The arrival of the report from the Pavia Poison Control Center opens a new phase in the investigation into the Pietracatella mystery. Investigators had known for days that ricin was present in the blood of Sara Di Vita and her mother, Antonella Di Ielsi ("acute intoxication"), but now having an official document in their possession allows them to pursue new steps in the premeditated double homicide investigation. Therefore, twists and turns cannot be ruled out in the coming days.
The mystery surrounding the ricin in the body of Gianni Di Vita, father and husband of the two victims, is destined to remain unsolved. The former mayor of the town may have also come into contact with the powerful poison.
The report, however, explains that even ingesting small amounts of the substance can lead to death . On this point, director Carlo Locatelli emphasizes, there are no precise data. Complicating the situation is the time elapsed between the blood sampling and the analysis of Di Vita's samples, which occurred two and a half months apart. The blood sampling was, in fact, performed on December 28th, but that same sample, "preserved differently" at the Spallanzani hospital in Rome, arrived and was analyzed in Pavia on March 11th, that is, only after Pavia had sent a verbal alert to the Prosecutor's Office regarding the presence of ricin in the victims' blood.
According to experts, Gianni Di Vita's negative test for ricin may therefore be compatible with the absence of the substance in his blood at the time of the sample collection, but also with the possible degradation, even complete, due to the time elapsed between the sample collection and the testing. The fact remains that the man never experienced serious symptoms, unlike his wife and daughter, who later died.
Meanwhile, the Campobasso Flying Squad continued questioning today. Friends and relatives of the two victims were interviewed at the Campobasso police station.
From investigative sources, and in response to reports circulating about the Riccia Agricultural Institute, it has been learned that ricin plants were never found at the school . Nor were any computer-based tests for the substance found at the school, nor were any tools found to treat the plant. Next week will be a week with several important events: Tuesday in Campobasso, the extraction of data from Alice Di Vita's smartphone; Wednesday in Bari, the examination of the autopsy slides; and a few hours later, the official results of the two autopsies could arrive. And it's not out of the question, at that point, that the first names could end up in the double homicide file—still without any suspects.
(Unioneonline)