One long-running murder investgation that may be close to a conclusion is that of Bruna Nunes, bludgeoned to death in 2014 at the age of 16.
Locals suspected her Romanian step-father, Mikhail Rasvan Oprea, who fled Portugal, but a wall of silence did not help police who seemed disinterested in tracking him down, until now.
The lone suspect in this murder case, named in a European Arrest Warrant, was arrested in Romania on January 17th and now is under lock and key in the Algarve where he will stay until his trial.
The 35-year-old man was identified in 2016 by Romanian police who kept him under surveillance while legal steps were taken to obtain his arrest and extradition.
According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, "there are suspicions that the defendant kidnapped and killed his partner's daughter by a blow to her head."
Mikhail Rasvan Oprea also is suspected of hiding the body and trying to erase traces of the crime.
Bruna Nunes was reported missing on December 11th 2014 on the way back from school in Lagos. She never made it home, where she lived with her mother and stepfather, in Aldeia Nova, about a kilometer from Aljezur.
Four days later, Bruna Nunes’ body was discovered in scrubland near her house. The body was tied and there were signs of a sexual assault.
The autopsy determined that the cause of death was 'laceration of the brain with fractured skull’ - medical speak for 'being hit in the head with an axe.'
The day before the girl's body was found, her stepfather disappeared and most locals assumed that he had driven back to Romania as the family car was gone.
After the European Arrest Warrant was issued, Mikhail Rasvan Oprea was picked up by Romanin police and shipped back to the Algarve where the investigation is being concluded by the Judicial Police.
