A body locked inside a trunk for a long time, some say two years, hidden in a house in the Florence plain where an elderly, malnourished woman and two adults lived. Mystery erupted in Sant'Angelo a Lecore, a hamlet in the municipality of Campi Bisenzio in the province of Florence, after the long-kept secret of the family came to light thanks to an inspection by local police. The body is that of an adult in his thirties, the son of the 70-year-old woman who was ill and the brother of two other men between 35 and 40. Initial examination shows no signs of violence, and what emerges is a story of loneliness and marginalization reminiscent of a horror film. The four, all Italian, lived in the same house, known to the other residents of the village, but with whom they had minimal contact.
The body was discovered by the Campi Bisenzio municipal police, who responded to a series of very detailed reports received at the station. "There were three brothers in that house; one hasn't been seen in a long time, go check it out," was the tip received from several sources, urging the authorities to take a look at the house to determine the exact location. The residence is in the Madonnina di Sant'Angelo a Lecore area, essentially a hamlet of the municipality. And so the search began, first with social services, then with the judicial police. Inside the trunk, some say a chest of some sort, was the body of one of the family who lives at the end of Via Ippolito Nievo, in a two-story house with a red railing.
"They're the only ones down there, and almost no one ever goes there," neighbors told municipal officials. A single, isolated house in the countryside, far from highways, the railway, the airport, and industries, on the road toward Prato. The municipal police visited twice in just a few hours. The first time was on Friday evening. The officers found the mother in serious medical condition, malnourished, so much so that she was later admitted to the hospital, where she remains. They found the two children, and, indeed, the third was missing. Where was he? The evasive answers convinced the police to return this morning. A councilor was with them. The search was more targeted, and they inspected the house. The trunk was found in a bedroom. Thus, it was discovered that the mother and siblings had continued to live with the deceased relative. Now, obviously, an autopsy will be performed to determine the cause and time of death, which has already been ordered by the prosecutor who inspected the house.
The skeletonized body was transferred to the Careggi Forensic Medicine Institute, as ordered by the Florence prosecutor's office. The house was sealed. Today, while the mother was being treated in the hospital, the children were taken to the Campi local police station, where they were interviewed. They will be placed in an "emergency facility" by the municipality. It's currently unclear why the body was there for so long, but a lack of funds, even for a funeral, is one of the theories being floated in Campi Bisenzio . Furthermore, it appears the family is not among those being followed by social workers or the Local Health Authority's mental health service.
Lorenzo Ballerini, Campi's social affairs councilor, and Mayor Andrea Tagliaferri are stunned. "What happened leaves us speechless," they say. "A story of fragility, suffering, and loneliness that should challenge all of us and our entire community."
From a technical standpoint, Ballerini explains that "in the past few hours, following several timely reports, social services promptly took action and, working in conjunction with the nursing service, contacted them," so it was necessary to involve the local police. "It was precisely thanks to the services' immediate intervention and collaboration with the municipal police," the councilor concludes, "that we were able to intervene and shed light on this dramatic situation."
(Unioneonline)
