Cabo Costa: The serial killer who wanted sex He was a respected member of the community of Santa Comba Dão, a perverted murderer.
Sexual rejection was an excuse.
By Carlos Anjos | 22.03.15
Cabo António Costa, married and with children, ended up sentenced to 25 years
António Costa was a GNR military man in the reserve. Known man in Santa Comba Dão, where he resided in a house in Cabecinha de Rei. Person well seen socially, by his profession and by the activities of social, associative and religious character in which he was involved. But the unthinkable happened.
THE FIRST VICTIM Isabel Cristina de Sousa Isidoro, born on January 12, 1988, was killed when she was 17 years old.
On May 24, 2005, around 12.00, António Costa drove his car near his house when he saw Isabel Cristina. He stopped the car and started talking to the girl and offered her a ride home. The young woman accepted and entered the car of António Costa.
... ... ... ... Isabel Cristina told him that she would file a complaint with the GNR for violation.
Antonio Costa, irritated by the threat, shouted at the young woman. During the discussion, Isabel attacked, giving her a push that projected her against one of the interior panels of the car, where it struck violently with the head. The force of the clash was such that Isabel immediately began bleeding from her head and frothing her mouth. Instead of helping the girl, António Costa decided to stifle her, leaving her only when he thought she was dead.
He then decided to get rid of the body. Knowing well the area of Figueira da Foz, where he had a vacation apartment, he decided to take the body there and throw it into the sea.
He closed Isabel's body in the trunk of the car and went to Figueira da Foz.
Before, he stopped at his house, where he found sacks of litter and nylon. Already in Figueira, he went to the cable of the Mondego and stopped the car. He opened the suitcase and placed Isabel's body in the sacks he carried from his house, tying them with the nylon cord. He placed a piece of a cement beam in the sack that he found on the sack, so that the sack immediately sank. He then carried the sack to the top of the cliff, from which he threw it into the sea, with the certainty that Isabel was dead and convinced that the body would no longer be found.
Which was not true. According to the autopsy report, among other injuries, the presence of foreign material was detected in the deep airways, a result of the entry of water into the airways, because Isabel was still breathing how much she fell in the sea. The cause of death turned out to be suffocation from drowning. After his body had been dislodged, the defendant returned to his residence, Isabel's corpse eventually hit the coast on May 31. He was found by a fisherman near Cabedelo beach, in Figueira da Foz. The corpse was still inside the sack.
THE SECOND VICTIM Mariana Gonçalves Lourenço, born on April 29, 1987, was killed at age 18.
On October 14, 2005, around 11:00 AM, António Costa was in the backyard of his house when he saw Mariana on the street and talked to her.
The young woman, as she had known him for a long time, had no problem talking to her neighbor.
Costa invited her to accompany him to a contiguous site, where a shed existed, telling him that he wanted to show her something.
They walked a few yards on foot, still on the main road, and took a dirt road that gave access to the place where it would be what he said he wanted to show.
Arrived at the scene, Costa made Mariana enter the shed and inside the space revealed his intention.
I told her that she was very pretty and came forward to kiss her. Surprised, Mariana rejected him, pushed him away, preventing him from kissing her.
She shouted and called him names and told him she was going to tell her parents and then the GNR.
Antonio Costa reacted, gripping her tightly, in order to manoeuvre her and manage to kiss her, as he intended.
As Mariana continued to quarrel, he, irritated by her rejection, passed his right arm around Mariana's neck, making her tie and suffocating her. He held the pressure until she stopped breathing.
António Costa caused the young woman's death.
After taking her life, he found himself obliged to dispose of her body to hide the crime.
It was your house to get the car. He returned to the scene with sackcloth bags and nylon thread to bag, tie, and carry the girl's body.
This time, he decided he would shoot him into the Coiço dam at Penacova. He threw her body into fresh water because he believed the chances of her appearing were minor.
António Costa drove the car to the IP3, heading towards Coimbra. He stopped the car at the confluence of the Mortágua stream with the Mondego river, below the IP3 bridge. This was the place chosen to have deep water. The body of the young woman remained submerged until June 1, 2006, when parts of the corpse appeared next to the grate of the entrance of the tunnel of access of water to the turbines of the mini-hydro of the zone.
