Alan Lopes (21) stabbed dozens of times by friend in Noord

On the evening of Sunday, February 26, 2023, an exceptionally violent incident took place in a residence on Vegastraat in Amsterdam-Noord, resulting in the death of 21-year-old Alan Lopes. The victim, a young man of Brazilian descent who worked as a butcher, was found in his mother’s home with over one hundred stab wounds across his entire body, including fatal injuries to his head and neck. The perpetrator was 25-year-old Begoleã F., a friend of the victim who was temporarily staying at the house while the Lopes family was away in Paris for the weekend. Following the murder, F. fled toward Portugal with the intention of traveling onward to Brazil, but he was apprehended at Lisbon Airport on February 27, 2023, after attempting to travel with a false passport. The case garnered international attention because Portuguese authorities discovered plastic bags containing suspicious pieces of meat in the suspect's luggage, leading to worldwide speculation regarding cannibalism. However, an investigation by the Netherlands Forensic Institute later determined that the tissue was not human, but beef. During the trial in Amsterdam, it was revealed that Begoleã F. suffered from severe paranoid delusions and was in a state of psychosis at the time of the crime. He testified that he was convinced Alan Lopes was a cannibal who intended to murder and eat him, claiming he acted in self-defense. Experts from the Pieter Baan Center established that the suspect was completely legally insane due to his mental condition. On February 8, 2024, the Amsterdam District Court delivered its verdict, sentencing Begoleã F. to mandatory psychiatric treatment (tbs with compulsory care) without a prison sentence, as the crime could not be legally attributed to him due to his psychological state.