“I wanted to understand what it feels like to kill.” This is what a 17-year-old Italian boy explained to the police to justify the murder of Maria Campai, reports the Italian press. This 42-year-old woman of Romanian origin, reported missing on September 19, was found dead a week later in the garden of an abandoned house a few steps from the town center of Viadana, in the province of Mantua, in northern Italy.
The minor also allegedly told the police where to find the body: “It’s there, under this plant, I hid it in this garden, under some leaves.” The exact cause of death is not known – it will only be known after the autopsy – but Maria Campai was visibly knocked unconscious by a few blows to the face (possibly with training dumbbells), then strangled after had sexual intercourse with the teenager, as she was found with her pants down. In the garage believed to have been the crime scene, there were also traces of blood.
But what happened before the murder? The 17-year-old, a student at a technical institute and expert in MMA, had carried out online research on extreme sexual practices before September 19, explains the Corriere della Sera. The two people allegedly met on an online dating site. Hence the meeting in Viadana, for which the woman would have been accompanied by a friend. After the latter left, the teenager and Maria went to the family garage, a place that the 17-year-old used as his personal gym. They would have had sexual intercourse then an argument: Maria would have refused to satisfy the minor’s demands.
After the murder, the teenager dragged the body to the garden where it was found and tried to clean the biological traces from it, then returned home to sleep. His father said he was convinced his son was at the gym that night and believed that if the 17-year-old was guilty, he would have to pay. But he hypothesizes that two accomplices accompanied him.