Mariana's body was already in an advanced state of decomposition, when an employee operating a claw-type cleaning machine brought it to the surface by picking it up 14 meters deep.
THE THIRD VICTIM Joana Margarida Marques de Oliveira, born on December 28, 1988, was killed when she was 17 years old. António Costa was Joan's neighbor. Her family knew him and cherished him.
In February 2006, Costa asked the young woman's opinion about a certain detail of her garden. Joana agreed to help him. On May 8, 2006, the girl left school about 12.00 p.m., walking home as usual.
The road to the house passed by the residence of Antonio Costa, who was alone at home that day, since the woman was at her place of work - the village high school. When he saw the young woman pass by, he engaged in conversation. Just as he had done with Mariana, he invited Joana to accompany him to the aforementioned shed-he had to show her something. Joana Marques de Oliveira accompanied him to the place.
As had happened with Mariana, they followed the main road on foot, after which they took the dirt road, which gave access to the said shed. This time, António Costa did not wait to enter the shed. Still on the beaten path, he threw himself at Joan, begging her for a kiss. The young woman refused and, outraged, told him that he had a court of law, that he was married, that he was her neighbor, friend of his parents and that he must be crazy. I told him I would tell him everything. António Costa was not moved by Joana's reaction and tried to seize her. The girl tossed the school bag into his face. Once again, she had difficulty coping with the rejection, and in the face of her refusal, she grabbed her hard to maneuver her. Joan did not give up and continued to struggle.
As he did not get his way again, he wrapped his arms around her neck, just as he had already done with Isabel and Mariana, squeezed him tightly until she choked, taking his life. But Joana struggled and scratched her right arm. The girl's glasses fell to the floor and broke. They came later to be found on the spot by PJ inspectors. António Costa went to the house to get the car and two sacks of litter and nylon yarn. He took Joan's corpse and placed it in the trunk of the car, and this time left several traces of blood in the trunk of the car, which were later identified as belonging to Joan. He went back to the Coiço dam. He put his body in the two sacks, tied them with the nylon cord in his body, and put stones to make weight, and threw his body into the water of the dam. Joana's body remained submerged until June 24, when, following the search to rescue the corpse - they had emptied the dam at about four meters high - it was found in a zone near the place where the murderer had thrown him. The investigations carried out by the PJ focused on his residence in Cabecinha de Rei, Santa Comba Dão, his apartment in Tavarede, in Figueira da Foz, and the vehicle, where blood was found in the luggage compartment, identified as Joana's. On June 22, António Costa confessed to PJ that he was responsible for the death of the three girls, as well as for the fate of their bodies. Also before the examining magistrate, he confessed to all the crimes, the detailed form as he acted, and he was the one who indicated the exact location where the crimes occurred. He also mentioned the place where the bodies had been disposed of, as well as the routes he had used, and had actively collaborated in the reconstruction of the facts. He later reconsidered, which is why he changed his strategy and went on to declare himself innocent. But it was late, very late. The evidence was collected and António Costa was sentenced in a trial to 25 years in prison.
This case refers us to the analysis of the psychic dimension: how to explain that a man who for 50 years has had a normal life, a successful professional career, well integrated socially, has become a killing machine overnight ?
What has happened in the head of Corporal António Costa?
From the facts, it turns out that, after the first murder, the situation was purely and simply uncontrollable and that Antonio Costa liked the pleasure of taking one's life.
This is the only way to explain the subsequent behaviour, with the aggravating fact that the victims are all people who lived close to them, and therefore their relationships.
The question that remains is what would have happened if this man had not been detained. Had he stopped killing, or would he continue to commit such a crime until he could be identified and detained a day later?
I sincerely believe that if the PJ has not stopped him, Antonio Costa had returned to kill.
http://www.cmjornal.pt/mais-cm/domingo/detalhe/cabo_costa_o_serial_killer_que_queria_sexoSceptics seem to have difficulty with the fact that in common with every other country in the world Portugal is not quite the idyll they wish to portray.
There has been denial that burglaries occur; there has been denial that home invasions involving assaults on British girls happened.
I had never heard of Costa prior to recently catching up on old Portuguese newspaper reports: I found it an interesting read when bearing in mind the cases with which I am familiar.
