The Lisbon Ripper Portuguese : O Estripador de Lisboa was an unidentified serial killer who, between and murdered three prostitutes in Lisbon , Portugal. She had been strangled, disemboweled, and some of her internal organs had been removed. The second victim, year-old Maria Fernanda, was found on January 27, , in a large cabin in Entrecampos , Lisbon, by railway construction workers who were working at a nearby railway bridge.
She was also disemboweled, and some internal organs had been removed. She was found on March 15, , near the location of the first victim of whom she was a friend. Like the previous victims, she was disemboweled, but this time almost all her organs were removed.
All the victims were young brunettes named Maria, allegedly prostitutes and drug addicts , and were disemboweled with a sharp object that was not a knife, possibly a scalpel. When the Prevention Service of Homicide Department received a call about the first murder, members of the Judiciary Police who arrived at the scene were shocked at the brutality of Maria Valentina's murder.
The corpse was then given to expert medical examiner Jose Sombreirero, who claimed to have never seen such a thing in 40, autopsies and 30 years of experience. In the subsequent investigation, it was revealed that the victim was either a prostitute or drug addict, known from childhood as "Tina". Throughout , numerous telephone calls and anonymous letters were received about the murder.
Each was investigated but all lacked solid evidence. On January 27 of the following year, the Ripper attacked again, this time killing Maria Fernanda, whose body was found by railway workers. An entire police brigade was mobilized, but nobody doubted that the perpetrator was the same: the body had been shredded, with the same organs removed and near the same area.
