Mother of dead soldier exposes audio of suspect before admitting crime

The family of soldier Anna Laura Costa, 22, killed by her partner, Luís Antônio Gomes Akay, in Los Angeles (USA), is still trying to locate the young woman’s body and revealed how the man, through text messages and audios, tried to make them believing that the victim was alive and that he did not know her whereabouts. The information was confirmed by Anna Laura’s mother, Erbena Costa, in an interview with TV Globo’s “Encontro” program this morning.

According to Erbena, Luís went so far as to say that he went to the police to report the disappearance before finally confessing to the crime. In one of the conversations exchanged by a messaging application, shown on TV, she says she is concerned about the whereabouts of her daughter, with whom she talked every day. Luís then replies that he saw her for the last time at the hotel where they were staying and said: “I’m here at your disposal, any time, you can call me or send me a message”.

In audio exchanged with an aunt of the young woman, Luís goes so far as to say that he would have been “several times” discouraged by the police from registering the disappearance of the young woman. “Do you know what the woman said? and not returned.

Anna’s mother said she met the suspect in person when she visited her daughter in the US. “Until then, he seemed like a normal person. We talked a little, I realized that he was very different from her, because she is a very young girl, 22 years old, he was already 36 years old”, she said.

Anna Laura has lived in the United States since 2016, when she left Santarém (PA) as a teenager. She did high school and graduation in the North American country.

As of this morning, her body had not been found by US authorities. The intense storm that hits Los Angeles makes the search difficult.

What is known about the crime?

• Luís and Anna were vacationing in Los Angeles before the young woman returned to report to the US Army. She would return to base on 3 January.
• In the last message that the young woman exchanged with her mother, she reported that she was on her way to a bowling alley.
• The FBI informed the Brazilian authorities that Luís Antônio Gomes Akay did not accept the end of the relationship, which would have motivated the crime.
• According to the FBI, Luís confessed to the murder, but did not point out where Anna Laura’s body was.
• The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that it is aware of the case and that it provides assistance to the family members.