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Man Found Dead, Castrated In Times Square Hotel Room
By
Jen Chung
Published Jan 8, 2011
Modified Jan 8, 2011
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By
Jen Chung
Published Jan 8, 2011
Modified Jan 8, 2011
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Last night, police found the beaten and castrated naked body of a 65-year-old Portuguese journalist in a room at the Intercontinental Hotel in Times Square. According to the Daily News, "The naked body of Carlos Castro, 65, was found lying face-up in a pool of blood inside his 34th-floor room" at 7 p.m. and police named his 20-year-old companion, model Renato Seabra, a person of interest. Cops eventually found Seabra at Bellevue Hospital.
Police sources told the Post that Castro's "head had been bashed in and, in a gruesome act of depravity, his testicles had been sliced off -- possibly with a broken wine glass." Castro and Seabra had checked into the hotel on December 29 and were supposed to check out yesterday. They had lunch with a female friend of Castro's yesterday (she noticed the men seemed to have had an argument), but when she couldn't get in touch with Castro, she went to the hotel. From the Daily News:
Not knowing what room her pal was in, the New Jersey woman went to the front desk.
Suddenly, the tall, chiseled Seabra came through the lobby, recognized the worried woman and told her Castro "was not coming out of his room," a source said.
That's when she lost her cool.
"She was going off in the lobby," said witness Anthony Hughes, 43, who is visiting from New Castle, Australia.
"She was screaming hysterically," Hughes said.
"The hotel security did nothing except quickly push her out the door."
After that, Castro's body was discovered. The News' sources say that Castro may have been castrated with a knife and bludgeoned with a piece of furniture while the Post's sources suggest that shards of a wine glass were used for the castration and that a "bloody laptop" might have been used to beat him. Seabra apparently has injuries of his own.
Hotel guests were in shock. One told the News, "I can't believe it. New York City was supposed to be where you could go anywhere and be safe," while another told the Post, "I'm frightened, I'm going to be crawling in my sleep."
Tagged
beating
carlos castro
castration
INtercontinental Times Square
murder
renato seabra
Times Square
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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