Overview

• The headless body of an unidentified man was discovered at around 6:45 a.m. on July 30 in Pátio do Salema, a narrow alley behind the Coliseu dos Recreios in central Lisbon.
• Hours earlier, police in Costa da Caparica opened a murder inquiry after finding the body of a woman in her 50s in the boot of a car.
• Portugal’s Judiciary Police, along with homicide detectives and forensic teams, are conducting investigations and collecting evidence at both scenes.
• The male victim’s head remains missing, and detectives continue to search for it amid forensic examinations of the surrounding area.
• Official data show a 2.9% rise in violent crime nationwide from 2023 to 2024, though Portugal’s homicide rate remains one of the lowest in the EU at 0.6 per 100,000 residents.