“I killed mom and dad” and the police discover he is wanted

The stabbings to his mother and father. Then he fled from Vizela, in northern Portugal, to Milan, where he ended up in hospital and spoke with psychiatrists at the Niguarda Hospital. It was during a conversation, amidst disjointed sentences and disorganized thoughts, that Luis Carlos Henriques Ferreira, 29, "confessed" to killing his parents.

A (fortunately) partial truth. Luis Carlos Henriques Ferreira, 29, believed he had killed his parents. In reality, he had "only" wounded them. He was, however, arrested on the afternoon of Tuesday, August 5th, following a European arrest warrant issued by Portuguese authorities and executed by the police. The incident was first reported in the columns of La Repubblica Milano.

The confession at Niguarda

The 29-year-old's confession came on the evening of Wednesday, July 23. During his interview with psychiatrists, Henriques Ferreira said he had killed his parents. It was a statement that raised alarm bells. Officers from the Greco-Turro police station arrived on the scene, interviewed the doctors and recorded everything in the minutes. They then contacted the Portuguese authorities and discovered what actually happened.

The attack and the escape

The story was true, even if the truth was different: on June 27, almost a month earlier, the 29-year-old had stabbed his parents (aged 54 and 56) in their apartment in Portugal, seriously injuring them. He then disappeared without a trace.

On July 9th, already in Milan, he was intercepted and taken to the Fatebenefratelli Hospital. He told doctors he had come to Italy for work and spoke of alleged abuse in his family, but made no reference to the attack. At that time, there was no evidence to suggest what had happened weeks earlier.

The arrest and the future

The truth emerged after an exchange of information between the police and Portuguese authorities. Lisbon issued a European arrest warrant on July 25. Once it was extended to all of Europe, on August 5, Italian law enforcement confirmed that Henriques Ferreira was still hospitalized at Niguarda Hospital.

He was subsequently arrested on charges of attempted aggravated murder and intentional bodily harm. The extradition decision now rests with the Court of Appeal.