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Serial Killer's Head in a...Jar?

Happy Halloween!

In honor of this spooky day I wanted to share a spoooky story that I learned about Portgual's first serial killer whose head is being stored in a jar.


Background

The premise of the story begins in Portugal in the 1800s with a man named Diogo Alves. Alves was born into a peasant family and sent off to Lisbon to find work. After finding a job in Lisbon as a servant for wealthy families, Alves's mother died causing him to go into a depression. The depression resulted in a drinking and gambling habit that resulted in him getting different jobs as a servant. Luckily for Alves he was able to fall in love with an innkeeper called Palhava Maria Gertrudes. But it turns out Ms. Gertrudes had expensive taste which required big money. Alves's love for Gertrude caused Alves to lead a life of crime where he would rob people.


Strategy

What's interesting was that Alves was smart when he robbed people. Instead of going after wealthy families or people that held a high status in society, he chose the peasants. After Alves would rob these peasants he would terminate them to prevent him from being caught. Alves's murdering strategy was to throw his victims off a 60 meter aqueduct that would kill the victims instantly when they hit the water. This strategy also meant that Alves did not have to worry about clean up since the water would carry the body away and wash away any evidence attached to Alves.


Result

After 4 years of robbing and murdering people, Alves was caught. The scientists chose to inspect his head to understand what would cause Alves to commit over 70 murders and his head is still "alive" in a jar that can be found in Portugal at Lisbon University.


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Information for this post was found at Medium.com by author Mehek Kapoor

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