US EditionItaly Opens Double Murder Probe Into Deaths of Mother and Daughter, After Preliminary Tests Point to Ricin Poisoning
Preliminary blood tests found ricin in the victims, and prosecutors are examining whether the poison was obtained from the home or the dark web.
- Italian authorities opened a double murder investigation following the deaths of Antonella Di Ielsi, 50, and Sara Di Vita, 15, who died after a Christmas Eve meal last year, with Prosecutor Elvira Antonelli confirming preliminary blood tests detected ricin.
- Originally, five doctors at Cardarelli Hospital faced manslaughter investigations for medical negligence after the pair died following their hospital discharge on December 24, but lawyers for the medical staff have now filed requests for dismissal.
- Marco Graziano, vice police commissioner at Campobasso, said police are searching the family home and investigating whether ricin was obtained via the dark web, while also examining access to the caster bean plant native to Molise.
- Local coroner Pia Benedetta De Luca ordered further autopsy tests, with results expected by the end of April, though Antonelli stated the Pavia poison control center found ricin but she has not yet officially confirmed the poisoning mechanism.
- Lawyer Fabio Albino told CNN on Friday that he hopes the homicide investigation will exonerate his client, noting the doctors' position will "change radically" if the ricin findings are confirmed.
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To tell the last hours of the 15-year-old Pietracatella who died on 27 December, and of her mother, 50 years old, who died the day following the Cardarelli hospital in Campobasso, is Vincenzo Cuzzone,
Italy opens double murder probe into deaths of mother and daughter, after preliminary tests point to ricin poisoning
Italian authorities have opened a double murder investigation following the deaths of a mother and her teenage daughter following a Christmas Eve meal last year, after prosecutors said preliminary blood tests showed the pair had the poison ricin in their systems.
The director of the Reanimation Department of the Cardarelli hospital, who gave the first care: "I understood, almost immediately, that there was something different than the cases we face every day"
At first, Italian authorities believed the family had suffered food poisoning. Now they are investigating a double homicide.
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