State Dept. employee strangled to death in Brazil
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Brazilian police say a vacationing employee of the U.S. Department of State was found dead in a Rio de Janeiro hotel.
Rivaldo Barbosa is head of the Brazilian police department's homicide division. He identifies the victim as 38-year-old Victoria Tcaciuc.
He says she was strangled to death on Feb.20 and that hotel employees found her body that same day.
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Barbosa says that Tcaciuc was divorced, had no children and was on vacation in Brazil.
He said Thursday that police have arrested a suspect who acknowledged he was with Tcaciuc in the room but denied killing her.
The press office of the U.S. Consulate in Rio says Tcaciuc was a contract employee of the State Department. Citing privacy act considerations, the consulate did not provide her hometown or other information.