“Brutal crime, with a lot of violence”, say friends of dentist killed in Salvador

The murder of dentist Lucas Maia de Oliveira, 36, shocked his closest friends. Not only because of the death, but because of the brutality with which the crime was committed. Lucas was found dead in his apartment in the Rio Vermelho neighborhood, in Salvador, last Saturday afternoon (25).

Friends reported that the victim’s house was found ransacked, with spices and coffee grounds scattered around. One of the acquaintances says that Lucas’s last credit card purchase indicated that he was going to have a sexual encounter. “He left the office, in Largo da Maré, and that was the last time the clinic staff had contact with him. He made a purchase on the card for condoms and energy drinks.”

Another friend of Lucas, who has known him for more than 15 years, since he was a teenager, reports that the information given by the police was that he and the suspect arrived at the building together. “The car’s tracking circuit shows that Lucas arrived home at around 6pm on Thursday. A friend of ours spoke to him at 5:30 pm.”

The police have not yet identified Lucas’ companion who appears in the images because he was wearing a hood, making recognition difficult.

The two friends who spoke to CNN report that the dentist used to send photos of the men he had relationships with to his friends, for security reasons. “Everything I’m seeing today was what I most feared would happen.”, says one of the friends.

brutal crime

The friend reports the brutality of the crime: “the degree of violence he was subjected to was very great. He had a broken hammer near his body. He was tied up and unrecognizable.” According to one of his friends, Lucas was found on the floor, between the bed and the wardrobe.

A group of people closest to the dentist traveled to Santo Antônio de Jesus, Lucas’ hometown, to visit the victim’s family. They were unable to arrive in time for the funeral, but made a point of continuing their journey to the interior of Bahia, around three hours from Salvador.

Lucas’s friend spoke to one of the victim’s sisters, who recognized the body, and recalls that she reported difficulties in recognizing it: “she couldn’t even identify the tattoo”.

The police entered the apartment with one of the members of the dentist’s friend group, who preferred not to give interviews. The friend, who spoke to CNN, reports that those who were present at the scene said that the body was unrecognizable.

Suspect

Security footage from the building’s elevator shows the main suspect leaving the scene of the crime. “We suspect a guy who stayed at his house from Saturday (18) to Tuesday (21). Of this man, he sent a single view photo. He stayed in Lucas’ apartment all these days because he had been kicked out of the house”, reveals one of the friends.

In the video, you can see a tattoo on the suspect’s left hand. “I suspect he may have used a pen to disguise it. A guy who comes in with a hood on without turning his face and leaves a tattoo that size on his hand?”, says one of the acquaintances. “My hope is that other images will show his face.”

Dentist’s dreams

According to his friend, Lucas was achieving his dreams, leading a comfortable life, with his own clinic and car. The dentist’s most recent conquest was the apartment in the luxury Celebration Garibaldi condominium, where the crime occurred.

“He just bought the apartment, he never took a friend there, he wanted to leave everything ready to welcome us. He had several plans, several things to live for. He wanted to earn money until he was 40 and then enjoy life”, recalls the friend.