His name was Gabriel Ionut Feraru, he was born on April 30, 1987, he was from Mangalia, a Romanian city on the Black Sea, but he worked in Germany. These are some of the known facts about the man whose body was found on July 4th of last year in a small lagoon near the Levada Nova dos Canhas, and whose identity was unknown until a few days ago.
It should be recalled that the corpse, which was already in an advanced state of decomposition, was discovered by a local resident passing through farmland in the late afternoon of July 4, 2025. The body was half in the water and half out. The PSP (Public Security Police), first, and the PJ (Judicial Police), later, were called to the scene. At the time, the director of the PJ, José Matos, said there was no evidence of a crime. He admitted that the individual must have moved about 30 to 40 meters away from the irrigation channel to bathe in a small lagoon in the area, as the body was found naked and with the clothes folded on a stone.
The description given by the PJ (Judicial Police) at the time was of an adult male, of undetermined age, with a full beard and a tattoo on his chest. Even then, his identity was a mystery, since there had been no reports of anyone disappearing in Madeira with those physical characteristics.
Approximately six months after the discovery of the body, the PJ (Judicial Police) still had no clues about the man’s identity. Therefore, on January 15th of this year, that police entity launched a public appeal, describing some elements that could contribute to solving the enigma. The victim was estimated to be approximately 1.80 meters tall, weigh an estimated 60 kilos, and have four distinctive tattoos on his body, namely an inscription in Romanian on his chest and shoulders, a wolf on his stomach, a female figure on one arm, and a scarab beetle on the other arm.
Yesterday, the PJ (Portuguese Judicial Police) announced that, thanks to public appeals, it “received several pieces of information from the civilian population, both Portuguese and others, as well as from the Romanian Embassy, with whom it maintained constant contact, which allowed for correlation with information regarding the disappearance of a Romanian citizen in that country since March 2025.” After exchanging information with international police structures, the PJ identified the man and contacted the Romanian citizen’s family, as well as the Romanian authorities, with whom procedures were initiated to confirm the identity of the body through genetic comparison. Meanwhile, later that day, in an abandoned house located in a rural area near Levada Nova, in the Arco da Calheta area, about a thousand meters from where the body was found, his belongings and identification documents were located.
The PJ (Portuguese Judicial Police) did not reveal the man’s identity, but it is listed on a Romanian police website about missing persons . He is Gabriel Ionut Feraru, who, in his country of birth, last resided in the city of Cluj-Napoca, but was reported missing in Germany, where he apparently worked. According to the same Romanian police entity, the man was 1.80 meters tall, weighed 90 kilograms, had short black hair, a beard, and tattoos that match those found on the body.
On the social network LinkedIn, the Romanian citizen had a page where he stated he was unemployed but available for work. This is how he described himself: “My name is Gabriel and I have always been a curious person, eager to learn and absorb as much knowledge and areas of expertise as possible. Therefore, I consider myself a sociable person, with ease of adaptation and a creative mind. The qualities I most appreciate in the people around me are common sense, good education, and responsibility.”