Authorities have released new details about the investigation into Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, the suspect accused of carrying out a deadly shooting at Brown University and killing an MIT professor, following a dayslong manhunt that ended in New Hampshire.
Police said Valente, a 48-year-old former Brown graduate student, was found dead inside a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire, after what officials believe was a suicide. Investigators said he acted alone and that there is currently no indication of additional planned attacks.
According to Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez, the breakthrough in the case came from a combination of surveillance footage, license-plate reader technology, and a detailed tip from a member of the public who reported unusual behavior involving a gray Nissan with Florida license plates.
That information led investigators to a car rental agency in Massachusetts, where police obtained a rental agreement linked to Valente, along with surveillance video that matched footage captured on the Brown University campus on the day of the shooting.
Authorities said financial records and video evidence eventually guided law enforcement to the storage facility in New Hampshire. Federal agents executed court-authorized search warrants Thursday evening, discovering Valente’s body along with a satchel containing two firearms. Officials said evidence recovered from the scene matched materials found at the Providence crime site.
Valente was identified as a Portuguese national whose last known residence was in Miami, Florida. Portuguese officials confirmed he studied physics engineering at Instituto Superior Técnico between 1995 and 2000 — the same academic program once attended by MIT professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro, who was killed in the attack.
Brown University confirmed Valente was enrolled as a graduate physics student from 2000 to 2001, later withdrawing in 2003. University President Christina Paxson said Valente had no active affiliation with Brown for more than two decades.
Investigators said Valente gained lawful permanent resident status in 2017 through the diversity visa lottery program. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the program has since been paused at President Donald Trump’s direction following the incident.
Officials said they delayed publicly naming Valente while the manhunt was underway to avoid alerting him as authorities closed in. It remains unclear exactly when Valente died, though investigators said he was seen entering the storage unit and never leaving.
An autopsy is expected to determine the timing of his death as forensic teams continue analyzing ballistic and DNA evidence linked to the case.