A male model from Portugal has been charged with the murder of a celebrity Portuguese television journalist and gay activist. On Friday, police reported that 65-year-old Carlos Castro was found dead of castration and bludgeoning in New York City’s InterContinental Times Square hotel. New York Police Department spokesman Sgt. Carlos Nieves revealed on Monday that 21-year-old Renato Seabra has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder in the case.

Castro and Seabra were sharing a room at the hotel after arriving in the US in late December to watch some Broadway shows, as well as spend New Year’s in Times Square, says a family friend. Friends in New York say they were a couple, but the model’s mother reportedly says that they weren’t lovers.

According to a friend, the two men had experienced some friction between them nearing the end of their trip. However, there wasn’t anything to suggest that something horrible was going to happen. He added that he believes they were a little upset with each other due to jealousy.

Seabra was detained on Saturday after going to St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital, which isn’t far from the hotel, to get treatment. Police sources say that Seabra has confessed to the killing while being treated. He also allegedly told authorities after being arrested that he killed Castro to rid him of his homosexual demons. He’s said to have shouted that he’s not gay anymore after the killing as well.

Authorities say that he was undergoing psychiatric evaluation at Bellevue Hospital Center on Monday. Meanwhile, police say that Castro suffered serious trauma to the head and strangulation, and the medical examiner’s office is due to determine the cause of death.