Preliminary Investigations Judge Claudia Sechi has rejected the request to dismiss the case, citing the possibility of suicide, in the death of security guard Danilo Cancedda, 40, found dead on February 13, 2025, in Santa Gilla, near the shopping center. On Wednesday, the Forensic Police laboratories will begin unique tests on two box cutters, the car seatbelt found around his neck, and the biological trace samples found on the door handle of his Fiat Punto, the steering wheel, and the gear stick. The family does not believe the 40-year-old took his own life, and has therefore appealed the request to dismiss the case and ordered the judge to continue the investigation for another six months.
New investigations
The investigating judge upheld the appeal filed by the security guard's family, lawyers Mauro Trogu, Attia Alfano, and criminologist Mario Meloni, against prosecutor Diana Lecca's request to dismiss the case. Too many doubts still surround the case, all condensed in the judge's order requesting an additional six-month extension of the investigation. Cancedda, an employee of the Coopservice Security Institute, was found hanging from a tree with the seatbelt of his car, a Fiat Grande Punto registered to his mother, around his neck. However, the family has proposed an alternative reconstruction to suicide, highlighting a series of medical-legal issues deemed incompatible with the hypothesis of a voluntary act.
So many doubts
Many things, according to the lawyers, don't add up. These include the short time between the 40-year-old's disappearance and his discovery, the absence of typical signs of hanging, a neck wound deemed neither deep nor capable of causing a rapid death, and a reddish stain on the abdomen not reported by the expert witness. Then there are the doubts about the belt itself and the cutter found on the deceased: according to the family, the cuts on the belt are incompatible with the tool, and the serial numbers were not verified against those on the segment left in the car. Then there is the fact that Cancedda's body was found kneeling, thus not compatible with the theory that he fell to suffocate himself.
Further doubts
The 40-year-old's relatives later described him as a calm person, focused on the future, with a wedding planned, so much so that he had even purchased an engagement ring. In her order, Judge Sechi clarified that upholding the opposition does not mean confirming the validity of the alternative theory, but rather responds to the need to verify whether the investigative framework is truly exhaustive. She therefore ordered a series of technical and scientific investigations: a new forensic and toxicological assessment, tests on the belt and the cutter (including a forensic experiment), and, consequently, possible computer, environmental, and witness investigations, should the initial findings reveal scenarios that require a broader investigation. The investigating judge, however, has ruled out, at this time, the possibility of filing charges, as insufficient evidence has emerged to identify specific individuals as responsible.
Upon receiving the order to reopen the case, prosecutor Diana Lecca immediately began work to order new investigations from the forensic police: the laboratory tests will begin on Tuesday.
Francesco Pinna
