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Bodies of Brazilian Women Found in Portuguese Animal Shelter

© AFP 2023 / ANDRESSA ANHOLETEthe Brazilian Federal Police
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Three women from the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, who disappeared in Portugal in January, were cold-bloodedly murdered, allegedly by one of the victim’s beloved.

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Two sisters, 28-year-old Michele Santana Ferreira and 16-year-old Lidiana Neves Santana, and their 21-year-old friend Thayane Milla Mendes broke contact with their families for more than eight months. On August 26, an attempt to find the missing girls ended tragically: the bodies of all the three women were found in a shelter for cats and dogs in Tires, not far from Lisbon.

According to the sisters' mother, Solange Santana Leite, her eldest daughter, was living in Portugal with her boyfriend for more than 9 years. Her younger daughter decided to follow the sister's example at the end of 2015, and their mutual friend joined them in January 2016.

An investigation into the disappearance of the three women is led being led by the Brazilian Federal Police. The elder sister's boyfriend Dinai Alves Gomes appears to be the main suspect. He disappeared immediately after it was announced that the bodies of the missing girls were found. According to people who knew the victims, Gomes worked in the shelter where the bodies were discovered.

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The sisters' mother claimed that Gomes returned to Brazil as soon as the girls lost contact with home. When asked where the disappeared women were, he replied that they decided to go to London, and Michele, who was pregnant with his child, had decided to remove her Facebook page so that her previous employer could not to find her. Police refused to accept this version of the events and began a nationwide search. Interpol later discovered that the women did not leave Portugal.

Among the motives for the murder, police suspect that Gomes's intolerance to homosexuality may be a factor, as the younger sister Lidiana and her friend Thayane were in a relationship. In addition, Michele's friends revealed that Gomes often turned violent in his relationship with Michele.

Solange Santana Leite is currently collecting money to pay for the transportation of the bodies of the three murdered Brazilians home.

CORRECTION: a previous version of this article misidentified Minas Gerais as a Portuguese state, and Tires as a province of Cascais in Portugal.

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