Dismembered family found in Spain came from Brazilian state of Paraiba

The Brazilian Foreign Ministry has confirmed to local media that a family found hacked to pieces inside a house in central Spain hailed from Brazil.

The two adults, both aged 39, were from the northeastern state of Paraiba, according to online newspaper Globo.com. Two small children aged five and one were also found dead inside the detached home in Pioz, in the Spanish province of Guadalajara.

They have decimated an entire family

Relative of the alleged victims

The adult victims were named as Marcos Nogueira and Janaína Americo.

The Brazilian consulate in Madrid has not yet confirmed this information, and attributed the reports to “informal sources.”

According to Consul General Paulo Alberto Dasilveira Soares, the Spanish Civil Guard has yet to confirm the victims’ identity. “They have asked us to wait a few days,” he said.

The corpses were found inside plastic bags last weekend. Investigators believe the victims had been dead for at least a month.

“They have decimated an entire family,” a relative told Brazilian journalists. According to Globo.com, which was contacted by family members, the dead couple came from the city of Joao Pessoa, the capital of Paraiba. They arrived in Spain three years ago “in search of jobs,” and he had reportedly found one managing a restaurant.

But investigators suspect that the pair were caught up in a drug dispute, and that the killing was a professional job.

According to sources familiar with the case, the house where the bodies were found was rented out “two months ago or so.” It was barely furnished, leading police detectives to believe that the family was in hiding, or running away from someone. Local residents had hardly ever seen them, and did not realize they were missing until the stench coming from the house prompted them to call the police.

The Facebook wall of the dead woman shows a collection of photographs of a little girl and a little boy smiling with their parents. The last post is dated June 2, when the mother posted a picture of her young son.

English version by Susana Urra.