Story By: Alex Cope, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

This Brazilian woman who eloped to Portugal with her cousin has been found dead with her body stuffed in a suitcase.

The body of Camila da Silva Mendes, 30, was found in a suitcase in an area of forest in the Arruda dos Vinhos area in the Lisbon district of Portugal some 40 kilometres from the capital after she moved from her native Brazil with her boyfriend- who is also her first cousin – Robson Claudio Mandela, 38.

The victim’s body was reportedly found in a suitcase and the Judiciary Police have confirmed that she was killed with a lethal blow from a knife. The authorities stated that the killer stuffed the body into the suitcase after Mendes died before abandoning it in a nearby area of forest. The suitcase was found by local residents who then called the police.

Her boyfriend was arrested hours after the body was discovered and local media report he is suspected of killing her as a “crime of passion”.

The victim’s brother Werleis Silva told reporters: “The crime occurred in the house where they were living. He tried to hide the body in a suitcase that he had bought with the victim’s money. We received information that the police managed to arrest him hours later.”

The victim’s family told reporters that the suspect, the victim’s cousin, had been living in Portugal for 14 years and working in civil construction before moving back to Brazil earlier this year.

He and the victim then reportedly struck up a relationship, to the surprise of their family, and they moved to Portugal together a little under two months ago.

The suspect remains in detention but it is unclear if he has been charged.

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