António Jordão, coordinator of the judicial police (PJ) of Leiria, said at a press conference that the child’s father and stepmother, aged 32 and 38, were “strongly suspected of murder and the hiding of corpses, in particular.”
According to a Portuguese newspaper, the father told the PJ that the daughter was having an attack, which he described as spasms, and that the parents then panicked. According to investigation, there is no trace of blood in the house.
António Jordão also stressed that, on the basis of the initial elements of the investigation, the girl “would have died in the house” on Wednesday, and that the body was transported to the place where it was found “at the end of day”.
Asphyxiation (being deprived of oxygen) is the main cause of death, but only an autopsy can confirm this hypothesis and check if the victim has also been abused.
As for the circumstances which led to the death of the girl, the chief of the PJ declared that the parents are still under investigation, but that, until now, the information gathered reveal “internal family-related problems”.
The father finally confessed to having killed his daughter whose body was not buried, but “covered” with eucalyptus branches a few kilometres from her father’s house in Atouguia da Baleia near Peniche, where she lived temporarily.
Representatives of the GNR (Republican National Guard) and the civil protection of Leiria indicated during the press conference that about 600 people, including police, firefighters, scouts, hunting teams and drone operators, had participated in the search operation, covering an area of approximately four thousand hectares of land.
Nonetheless, it was only the father’s confession that allowed the investigators to locate the girl’s body.
