Bones of Missing Gay Portuguese Man Found

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - A partial skeleton found next to a country lane near Luton has been identified as that of a missing waiter from London.
Scientists matched the bones with DNA from Alexandre Marques, 61, in the national database.
The Portuguese national, who came to London in 1972, disappeared from his bedsit in Notting Hill on Sunday October 16 last year.
A worried colleague at the exclusive ARTS club in Mayfair reported him missing on October 21, after the waiter had failed to show up for work five days in a row. "It was very out of character for him," said Detective Inspector Tim Dobson, who leads the inquiry.
Mr Marques, who had no family in the UK, was last seen when a neighbour spotted him at a window of his flat in Clanricarde Gardens at 11am that Sunday.
An hour later the 61-year-old called a friend to invite him for drinks at the Notting Hill Cafe. The friend could not make it. When he called back at 5.20pm to rearrange, Mr Marques did not answer.
At 9pm that night a male prostitute who regularly visited Mr Marques found his door unlocked with no-one home.
The waiter's keys, bank cards, white raincoat, passport, glasses and wallet were missing. "There were no signs of a disturbance," Mr Dobson said. "It was as if he had left to go out."
More than two months later, on January 2, a couple found some of his badly decomposed remains when they stopped after spotting a rabbit in Woodside Road, just south of Luton.
"A hunter saw the bones already on Chirstmas Eve, but thought it was the remains of a deer," Mr Dobson said.
Police launched a murder investigation even before the body was found - when they discovered someone had taken cash out of Mr Marques's account after he went missing.
On October 18 a man, dressed in dark trousers with red writing up the sides, withdrew £100 from cashpoints in both Willesden Green and Cricklewood Broadway. CCTV cameras in Cricklewood Broadway captured his return on October 23, when he failed to retrieve any money.
At around 4.30am on the day of Mr Marques's disappearance an old-style red Ford Escort was seen leaving his home. Minutes earlier witnesses heard movement in the flat.
Mr Dobson said gay people whose bankcards have been stolen recently may be able to help police in the inquiry.
He also urged people who knew any acquaintances of the victim with links to Luton to contact police on 0207 321 9251.
from This Is Local London