Valentina Fonseca

**Valentina Fonseca** (January 1, 2011 - May 10, 2020) was Portuguese girl.

## Death

### Disappearance

On the night of Wednesday, May 6, the family went to bed around 11:00 pm . A few hours later, at 1:30 am, the father stopped by his daughter's room to tuck her blankets in. That was the last time he saw Valentina.

It was also at this time that a neighbor saw a red van parked on the street near the child's house. The vehicle made this woman suspicious, as it did not belong to any of the neighbors.

On this night, the child's stepmother had forgotten to lock the door of the house.

At 8am on Thursday, May 7, the father missed Valentina when he went to wake her up. At 8:30am, he went to the GNR station in Peniche to report her missing.

The search for Valentina began on Thursday. Teams from the GNR and the Peniche volunteer firemen started by searching the whole area, with the help of five tracking dogs. Without any sign of Valentina, the search continued.

On Friday, May 8, the means were reinforced and drones with heat sensors were also used to help discover the whereabouts of the little girl.

The search perimeter was being extended to both the beach area, which is about six kilometers from the house, and the São Domingos dam, located two kilometers from the area where the girl disappeared.

The third day of disappearance, this Saturday, the popular joined the search. They divided themselves into groups and went all over the area, under the guidance of the authorities.

The surrounding terrain has several dangers. Not only the beach and the dam, but also several wells, some of them without protection. Also several abandoned houses nearby were searched. Some people came even from far away to help.

Also on Saturday, the third day of the search, one of the people found children's clothes in a vacant lot and handed them over to the authorities. These clothes were discarded after the parents did not recognize them. Earlier in the evening another child's coat was found during the search. GNR tries to understand if there is a connection with the missing girl

### Discovery

The body was found late Sunday morning, May 10, after several days of searching.

### Abuse and Death

On May 1, the father, 33 years old, born in Caldas das Rainha, confronted his daughter with the "circumstance of having come to his knowledge that she had had sexual contacts with schoolmates".

In the presence of his wife, 39 years old and from Peniche, he threatened Valentina with a wooden spoon, which he later used to beat her when the minor admitted the facts.

Five days later, the defendant decided to confront the child again with the same facts, beating her again, says the Public Ministry, noting that then put the daughter in the bathtub, hitting her with boiling water, always in the presence of the defendant, so that the child spoke.

The father continued the assaults, despite "the screams and pleas" of the daughter, who was also hit with a "very hard blow to the head" that caused her "internal bleeding.

This blow caused the child to fall into the bathtub, from where she was removed "fainting and convulsing", but was still slapped by her father.

Already inanimate, the child remained lying on the couch, without the defendants called for help, says the MP, explaining that the eldest son of the defendant realized the situation, but was sent to the room.

On the same day, 06 May, the couple left home and went to the laundry, leaving the minor "inanimate and agonizing" on the couch, and, "around mid-afternoon", found that the child had died, "formulating then the purpose of hiding the corpse of the same and cover up their acts".