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Times Square Murder Victim Terrified of 'Crazy' Lover, Reports Say

By DNAinfo Staff on January 7, 2011 10:28pm  | Updated on January 10, 2011 7:02am

By Jennifer Glickel and Olivia Scheck

DNAinfo Producer/Reporter

MIDTOWN — The journalist and gay activist found dead and castrated in a Times Square hotel had told friends he'd grown terrified of his male companion.

Carlos Castro, 65, said he'd been fighting with Renato Seabra, 20, since they'd arrived in the city from Portugal on Dec. 29, the Daily News reported.

"I'm scared to sleep with him here," Castro told friend Monica Pires during a phone call hours before his death, the News reported.

"I actually changed my flight to go home a couple of days early. This guy's been acting crazy," Castro reportedly told Pires.

Castro's naked body was found beaten and castrated in a room at the posh InterContinental hotel in Times Square, police said.

Model Renato Seabra, who police are questioning about the murder of his friend, Carlos Castro.
Model Renato Seabra, who police are questioning about the murder of his friend, Carlos Castro.
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Seabra, a male model and reality TV star in Portugal, was seen leaving the scene just minutes before the body was found at about 7 p.m.

Police told DNAinfo the suspect was taken into custody early Saturday. Reports claim Seabra was arrested at Roosevelt Hospital where he went for treatment for cuts to his wrist, which may have been from a failed suicide attempt. He is charged with murder in the second degree.

He was reportedly recognized by a nurse who contacted police. He was then taken to Bellevue Hospital were he was undergoing pyschiatric evaluation.

Seabra and Castro had checked in together to the hotel, on 44th Street, on Dec. 29 and had been staying in room 3416, on the 34th floor, where the body was found, said police.

They were due to check out Friday.

But Pires told cops Seabra had grown resentful because Castro wasn't spending enough money on him.

"He thought Castro was being cheap, and he was angry," a police source told the News.

The New York Post reported that Seabra admitted to Castro that he wasn't gay, and that he was with the journalist for his money.

A hotel guest told DNAinfo she'd heard shouting coming from the room on Friday afternoon.

"It sounded like a couple fighting," said Suzanne Divilly, 40, from Ireland, who was in the city on her honeymoon. She said she'd heard the shouts around 1 p.m.

The victim had spoken to Monica Pires, from New Jersey, by phone at about 12.30 p.m. Friday. He complained about the fights with Seabra, she said.

When Pires couldn't reach Castro later in the day, she became worried and went to the hotel at about 6.30 p.m. and saw Seabra, dressed in a black suit and purple tie, leaving.

"We asked the front desk to call up to Carlos but he didn't respond," she told the Portuguese news agency Lusa. "So we tried his cell phone and nobody answered."

Then Seabra walked through the lobby.

Police at the InterContinental hotel Friday night.
Police at the InterContinental hotel Friday night.
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David Torres/DNAinfo

"We asked him about Carlos, and he looked panicked," she said.

"He never expected to see us in the lobby and he told us, 'Carlos isn't leaving the room,'" she said. "This answer surprised us and we told the hotel manager."

Hotel security rushed to the blood-soaked suite and made the gruesome discovery, according to reports.

Seabra launched his modeling career on the Portugese version of America's Next Top Model ("A Procura do Sonho" or "Searching for a Dream"), making it to the final three, according to the Daily News.

In an interview with a local Portugese newspaper following the show, Seabra reportedly described himself as shy and religious.

Before that, Seabra won the national college basketball championship as a member of the University of Coimbra team, the paper added.