Portuguese Mariana Fonseca was arrested in Jakarta, Indonesia, after several years on the run. The arrest was recorded on video and released by local authorities, showing the moment the woman was approached and taken away by security forces.
According to a statement from Indonesian authorities, the Portuguese citizen was located and detained on Thursday under an Interpol red notice. The woman is wanted by Portuguese justice for a homicide that occurred in the Algarve in 2020.
Currently 29 years old, Mariana Fonseca is in a detention center in Jakarta, and is scheduled to be deported to Portugal on March 9, 2026, to serve the prison sentence imposed by the Portuguese courts.
Mariana Fonseca was detained by Interpol in Indonesia. The former nurse was on the run to avoid a 23-year sentence for the murder of a computer scientist.
Found working in a restaurant, the convict is now awaiting extradition to Portugal.
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The Judiciary Police also confirmed the arrest, explaining that the suspect’s location resulted from an operation carried out in close collaboration with the national Interpol office. Portuguese authorities are now dealing with the legal procedures for extradition.
The case dates back to March 2020, when young computer engineer Diogo Gonçalves was killed in Algoz, in the municipality of Silves. In court, it was proven that Mariana Fonseca and her then-girlfriend, Maria Malveiro, planned the crime with the aim of getting hold of compensation of around R$70,000 that the victim had received after her mother’s death.
According to the investigation, the young man was sedated with diazepam mixed in a drink and later asphyxiated. The body was transported by car and ended up dismembered in a garage in Lagos.
Initially, the Portimão Court had acquitted Mariana Fonseca of the murder charge, condemning her only for concealing a corpse. However, in 2023, the Court of Appeal of Évora changed the decision and applied the maximum sentence, later reduced to 23 years in prison by the Constitutional Court.
With the arrest now confirmed in Indonesia, the process moves to the extradition phase, which will allow the convict to be transferred to Portugal to serve her sentence.
