Three months later her body was discovered in scrubland nearby
So began one of the most complex murder investigations in Italian history
which will reach its climax later this year
The call was put through to the public prosecutor’s office, in the centre of the provincial capital Bergamo, a city 11km east of Brembate di Sopra. The magistrate on duty was Letizia Ruggeri, 45, a tough former policewoman who had earned her stripes fighting Cosa Nostra in Sicily. She had been a magistrate for almost 15 years, and knew what needed to be done. Within minutes she had dispatched both state police officers and carabinieri, military police, to Brembate di Sopra.
Yara’s gym instructor confirmed that she had seen the teenager earlier that day and that she had done some light training before heading off. The police quickly established that the last known contact with Yara was a text message she had sent to a friend, Martina, at 6.44pm, agreeing to meet at 8am the following Sunday. That was the last anyone heard from her.
Read moreThe gym was part of a large sports complex
a garish building with many entrances and exits
Besides the large sports hall there was a running track
A few people said they’d seen two men – possibly in conversation with Yara
standing near a red car – but there was little more to go on than that
Ruggeri called in tracker dogs: a breed of bloodhound, Segugio Italiano
Instead of following the expected route back to Yara’s home in Via Rampinelli
Ruggeri’s dogs went in the opposite direction
towards a small hamlet nearby called Mapello
When the team analysed the last signals from Yara’s mobile phone
the result showed that it had been registered as present in Mapello at 18.49 that evening
Everything seemed to point away from Yara’s family
but investigations of this type always start at home
Ruggeri and her team questioned every member of the Gambirasio family
looking for signs of discord or dark secrets
Yara’s parents were well-known and respected: her father
an architect whose father had been the local postman
they had four children: Yara had an older sister
Ruggeri put wiretaps on hundreds of phones
Her team also tried to trace the owners of all the handsets – some 15,000 – which had passed through Mapello on the day of Yara’s disappearance
One of these belonged to a Moroccan man called Mohammed Fikri
the interpreter heard the phrase: “Forgive me God
Fikri had been working in a builders’ yard in Mapello
but by the time investigators had put the pieces together
Italian authorities intercepted the vessel and arrested Fikri
They searched the van he had been using and discovered that it contained a blood-stained mattress
“People liked him as the guilty party,” Ruggeri told me ruefully last year
“because he was foreign.” But Fikri was quickly cleared
and the blood was extraneous to the investigation
View image in fullscreenDog handlers search for Yara Gambirasio in December 2010
Photograph: LaPresse/SpadaAs autumn slipped into winter
Brembate di Sopra found itself at the centre of a mystery which had captured the country’s imagination
The Gambirasio family were horrified by the sudden glare of publicity
TV cameras became a permanent fixture in their quiet cul-de-sac
lowering their shutters and even turning down the idea of a torchlight procession to raise awareness
and the rare statements from the parents were devout pleas for privacy and patience
The reticence of the Gambirasio family reflected the culture of this region
The province of Bergamo is much closer to Switzerland than Naples and the Bergamaschi are generally more reserved than their southern countrymen
“It’s in the spirit of mountain people to disdain gossip and not to repeat nonsense,” Piero Bonicelli
I don’t say anything until I’m certain it’s true.”
Desperate to discover the whereabouts of their daughter, the Gambirasio family did share some photographs of Yara with the press in the days after her disappearance – Yara queueing to take communion; doing the splits in the gym; a studio photo of her in a yellow top; in an Italy football shirt; on the beach – but no one came forward with any useful information
When her parents finally made a televised appeal
a few days after their first Christmas without Yara
hesitantly read a plea: “Help us return to normality”
He explained that the family values were “love
and that they would be giving no interviews
This wariness towards outsiders owes much to the region’s history
an old name which means “the town of the mountain”
The city has always been a strategically important citadel
The Bergamaschi are used to seeing off invasions
Just a few miles west of Brembate di Sopra is a small town called Pontida
where in 1167 the Lombard League – the alliance of northern Italian cities which joined together to resist the German Holy Roman emperor
The Oath of Pontida still exerts a symbolic power today
It’s frequently evoked by the separatists of the Northern League to rally sentiment against outsiders: against the perceived indolence and corruption of southern Italy or
against immigrants from developing nations
This setting was part of what fascinated the Italian public about Yara’s disappearance
The province of Bergamo seemed to represent two different sides of the country
a close-knit place which nurtures suspicion
Yara’s disappearance has continued to grip the Italian public over the past four years
criminal investigations in Italian history
she stared at her desk and just said “incredible” four times
exactly three months after Yara disappeared
a middle-aged man named Ilario Scotti was flying his radio-controlled plane in the small town of Chignolo d’Isola
Chignolo is surrounded by industrial estates
and the scrubland by Via Bedeschi seemed like a safe
unpopulated place for Scotti to try out his new model aircraft
The model aeroplane wasn’t functioning as Scotti wanted
so he brought it down to earth amid the tall weeds
he caught sight of some rags on the ground nearby
as well as the sim card and battery for her LG phone
“Yara’s disappearance had really disturbed me – I’m a mother too
and the only thing worse than the death of a child is the disappearance of a child.”
