The baby of about six months found on Saturday at Villa Pamphili in Rome may have been killed by strangulation. This is what investigators, coordinated by the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office, are hypothesizing in light of the autopsy performed on the little girl's body. Investigators are waiting for the DNA results to ascertain the identity of the little girl and of the woman of about 40 years old, probably the child's mother, found dead about 200 meters away. In these hours the police are collecting several testimonies and examining the images from the wide-area video surveillance cameras.
All small pieces of a complex puzzle, a real brainteaser for the investigators, busy giving an identity to the two victims and identifying the perpetrator, or perpetrators, of what for the Prosecutor's Office is currently an aggravated double homicide.
The investigation is therefore continuing on two tracks: on the one hand the identification of the victims, on the other the search for the alleged perpetrator . As for the first element, the woman's fingerprints have not given any confirmation: this means that she has never been photographed before. In these hours several reports have arrived: some witnesses report having seen, on Saturday, a person wandering around the green area with a sort of "bundle" in his arms. A lead that still needs to be verified. At the moment, none of the witnesses have recognized the victims in the photographs shown by the investigators.
Initial checks have shown that the sack containing the woman's body was not dragged - there are no signs that could lead to this hypothesis - but rather placed near some oleanders, not far from one of the entrances on Via Olimpica . This detail would make it unlikely that the operation could have been carried out by a single person.
The main hypothesis is that the two victims died at different times. An assessment suggested by the state of the woman's body, in advanced decomposition and perhaps already for some time in the place where it was found. Taking into account the sultry heat of the last few days, investigators believe that the death dates back to a few days before that of the newborn, found on Saturday afternoon around 4 pm near a hedge, inside the large park of the Capital.
Another hypothesis in the field - but we will have to wait for the results of the toxicology test - is that the death could be linked to drug use. The physical features of the woman and the child, both of light complexion, would suggest that they came from Eastern Europe. Investigators are cross-referencing the data with the lists of missing persons, both in Italy and abroad.
In parallel, investigators are trying to reconstruct the hours preceding the discovery by analyzing images recorded by surveillance cameras in the area, particularly between Via Olimpica and Via Aurelia Antica. They are also collecting testimonies to verify whether the woman and the child gravitated towards the Villa Pamphili area, also frequented by homeless people, including drug addicts, who often spend the night in makeshift beds, in a context marked by degradation. Also to verify this aspect, on Sunday the investigators returned to the site for a wide inspection that involved a large part of the park area. The garbage bins were also checked, from which some documents were recovered that are now being examined by the investigators.
(Online Union)