Why is Portugal’s First Serial Killer’s Head Preserved in a Glass Jar?
The serial killer beheaded for his crimes now lives in the anatomical theater at the University of Lisbon.
Diogo Alves, also known as the Aqueduct Killer, is famous for being the first serial killer of Portugal. He had killed more than 70 people on the city’s aqueduct. Later on, Alves had formed a gang of murderers with whom he would rob the elite people of the city. After he was caught and beheaded by the police as punishment, his head was separated from his body. Now, it rests in a glass jar filled with a formaldehyde solution.
How Did He Get into a Life of Crime?
Like every murderer, Alves wasn’t a born murderer. He was an ordinary boy, born in Galicia, Spain, into a low-income family in 1810. At the age of 19, Alves was sent to Lisbon to work as a servant for an upper-class family. He had a nickname, ‘Pancada’ meaning ‘blow’ because he fell from the horse and hit his head when he was a little boy.
By 1836, Alves had shifted a lot of jobs and had distanced himself from his parents. After the death of his mother in 1836, heartbroken and upset, Alves got involved in drinking and gambling when he met the beautiful Maria Gertrudes in Palhava. She was a…
