The lawyers for Manuela Murgia's family are speaking out after the Cagliari Court's preliminary investigations judge rejected the extension of the investigation into the case of the young woman found dead in the Tuvixeddu canyon on February 4, 1995.
Regarding the state of the scientific investigations , lawyers Bachisio Mele, Maria Filomena Marras and Giulia Lai write in a statement, "it is worth remembering that a complete male genetic profile was obtained from the hair found in the victim's boot which, to date, has not been attributed to anyone: not to Astero (the girl's ex-boyfriend, ed.), whose innocence has already been ascertained, but not to anyone else either ."
Hence the request to include the identified profile "in the national DNA database , established by Law 85 of June 30, 2009: only by comparing it with the profiles already registered, and with those that will be added in the future, will it be possible to verify whether it belongs to a person already known to law enforcement, or to identify them at a later time. Without this comparison, the profile would remain an isolated piece of data, devoid of any investigative development ."
The family also requested "two additional tests, regarding traces already discovered during the preliminary investigation. On the victim's belt," the lawyers wrote, "they requested a new analysis for touch DNA : a different technique from the one already used for fingerprints, since the absence of fingerprints does not exclude the presence of genetic material." On the victim's underwear, they also requested " an in-depth analysis of the Y chromosome, to clarify some signals already detected in previous analyses but not yet completely conclusive regarding the presence of male biological material."
According to the victim's family, these are essential investigations: "Not to bring accusations against any specific person, but to avoid missing the opportunity to identify, through scientific comparison, who is truly involved in the affair ."
The lawyers further assert that "the injured parties do not have, nor can have, direct access to the investigative file. Currently, in fact, this defense is unaware of the status of the investigation, nor of the investigative relevance that—for the Prosecutor's Office—the public statements of a friend of Enrico Astero have assumed. In a television interview on the program "Le Iene" aired a few months ago, Astero had stated that, on the morning of February 5, 1995, he had opened the car wash specifically—at Astero's request—to clean Astero's car."
(Unioneonline/AD)