Hélder Cavaco

**Hélder Alexandre Ferro Pagarim Cavaco** (July 13th, 1973) is a teenage boy who disappeared from the beach of São Torpes, Sines, Portugal. While Portuguese police considered the case to be that of a runaway, Hélder's family have always insisted that foul play was involved, as Hélder had no reason to run away.

## Case

Hélder left his home in Vila Nova de Santo André, at around 8:30 am on 28 January. As was typical of him on Sundays, he told his parents he was going to go surfing on São Torpes beach in Sines. He didn't bring any identification, money, food or a surfboard with him, as he had bought a new one from a friend in Sines, and was going to retrieve it later that day. Hélder often had to hitchhike as there was a distance of 16km between the locations.

The last person who saw Hélder was a a restaurant owner named José Francisco Palminha or "Mano Zé", who gave him a ride to a restaurant near the beach. However, he noted that the teenager was already several kilometers away from home when he first saw him. It is unknown if Hélder had hitchhiked before meeting "Mano Zé" or if it had any significance to the case. "Mano Zé" last saw Hélder sitting on rocks near the beach, waiting for his friend. Bruno Metrogos, one of Hélder's friends, was the first to arrive at the beach, between 1 pm to 1:30 pm. He claimed to see no one at the beach and stayed alone throughout that afternoon until the rest of Hélder's friends arrived between 4 pm to 4:30 pm. For whatever reason, the friend who was going to give Hélder his new surfboard never arrived. Days later, an eyewitness stated to have seen Hélder in the town of Vila Nova de Milfontes, around 22 km from his last known location. While police believed this to be a credible lead, no known further investigations were made.

Hélder's family have expressed indignation at how Hélder's case was treated, accusing the police of not caring because they were "nobodies" and botching the investigation multiple times. Hélder's Mother, Antónia Ferro, began to seriously worry about her son around 7 pm, and Hélder's father, Manuel Cavaco, searched around the São Torpes beach multiple times, however they did not immediately file a Missing Person's report. After that, they interrogated the restaurant owner where Hélder was last seen, who claimed to not have seen him. When they did file a report, the local police (GNR) was dismissive of their concerns. The policeman asked "Does Hélder have any money?", and when met with "No", the policeman jokingly said "Well, he has a lot of money now. Your son robbed a local coffee shop and stole money and drinks. He's probably somewhere passed out drunk. Go look for him". That night, there had been a local robbery and teenagers had stolen food and drinks from that coffee shop. While the police suspected Hélder was involved, his family protested and eventually it was found that Hélder had no involvement in the robbery.
Hélder's mother didn't report Hélder's disappearance to "Polícia Judiciária" (a police branch that tends to deal with more high profile and national cases) until 8 days after his disappearance, as she had been misled by GNR officials into believing that his case could only be reported 8 days after. In truth, at that time it was standard procedure to report someone missing after 24 hours. The policemen continued to be dismissive, with one stating that "Ah, well if you guys are so worried, then let's go file his case in the Public Prosecution Service". While GNR officials claimed to have filed the paperwork to "Polícia Judiciária", the "Polícia Judiciária" arrived 15 days after Hélder's disappearance, and claimed to received no paperwork regarding the missing teenager.

No large-scale search was made by Portuguese police, and it was instead Hélder's family who searched all over mainland Portugal and parts of Spain in hopes of finding their missing son. The few leads that appeared over the years regarding Hélder's whereabouts were also only investigated by Hélder's family. They have dismissed the notion that Hélder might have run away from home, as he had no familial or personal troubles and was not the type of person to drop everything and runaway with only a backpack. They've also dismissed the possibility of an accident happening while at sea. Hélder practiced both BMX and Surfing, and was well aware of the dangers and risks associated with the activities he practiced. Elda Cavaco, Hélder's younger sister, believes foul play was involved. Portugal's coastal areas were, and still are to a lesser degree, areas with high illegal activity, from drug trade to contraband. Elsa believes that, in that Sunday morning, Hélder saw something he wasn't supposed to see, and that resulted in his disappearance and possible death.

Additionally, Hélder's family received atleast two phone calls of an unknown individual who said nothing and did nothing besides heavy breathing. It's unknown if this person was related to Hélder's disappearance or was just a prank call.

## Characteristics

* Brown curly hair.
* Brown eyes.
* Tanned skin.
* A distinctive scar under his right eye.

## Clothing

* Blue jeans.
* Blue windbreaker.
* Blue backpack with red and yellow stripes.

## Sources

* Policia Judiciaria (Portuguese)
* Hélder Cavaco at the *Doe Network*
* RTP Archives:
	+ Video #1
	+ Video #2
* *CM Jornal*