A family living in Spain
Marcos Campos Nogueira and Janaína Santos Américo were Brazilian nationals living in Spain with their two small children, María Carolina and David. By 2016 the family was living in Pioz, a municipality in the province of Guadalajara. Patrick Nogueira, Marcos's nephew, had also moved from Brazil to Spain and had spent time living with the family.
Investigators later placed Patrick at the Pioz home during the period when the killings occurred. Reporting based on the investigation described geolocation data from his phone, his blood and fingerprints in the property, and messages exchanged during the crimes as important evidence.
The murders
The Supreme Court's final judgment treated the four deaths as separate murders committed between August 17 and 18, 2016. The victims were Marcos, Janaína, their daughter María Carolina, who was three years and ten months old according to the Supreme Court record, and their son David, who was 18 months old.
Patrick later admitted responsibility. The criminal proceedings found that the murders were deliberate and rejected the defense argument that a neurological anomaly substantially impaired his ability to understand or control his conduct at the time.
Discovery and investigation
The killings were not discovered immediately. The family's remains were found weeks later in September 2016 after concern arose around the property. Spanish authorities opened a major investigation and quickly focused on Patrick Nogueira.
RTVE reported that investigators placed his mobile phone at the home during the relevant period and found physical evidence tying him to the scene. By then Patrick had returned to Brazil. Because Brazilian constitutional rules complicated extradition of a Brazilian citizen, authorities considered parallel legal options.
Return to Spain
Patrick ultimately returned voluntarily to Spain in October 2016 and was detained on arrival. He later acknowledged the killings. The legal dispute therefore did not center on whether he had been present or whether he had killed the family, but on the precise criminal classification, aggravating circumstances and sentence.
During the proceedings, the defense relied in part on evidence of a brain anomaly. The jury and later courts concluded that it did not meaningfully diminish his criminal responsibility for the four murders.
2018 trial and first sentence
A jury in Guadalajara found Patrick guilty in November 2018. The Provincial Court initially imposed three sentences of prisión permanente revisable — Spain's permanent-reviewable prison sentence — and one additional 25-year term.
The different penalties reflected the legal treatment of the individual murders and aggravating factors, including the extreme vulnerability of the two child victims and the rule applicable to a person convicted of murdering more than two people.
Appeal and Supreme Court ruling
The intermediate appellate stage reduced two of the permanent-reviewable sentences connected to the children to fixed 25-year terms, while leaving one permanent-reviewable term in place. Both sides pursued further appeals.
On May 5, 2020, Spain's Supreme Court restored the more severe structure for the child murders. It imposed three permanent-reviewable prison terms and a fourth term of 25 years. The Supreme Court held that the children's particular vulnerability justified the enhanced punishment and rejected Patrick's argument that one permanent-reviewable sentence should effectively absorb the others.
The court also ruled that progression to third-degree prison status would require at least 22 years served and that suspension of the remaining sentence would require at least 30 years, under the rules governing multiple serious sentences.
Timeline
August 17–18, 2016: Marcos, Janaína, María Carolina and David are murdered in the family home in Pioz.
September 2016: the deaths are discovered and Spanish investigators focus on Patrick Nogueira.
October 2016: Patrick returns voluntarily from Brazil to Spain and is detained.
November 2018: a jury finds him guilty of four murders; the Provincial Court imposes three permanent-reviewable sentences and one 25-year term.
2019: the regional appellate court changes part of the sentencing structure while maintaining the murder convictions.
May 5, 2020: Spain's Supreme Court imposes three permanent-reviewable prison terms plus 25 years, establishing the final sentence structure.
Current status
The criminal responsibility for the four murders is judicially established. Patrick Nogueira remains convicted of all four killings under the final Supreme Court ruling. A 2026 retrospective from Jornal da Paraíba reported that he remained imprisoned in Spain. The case is therefore classified as solved and adjudicated.