Camilla Jessen
‘Ripper copycat’ killer who targeted women named Maria and was never caught.
A string of brutal murders in Lisbon in the 1990s left investigators without answers.
The case was quickly compared to a “Ripper” copycat and involved a series of killings marked by the same disturbing pattern.
Despite involvement from Portuguese authorities and the FBI, no suspect was ever successfully linked to the crimes.
The first killings
The killings began with the 1990s discovery of 22-year-old Maria Valentina behind a shed in Lisbon.
She had been strangled, disembowelled and left without several organs, including her heart, liver and genitalia.
Investigators told local media they had not encountered a case like it “in over 30 years.”
Police identified her as a prostitute struggling with substance abuse, but found nothing that pointed to the perpetrator.
Roughly six months later, 24-year-old Maria Fernanda was found in near-identical conditions behind another shed. She was missing the same organs, and her chest had also been removed.
Officers deployed more resources, convinced the same killer was responsible.
A repeating pattern
Judicial Police lead João de Sousa said authorities followed leads between Lisbon and Cascais and spoke with people tied to the victims, but “everything was informal, without enough leads to arrest or even formally interrogate anyone.”
Two months later, 27-year-old Maria João. a friend of the first victim, was discovered murdered with the same method.
This time, the killer removed all of her organs.
Police found no fingerprints, hair, footprints, fluids or evidence from anyone except the victims. After this final case, the killings stopped.
All three victims shared nearly identical profiles: brown hair, in their twenties, sex workers, drug users and HIV-positive. All named Maria.
International investigation
Forensic specialists believed the murderer was a solitary figure who did not personally know the victims and intentionally left their faces intact.
In 1993, the FBI joined the case due to similarities with killings in 1988 in New Bedford, Massachusetts, home to a large Portuguese-American community.
Investigators theorised the killer had been active in the U.S. and later moved to Portugal. An arrest followed but no evidence held.
Under Portuguese law, the statute of limitations expired in 2008, meaning no one can now be prosecuted, even if they confess.
Similar murders recorded in the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Denmark and Belgium between 1993 and 1997 later fuelled speculation that the killer may have been a long-haul truck driver crossing Europe.
Sources: Portuguese Judicial Police statements; FBI involvement reports, Express
