Diogo Alves

Diogo Alves
Born	1810 Galicia, Spain
Died	19 February 1841 Lisbon, Portugal
Cause of death	Hanging
Other names	O assassino do Aqueduto das Águas Livres, O Pancadas
Criminal penalty	Death
Conviction(s)	Murder
Killings
Victims	70+
Span of killings	1836–1840
Country	Portugal
Date apprehended	1840

Diogo Alves (1810 – 19 February 1841), also known as "O assassino do Aqueduto das Águas Livres" ("The Assassin of Águas Livres Aqueduct"), was a Spanish serial killer and robber who was suspected of killing over 70 people in Portugal from 1836 to 1840.

Biography

Diogo Alves was born in Galicia, Spain in 1810. He moved to Portugal at an early age.

Starting in 1836, Alves would throw his victims off the Águas Livres Aqueduct after robbing them, simulating a suicide. Alves had obtained a false key to the aqueduct and it was only found out to be the work of a criminal after a family of four was killed. The aqueduct was then temporarily closed. Alves had also started a gang by this time. He had a female companion, Gertrudes Maria, throughout some of the crimes. He was caught after murdering a doctor and his family during a robbery in 1840. Alves was sentenced to death and hanged on 19 February 1841 in Lisbon. He was suspected of killing over 70 people. After his death, his head was kept in a jar of Formaldehyde at the Escola Médico-Cirúrgica de Lisboa to later study the mind of a criminal and it is still intact today at the Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa. A Portuguese film, Os Crimes de Diogo Alves, was made in 1911 about his crimes.

External links

• 1911 film
• Internet Movie Database
• Romanticized biography