A Vatican prosecutor said on Thursday that he had uncovered some threads “worthy of further investigation” in the disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi 40 years ago. As explained by the prosecutor at the Vatican Tribunal Alessandro Diddi, his team reviewed all available evidence and spoke to people who worked in “certain offices” four decades ago. He added that the findings were shared with the Italian prosecutor’s office.
Emanuela Orlandi, the daughter of a Vatican employee, disappeared in Rome on June 22, 1983. There are dozens of hypotheses about her disappearance. None of the more plausible threads considered ever led to anything, and searches at several points in the Eternal City as well as in the Vatican cemetery yielded no answer as to what happened to the then 15-year-old girl who never returned home from music lessons.
SEE PREMIUM TEXT: 40 years without Emmanuela from the Vatican. “There is a thread that no one has explored before. It’s a good lead”
In January, Alessandro Diddi, the prosecutor at the Vatican Tribunal (representing the Church in criminal matters), announced that the judiciary had launched an investigation into Orlandi’s case. For the first time in history, the investigators of the Holy See decided to investigate the case.
In May, investigators in Rome announced that the Italian prosecutor’s office would also re-examine the case. The Roman prosecutor’s office received documents from the Vatican judiciary regarding this case.
Vatican Prosecutor on Threads ‘Worth Further Examination’
On Thursday, the Vatican’s prosecutor said in a statement that his team reviewed all available evidence and spoke to people who worked in “certain offices” four decades ago, “confirming certain strands of the investigation worthy of further investigation.”
Diddi also reported that he had recently communicated his findings to Italian prosecutors so they could decide what was best to do. The Vatican assured that Diddi would continue to pursue the case.
Orlandi Family Attorney: There is one thread that has not been explored before
Laura Sgro, attorney for the Orlandi family, in an interview with Wanda Woźniak from TVN24, she previously talked about what, in her opinion, investigators should focus on the most. – There is one thread that no one has analyzed before. It’s a pedophilia thing. I know from the files that the case of Emanuela’s disappearance has never been investigated in this respect – said Sgro.
– I’m not saying now that this is definitely the only right way. But I think it’s a good lead, she said. “We want the work of the investigators to bring us closer to solving the mystery,” she added.
Main photo source: ANSA/PAP/EPA