State Department Contractor Strangled in Brazil - East Idaho News
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State Department Contractor Strangled in Brazil

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Getty 081712 CrimeScene?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1362178182529Comstock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — A dream vacation in Brazil turned tragic for State Department contractor Victoria Tcaciuc, 38, who was found strangled in her hotel room last week.

“We were deeply saddened to learn of the death of Department of State contractor Victoria Tcaciuc,” State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said Friday. “We express our deepest condolences to her friends and loved ones. Officials from the U.S. Consulate in Rio de Janeiro are providing all appropriate consular assistance.”

Tcaciuc, who hailed from Moldova but had become a U.S. citizen, was working at the State Department as a financial analyst in the Bureau of Consular Affairs in Washington D.C., according to a senior State Department official.

Police have arrested Alessandro Rufino Oliveira Carvalho, who Barbosa says was seen entering and leaving Tcaciuc’s hotel room.

Ventrell said that the United States is not involved with the investigation, but is cooperating with Brazilian authorities. He also confirmed that Tcaciuc was in Brazil for a holiday, not for business.

“She was there on personal travel,” said Ventrell. “This was not an official State Department delegation, she was there on a personal visit.”

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