The mother of Rodrigo Lapa, the 15-year-old who has been missing from his home in Malheiro, Portimão since last Monday morning (February 22), has said she fears that “something bad happened to him”.
“He’s a very smart boy, he wouldn’t just go into a car with anyone,” Célia Barreto told TVI.
Rodrigo was last seen leaving home at 7am on Monday to catch the bus to his school in Estômbar, where he never showed up.
His mother, however, only knew he had disappeared when Rodrigo didn’t return home as usual at 6.30pm that evening.
As she claims not to have noticed any changes in his behaviour, Célia Barreto fears her son’s disappearance wasn’t voluntary.
“If he’s done something he shouldn’t have, I want him to think about his sister who loves him very much and is very small, and his mother who misses him very much and only wants him to come home,” she told reporters as she struggled to hold back tears.
Célia Barreto has been distributing missing posters throughout Portimão while the news of Rodrigo’s disappearance has been widely shared on social networks.
The only mention of Rodrigo’s father has come in a message shared on Facebook in which states he is “very worried” about his son – but so far there’s no information on whether he also lives in Portimão or indeed whether he is in regular contact with Rodrigo.
PJ criminal police are investigating.
Anyone with any information about Rodrigo – particularly if they may have seen him on Monday, should get in touch with police.
PJ Portimão (282 405 400) | PSP Portimão (282 417 717) | GNR Portimão (282 420 750) | GNR Lagoa (282 380 190).
