Marcelo Costa de Andrade
Marcelo Costa de Andrade | |
---|---|
Born |
Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil | January 2, 1967
Other names | The Vampire of Niterói |
Criminal penalty | Not guilty by reason of insanity |
Killings | |
Victims | 14 |
Span of killings | April 1991–December 1991 |
Country | Brazil |
Date apprehended | December 18, 1991 |
Marcelo Costa de Andrade (born January 2, 1967), a.k.a. "The Vampire of Niterói", is a Brazilian serial killer convicted of raping and killing 14 boys.
Biography
Marcelo Costa de Andrade was born on January 2, 1967 in Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil and grew up in the Rocinha favela. He was beaten and sexually abused regularly by the age of ten and began to prostitute himself at the age of fourteen. He was sent to a reform school but later escaped. At 16, Andrade began a relationship with an older man and tried to rape his ten-year-old brother at 17. At 23, he broke up with his lover and moved back in with his family. He found a low-paying job and began to attend the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God.
From April to December 1991, Andrade raped and killed 14 young boys aged 6 to 13. He would lure the boys to secluded spots and rape them, then strangling or beating them to death. He had sex with the corpses and decapitated one of his victims. He believed that doing so would send them to heaven. He also drank some of the victims' blood to "become as beautiful as them".
In December 1991, Andrade encountered ten-year-old Altair Abreu and his six-year-old brother Ivan. They were offered $20 to follow him to a church where he was going to light candles. Andrade then strangled Ivan to death and told Altair that he loved him and had sent Ivan to heaven. Andrade asked Altair to spend the night with him and Altair escaped the next morning after Andrade was going to take him to work with him.
Andrade was arrested on December 18, 1991 and declared insane on April 26, 1993.