From prodigy to suspect: The long disappearance behind the Brown and MIT shootings

From prodigy to suspect: The long disappearance behind the Brown and MIT shootings

For much of his early life, Claudio Neves Valente appeared destined for an exceptional scientific career. Raised as the only child of a well-to-do family in central Portugal, he excelled academically from an early age. Teachers and relatives described him as playful, gentle and extraordinarily gifted, a student who consistently scored top marks across subjects, the New York Times reported.

In the mid-1990s, he earned admission to the Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, Portugal’s premier science and engineering school. There, he studied physics alongside classmates who would later become leading researchers. One of them was Nuno FG Loureiro, who would eventually join the faculty at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. University officials later confirmed that Neves Valente graduated at the top of their class in 2000.

Former teachers recalled him as the brightest student they had ever taught. His promise was clear enough that he represented Portugal at the International Physics Olympiad while still an undergraduate.

That promise followed him across the Atlantic. In 2000, Neves Valente moved to the United States to begin graduate studies in physics at Brown University. But the trajectory soon faltered. According to university records, he enrolled for three semesters, went on leave in 2001 and formally withdrew in 2003 without completing a degree.

Around the same time, his personal life collapsed into silence. Relatives said he grew distant after moving to the United States and then cut off contact entirely. For more than two decades, his parents heard nothing from him. There were no social media accounts, no professional footprint and no clear explanation of where he lived or worked.

A former classmate at Brown recalled that Neves Valente seemed unhappy and increasingly isolated, prone to anger and disdain for those around him. Others barely remembered him at all.

That long absence ended abruptly in December 2025. Neves Valente’s parents recognised his face in international news reports linking him to a string of shootings in the northeastern United States. Authorities say he was responsible for opening fire on students inside a science building at Brown and for fatally shooting Dr. Loureiro at his home in Massachusetts.

For the family, the shock was devastating. A relative told reporters that Neves Valente’s mother had long feared the next news about her son would be tragic, though not in this way.

Investigators believe Neves Valente moved through New England in the weeks before the attacks. His body was later found in a storage unit in New Hampshire, where officials said he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Firearms were recovered at the scene.

Much about Neves Valente’s adult life remains unknown. Records show he first entered the US on a student visa in 2000 and was later admitted as a legal permanent resident around 2017. Where he lived or worked during the intervening years, and what may have driven his apparent transformation, is unclear.

What is certain is the stark contrast between his early promise and the violence that marked his final days. To former teachers and classmates in Portugal, the suspect seen in news footage bore little resemblance to the quiet, brilliant student they once knew.

As investigators close the case, the story leaves behind lingering questions about isolation, mental health and the hidden paths that can separate youthful promise from tragic ends.