First suffocated and then buried. Thus died Laura Ziliani, the 55-year-old ex-securitywoman from Temù, Brescia, who disappeared on May 8 and was found lifeless last August.

These are the conclusions reached by the medical examiner who in the past few hours filed the conclusive medical-legal report on the woman's death.

The expert categorically excludes suicide and natural death.

Three people have been in prison since 24 September, on charges of voluntary murder and concealment of a corpse. They are Paola and Silvia Zani, two of Laura Ziliani's three daughters aged 27 and 19, and Mirto Milani, the oldest's boyfriend.

The three have always remained silent, now the Brescia Public Prosecutor's Office is ready to close the investigation and ask for the alleged murderers to be sent to trial.

According to those who investigate, the motive for the crime is economic: "The three suspects had a clear interest in replacing Laura Ziliani in the administration of a vast real estate portfolio in order to solve their respective economic problems", reads the 38 pages of the ordinance of pre-trial detention with reference to the ten or so properties that the victim had at his disposal.

(Unioneonline / L)