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| Carlos Castro / Photo: Caras Portugal |
Two sisters of the Portuguese journalist found slain and sexually mutilated inside a Times Square Hotel arrived in the city Tuesday to claim their dead brother's body.
The weeping women exited the gates at Newark Airport and were met by other friends and family of Carlos Castro. Then they made the sorrowful trek to New York.
Renato Seabra, 20, was charged with killing Castro, 65, inside the pair's room Friday at the InterContinental Hotel.
"I was very sad coming here," one of the sisters, Maria Amélia Castro, told the Daily News.
Castro - a prominent gay rights advocate and society columnist - came to the city with his young, hunky companion on Dec. 29 to ring in the new year.
"Carlos was very happy to come to New York," Maria said.
After a heated argument, Castro was found in the 34th-floor room in a pool of blood - brutally beaten and with his scrotum severed by a corkscrew, sources said.
Seabra was captured hours later at Roosevelt Hospital, after he sought treatment for cuts to his face and wrists. Detectives believe he may have tried to kill himself.
"I feel very sorry for his mom," Maria Castro said of the accused killer. "She's probably suffering a lot."
She said Castro introduced her to Seabra just a few months ago.
"I met him one time," she said. "He looked like a cold person, very quiet. But I would have never thought he would kill my brother."
Sources said Seabra later confessed to the gruesome murder, saying he did it to rid the journalist of his sexual demons.
The family is planning a private funeral for Castro in New York and a small ceremony in his native Portugal.
BY Edgar Sandoval and Joe Kemp
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
