a shed, in identical circumstances and missing the same organs, though she also had her chest carved out. The police deployed even more officers than they had for the previous victim, certain the crime had been carried out by the same killer, given the similar circumstances, victim profile and location.
“We followed clues between Lisbon and Cascais”, said Judicial Police lead João de Sousa. “[We] heard several people connected to their pasts, but everything was informal, without enough leads to arrest or even formally interrogate anyone”. Just two months later, the final target was Maria João, who was 27 at the time of her murder, and happened to be friends with the first victim.
Following identical patterns to the earlier killings, the woman was throttled, and her body cut open, but this time the murderer succeeded in extracting all of the victim’s internal organs. Despite police efforts, no details about the killer were ever discovered, and similar crimes did not occur again in subsequent years.
The crime scenes contained no blood – apart from that of the victims – or other evidence such as hair, footprints, gloves or bodily fluids. The pattern they followed, however, was obvious. All of the women were brunette, called Maria, in their twenties, prostitutes, used drugs and were HIV-positive. According to forensic medics who worked on the cases, this “Ripper” was probably a loner who had no connection to the victims whatsoever.
He also ensured he always left the women’s faces untouched. In 1993, the FBI got involved in the probe, as crimes with the same modus operandi had been carried out in 1988 in New Bedford, Massachusetts, home to America’s biggest Portuguese community. They determined that this was the handiwork of a killer who had been active in the US before returning to Portugal.
An arrest was made, but the investigation eventually found no solid evidence. Since 2008, under Portuguese law, the statute of limitations on the murders has come into effect, meaning that even if a suspect is identified or confesses in the future, they cannot be prosecuted or jailed. Similar crimes were reported between 1993 and 1997 in the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Denmark, and Belgium, sparking rumours that the Ripper may have been a lorry driver operating across these countries.
