This was the story of a shooting in the United States, apparently one more of the hundreds that take place each year in the country, and of the isolated murder of a Portuguese citizen, also apparently a common crime. But now it’s the story of a plot twist unexpected that has intertwined the two cases and promises to bring a tail.
This morning, the Boston prosecutor’s office has assured that the Portuguese Claudio Neves-Valente murdered Professor Nuno FG Loureiro, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), two days after committing the crime, in Providence (Rhode Island), although the motives for the crimes are unknown. Same author of both attacks.
During a press conference, prosecutor Leah Foley indicated that authorities had probable cause to charge Neves-Valente for the deaths of the two Brown University students and the Portuguese professor, although the suspect was found dead this Thursday in a warehouse. According to Foley, evidence linking the suspect to both crimes includes credit card and car rental records.
The prosecutor added that Neves-Valente attended the same academic program in Portugal as Loureiro, and is believed to have known the professor personally, although she did not offer further details about the connection.
“Very sophisticated”
The investigation indicates that the suspect was “very sophisticated” in avoiding the authorities, since he used a system to exchange telephone numbers, license plates and credit cards without his name to try to cover his tracks.
Authorities ruled out the existence of another suspect in the shooting or the professor’s homicide, but confirmed that Neves-Valente’s motivations have not yet been established.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said Neves-Valente initially entered the United States on a student visa and obtained lawful permanent resident status in 2017.
The supposed atomic connection
Things are complicated because, as revealed by the Israeli newspaper Tel Aviv authorities are examining whether the scientist’s death was an Iranian operation. They are analyzing data collected by the secret services in recent days to look for a possible connection in Tehran with Loureiro’s murder, he says.
However, the information clarifies that this Israeli investigation is not based, for the moment, on any official data from the investigation by the US authorities.
He Post He also states that the Tel Aviv research is being carried out against the backdrop of Nuno Loureiro’s sensitive research area, considered , and also because the scientist had already spoken out openly in support of Israel. Parallel to the official investigation, speculation has circulated on social media and in some media outlets in recent days that the murder was motivated by the scientist’s political or ideological affiliations, or even by security reasons.
The profile
Nuno Loureiro joined MIT in 2016 and was appointed last year to direct the MIT Plasma and Fusion Sciences Center, one of the institution’s largest laboratories, which had more than 250 people working in seven buildings when he took over. He is married and grew up in Viseu, in central Portugal. He studied in Lisbon before receiving his doctorate in London. He was a researcher at a nuclear fusion institute in the Portuguese capital before coming to MIT, reports .
He has been awarded three major research awards: the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (received this year), the Thomas H. Stix Award from the American Physical Society, and the NSF Career Award.
MIT President Sally Kornbluth said in a statement that the murder was a “shocking loss.” The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, also issued a statement of condolences, describing Loureiro’s death as “an irreparable loss for science and for all those with whom he worked and socialized.”
