After two weeks, the two sisters, aged 16 and 12, who disappeared from a foster home in Civitella Alfedena (L'Aquila), have been found and are in good health.
The Carabinieri found them in Formia, in the province of Latina, at a relative's home in the Rio Fresco neighborhood. The girls were taken to a protected area.
The mother, her partner, and the sisters' grandfather were arrested this morning at dawn on charges of conspiracy to kidnap. The woman is in prison in Teramo, the two men in Sulmona. The woman at whose home the sisters were staying is under investigation and is a distant relative of the mother.
The three were questioned overnight, and immediately taken to prison. Investigations are continuing to determine whether there are other people responsible for the kidnapping. Just yesterday, the mother expressed dismay: "I fear they're dead," she confessed to her lawyer. "It's impossible that if they're alive, they haven't found a way to come back to me."
When the girls' father learned of the discovery, he was overcome with emotion, felt ill, and was taken to the hospital. He then shared his thoughts in a Facebook post: "They're safe and sound after two terrible weeks of anxiety and worry, but I never once thought negatively. A new life begins, a fresh start. So many of you gave me the strength to keep going and never give up. Ten years of battles with a happy ending. Let's give the girls time to reclaim the years that someone denied them. Dad is here. I love you."
(Unioneonline)
