Portuguese Prosecutors Indict Employer in Killing of Brazilian Nanny Alleging Cement-Block Attack

Overview

• The Ministério Público charged the 43-year-old employer with qualified homicide, profanation of a corpse, illegal possession of a weapon and computer falsification, and she remains in preventive detention.
• Prosecutors say Lucinete Freitas was lured to a secluded area of Amadora on December 5 and fatally struck in the head with a cement block.
• Authorities report the suspect hid the body under rubble and used the victim’s phone to send messages claiming a trip to the Algarve to mislead friends.
• Police say the body was found on December 19 in a wooded area after the suspect’s December 18 arrest, when she indicated the location.
• Officials described the relationship as conflictual and the motive as futile, while the victim’s husband says she planned to testify in a custody dispute and often sided with the employer’s husband.