An Instagram story with the caption "Goodbye everyone." This is the last message from Federico Vella, the 36-year-old Florentine man who, according to investigators' current reconstruction, killed Lorena Isceri, 45, this afternoon by throwing her from a viaduct on the A1 motorway, before taking his own life.
Originally from Lecce but living in the Tuscan capital, a business executive with a job in northern Italy, Lorena was killed after a brutal ambush: the man waited for her in her home garage and kidnapped her, then locked her in the trunk of his car. Vella committed suicide by jumping from the Lora viaduct on the A1 motorway, in Barberino di Mugello (Florence), along the northbound carriageway of the Autostrada del Sole Panoramica, at the junction with the Direttissima.
Shortly before, he had thrown the 45-year-old woman into the void, a woman with whom he had had a relationship that apparently had ended, at least according to the messages he had posted on Instagram a few weeks ago.
It remains to be determined whether the victim was already dead when she fell: the answer is awaited by the autopsy, which the prosecutor's office has already ordered. And an answer to what happened on the A1 could come from the highway cameras and the body cam of traffic police officers, who intercepted the car after the 45-year-old woman raised the alarm. This new case of femicide appears to have begun with an ambush in Florence. According to the investigation so far—conducted by the Florence Flying Squad, led by Domenico Balsamo and coordinated by prosecutor Antonio Di Natale—the 36-year-old allegedly attacked the 45-year-old woman in the garage of her home in Rifredi. He then locked her in the trunk of the car before driving off to the highway: it's unclear where he was headed. However, he also left his backpack with his cell phone in the trunk. The victim found it and used it to call for help: she reportedly called the emergency number 112 and also called a friend. The man reportedly noticed and, after stopping the car, snatched the man's cell phone. Meanwhile, following a call for help, the Florence police operations room ordered a search for the car on the highway. A patrol from the Pian del Voglio highway police arrived on the scene. The officers attempted to approach the man, who was teetering on the bridge. Vella reportedly shouted incoherent phrases, then jumped from the viaduct. The police body cam also captured the scene, while highway cameras had recorded the man's actions beforehand. The 36-year-old's body was found first in the ground beneath the highway bridge, followed by that of the woman, nearby.