A human skull has been discovered on the grounds of a former psychiatric hospital in Évora, and the Judicial Police are awaiting forensic anthropology results to decide on the potential initiation of a criminal investigation into the case, law enforcement sources revealed today.
An Évora Territorial Command source from the GNR indicated that the authorities were alerted to the find by local residents last Saturday around 1:00 PM.
The skull was found in a drainage ditch on a state-owned farm, whose main building previously accommodated the Psychiatric Service of the Espírito Santo Hospital of Évora, located in the Canaviais neighborhood.
The former Canaviais psychiatric hospital has been decommissioned for over 15 years, but during the Covid-19 pandemic, it temporarily served as a designated area for the disease, providing care to patients suspected of infection.
According to the GNR source, the skull was transported by firefighters to the forensic medicine services of the Évora hospital, and the case has been transferred to the jurisdiction of the Judicial Police (PJ).
Contacted for comment, a source from the Évora Criminal Investigation Local Unit of the PJ stated that the anthropology expertise results are awaited to ascertain whether the finding holds historical or criminal interest.
