Ana Ribeiro...............found dead

Ana Ribeiro...............found dead


here are few clues to explain the disappearance of Ana

All the possibilities are on the table, but the PJ insists that the investigation is far from stopping

The Polícia Judiciária remains without clues that allow to understand what happened to Ana Ribeiro, the teenager from Gaia who disappeared from home ten days ago and has not given a sign of life until now. The investigation is on the terrain, but so far neither the testimonies that have been collected so far, nor the data that has been obtained on the ground are clarifying.

“We have no clear elements that indicate whether we are looking at a crime or at a suicide. This means that so far, there are no certainties”, a PJ source that has been following the case closely has referred to 24Horas.

Ana, aged 14, left home on the 28th of September, a Sunday. She said goodbye to her mother as usual, but she sent messages to some of her friends telling them that she was going to commit suicide on the Infante Bridge. But so far there is no indicia to sustain that Ana actually killed herself. Searches have been carried out in the Douro river and her body was not found by the divers.

The Judiciária has a team of ten agents on the terrain “who are working around the clock without a day off”. Several questionings were carried out with persons that are close to Ana, relatives and friends, which have resulted in very little. “It did not clarify much”, the same source referred.

The PJ has already analysed the leads that appeared shortly after Ana’s disappearance, namely the possibility that the young girl was seen at the railway station of Campanhã, in Porto, and at a petrol station. “From the video images, there is nothing to suggest that it was her.”

They usually return home

The mysterious case of Ana is being followed by the Portuguese Association for Missing Children (APCD), which supplied all the help that was needed by the girl’s relatives.

Paulo Pereira Cristóvão, the president of the Association, told 24Horas yesterday that the situation is delicate, although he remains hopeful of a positive outcome. “Although under this kind of circumstances there are no infallible receipts, a major part of the missing adolescents end up returning home”, he referred, based on his experience with the PJ. For the former policeman, one thing is certain: “We cannot give up transmitting all the available information about Ana”. Any information can be communicated through the number (+351) 963 168 198.

Mother receives help

Devastated but with an endless hope in the return of Ana. Elisabete Ribeiro, the teenager’s mother, has not rested for a second and has made all the efforts in order to help for the case to turn out positively. The days go by and the lack of news is an increasing source of anguish for Elisabete, who can count on help from the Portuguese Association for Missing Children. “We have provided the mother with psychological support”, Paulo Pereira Cristóvão, the president of the Association, told 24Horas.

Elisabete Ribeiro prefers not to comment at the moment, stressing her full confidence in the work that is being developed by the Polícia Judiciária on the terrain.

“The PJ continues to do a very good job”, Elisabete Ribeiro assured our newspaper yesterday.


source: 24Horas, 08.10.2008
By Astro

Ana Ribeiro, the 14-year-old girl that had been missing from her mother’s house for two weeks, was found dead in the Douro River yesterday afternoon, near the fishing village of Afurada, in Gaia.

The Polícia Judiciária still investigates the cause of death, but according to a source at the PJ in Oporto, everything points towards a suicide that is related to a love problem.

The teenager’s cadaver was examined by inspectors from the Judiciária on the left bank of the Douro River, and the body was then removed to the National Institute for Forensics Medicine, where it will undergo an autopsy today.

The girl’s mother, Elisabete Ribeiro, confirmed the tragic discovery to 24Horas, excusing herself from any further comment. “The corpse has appeared, there is nothing that can be done”, she said.

The PJ in Oporto involved the Regional Department for Combat against Heavy Crime in the investigations into the case, but as days went by, all leads were eliminated. There were even persons that stated they saw Ana Ribeiro in more than one location, in the surroundings of Oporto, but nothing was confirmed.

It was the worst possible outcome for the wearing campaign to find her daughter, which Elisabete started on the 28th of September. On that day, a Sunday, Ana sent mobile phone messages to her friends, telling them that she was going to commit suicide, the hypothesis that the PJ consolidated as they advanced with the case investigation.

On the day that she disappeared, Ana had warned that she was going to throw herself into the Douro River from the Infante Bridge, due to a love sorrow, but her mother always believed that the daughter was alive. She was hopeful that Ana had only ran away from home, admitting that she might return to her home in Vila Nova de Gaia at any moment.

Meanwhile, the PJ in Oporto recommends that whenever there is a case of this type, they should be immediately alerted, for which the following email address can be used: desaparecidos.porto@pj.pt.


source: 24Horas, 14.10.2008