Italy fears missing young woman – now there is sad certainty

A tragic missing person case has been keeping Italy in suspense for a week. Giulia Cecchettin was actually supposed to receive her university degree next week. Then the 22-year-old Italian suddenly disappeared last weekend – and with her ex-boyfriend.

Now a terrible suspicion has been confirmed. A sad discovery provides certainty in the case.

Giulia Cecchettin and Filippo Turetta have been a couple for a good year now. The 22-year-old student separated from Filippo in the summer. However, contact between the two is said to have continued. Last Saturday, the two apparently met for dinner at a shopping center in their hometown of Vigonovo in the province of Venice. After Giulia said goodbye to her father and headed to the meeting, there was initially no trace of the young woman – the start of a tragic missing person case.

The relatives of the two students reported them missing on Sunday. Giulia and Filippo had not returned from their appointment. Gulia’s last sign of life was a text message on Saturday evening. Even then the terrible suspicion arose that it could be a case of femicide. The killing of women or girls is described as an extreme form of gender-based violence.

From that moment on, Italian media followed the search for the two students. As Italian daily ‘La Repubblica’ reported, a witness apparently saw the two arguing on Saturday evening. He even alerted the police. However, when they arrived, the two had already driven away in the car.

Last week, a search was conducted throughout Italy for the missing persons. According to reports, the two had even crossed the border and been seen in Tyrol.

When the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Venice opened an investigation against Filippo for attempted murder, the serious suspicion that it was a violent crime was confirmed.

Video from a surveillance camera also confirmed the suspicions of investigating authorities. It is said that Filippo attacked his ex-girlfriend. Apparently he had hit Giulia. The photos are likely from an industrial area near Giulia’s birthplace.

After a week, a discovery now offers certainty. Search teams found a body near Lake Barcis in the province of Pordenone on Saturday morning. The lifeless body was reportedly found in a ravine, as “La Repubblica” reported. The dead woman is said to have been the missing student. She was apparently wearing the same clothes she had last seen a week ago.

This makes Giulia Cecchettin the 105th woman murdered in Italy this year. There is still no trace of her ex-boyfriend and alleged murderer Filippo Turetta.

(watson.de/dsc)