Hot-on-the-heels of the quadruple shooting and double murder that had police hunting a violent killer dubbed “Toothpick” (Palito) for 32 days, there is now a new killer on the loose – a 40-year-old shepherd named as Ismael Vicente.
According to reports on Friday, Vicente is thought to have skipped the country after brutally stabbing two women – one of whom died almost immediately – in the district of Bragança, in the north of Portugal. The second victim is still in a serious condition in hospital.
Vicente is believed to have stabbed the women as a result of disagreements over his use of a shed for his animals.
According to reports, Idalina Trigo, 41, had recently bought the shed and the pair were disputing its future.
Their differences came to a head, suddenly and unexpectedly, during a “festa” (street party) in the mountain village of Vilarinho da Castanheira, where Vicente is understood to have poured beer over Idalina and her sister-in-law Celeste, 52.
The two women thus left the festa, in the company of Idalina’s husband and young daughter, but Vicente caught up with them outside their house, and stabbed both women before running off into the night. Idalina died at the scene and Celeste was rushed to the hospital.
Since that moment, he has not been seen – and police are now working on the theory that he may have crossed the nearby border into Spain where he has relatives.
As media reports explain, “investigators want, at all costs, to avoid a repetition of the ‘Toothpick’ case” where an elderly man was seen to run rings round police officers for over a month before finally being arrested.
According to Correio da Manhã, INTERPOL is being brought in to speed up the detention of the shepherd who locals describe as “a quiet man who didn’t cause trouble”.