View image in fullscreenChief investigator Letizia Ruggeri at a press conference
Photograph: LaPresse/SpadaThe autopsy was conducted by Italy’s most famous forensic pathologist
She discovered traces of lime in Yara’s respiratory passages
She had suffered multiple injuries from a sharp weapon which had pierced her clothing at various points
It seemed that she had been attacked and abandoned
The presence of lime and jute suggested the killer might be in the building trade
The forensics team retrieved two DNA samples
one from Yara’s phone battery and the other from two fingers of her black gloves but neither matched any samples the authorities had on record
the commander of the scientific investigations department in Parma phoned Ruggeri
We’ve found male DNA on the underwear of the deceased.” It was likely that the murderer had himself been wounded in the struggle
Ruggeri and her team named the murder suspect Ignoto 1
Now the hunt for Yara’s killer could begin in earnest
and Ruggeri divided up the duties: the police were responsible for taking DNA samples from family members
from school friends and people in the gym; the carabinieri concentrated on the phone records
cross-referencing all the mobile phones that had moved from Brembate di Sopra to Chignolo d’Isola on 26 November 2010
Each phone user whose number appeared in both cells was tracked down and asked for a DNA sample
Pavia and Rome a minimum of six hours to transform just a few samples of DNA into something which could be read
was immense and the investigation would go on to become one of the most expensive manhunts in Italian history
Yara’s funeral took place on a hot morning in late May 2011
which was topped with a huge bouquet of white flowers
as the hearse slowly drove towards her gym
The ceremony took place in the sports hall where she had spent so many hours training
a large crowd watched the funeral on a giant screen
and heard the condolences of Giorgio Napolitano
investigators had taken thousands of DNA samples but they still had no leads
Close to the scrubland where Yara’s body had been found was a nightclub called Sabbie Mobili (Quicksand)
Ruggeri knew that murderers tend to dump bodies in areas with which they’re very familiar
in spring 2011 investigators started taking DNA samples outside the club on busy Fridays and Saturdays
Sabbie Mobili had a reputation for violence – a young man from the Dominican Republic had been murdered outside its doors on 16 January 2011 – but the club had helpful records
Clubbers required a membership card to get in
and so the authorities could easily track down anyone who went there regularly
One of the samples from Sabbie Mobili seemed strikingly similar to the suspect
The man who gave the sample was called Damiano Guerinoni
He was quickly excluded as a suspect – he had been in South America on the day of Yara’s disappearance – but geneticists were convinced he was a close relative of the murderer
‘bingo – just a couple of more days’ [and we’ll have the murderer].” As Ruggeri and her team put together the jigsaw of Guerinoni’s family
they made an astonishing discovery: Damiano Guerinoni’s mother
had worked for 10 years as a domestic help in the Gambirasio home
and had gone to Yara’s home twice a week throughout the young girl’s childhood
Ruggeri resigned herself to the fact that it was just a coincidence
This whole case is crazy’Zanni was a middle-aged woman who was very attached to her employers
She recalled how Yara would always ask her to watch her latest gymnastics moves
and Zanni would tell her to be careful not to hurt herself
she was no longer working for the family but said her relationship with Yara’s parents was excellent
To find herself at the centre of the investigation into Yara’s murder was
“we intercepted [Damiano Guerinoni and Aurora Zanni’s] calls
in the sense that we pressed them.” It was only after months of close surveillance that Ruggeri
resigned herself to the fact that “it was just a crazy coincidence”
This whole case is crazy.” Having seemed so close to a resolution
Ruggeri’s team reluctantly discarded the angle of the domestic help
The only promising lead they still had was the fact that Damiano Guerinoni’s DNA was so similar to that of Ignoto 1
Ruggeri’s team was now under intense pressure to find the killer
Thousands of people were being DNA tested and some locals who hadn’t been approached for a sample suggested to the press that the investigation was haphazard
Politicians made personal attacks on Ruggeri
writing an open letter in January 2012 to the minister of justice asking for her to be replaced by someone “of proven experience”
(Ruggeri filed a lawsuit against Belotti for libel on 20 April 2012
taking particular objection to his characterisation of her as a person of “low technical and moral profile”.)
Behind these criticisms of Ruggeri was a strong undercurrent of sexism: what hope was there that this woman could solve such a complex crime
a single-mother with long salt-and-pepper hair
rode to work on an old Vespa and had a blackbelt in karate
Ruggeri felt she was also being targeted because she had decided to drop the case against the Moroccan labourer
“Many people thought I had made the wrong decision”
The criticism was ferocious … I found it very tough.”
Ruggeri decided to concentrate on the only promising lead she had: the Guerinoni DNA
Her team spent months recreating the Guerinoni family tree
Ruggeri pulled out a folder and showed me hundreds of names
The investigators had worked out a complete genealogical tree as far back as 1815
with other branches of the family going back as far as 1716
The roots of that family tree were in the small village of Gorno
It’s only 45 minutes’ drive north of Bergamo itself
You arrive through a series of hairpin bends
into a village that smells of woodsmoke and chickens
you can hear the sound of waterfalls and cowbells
The village is full of narrow flights of steps – the only horizontal patch of land is a sandy five-aside football pitch
Although only 1,600 people live in Gorno and it seems like a quiet
Let’s say they’re a bit promiscuous.” In 2011 two people in Gorno were murdered in unrelated incidents
The same families have been here for centuries
the names of Benedetto and Pietro Guerinoni are carved into the stone
The Guerinoni family were nicknamed i Fantì
the “infantry”: considered by everyone to be loyal
Investigators visited Giuseppe’s widow in September 2011 and found two stamps he had licked: one in order to validate his driving licence and another on a postcard he had sent to his family
When DNA results came back from that sample
they had another breakthrough: geneticists were convinced that Giuseppe Guerinoni was the father of Ignoto 1
Ruggeri’s team quickly built up a picture of Giuseppe Guerinoni and his family
had been a bus driver who played the accordion at village festivals
They had three children: a girl and two boys
and after her husband’s death had moved to a nearby town
a Jehovah’s Witness; Diego had a drug problem
Neither provided a perfect match with Ignoto 1
If Ignoto 1 really was the son of the late Giuseppe Guerinoni
“an investigation within an investigation.” She was now hunting a woman
who 30 or 40 years ago had had an affair with a married man
and given birth to a boy who went on to murder Yara Gambirasio
It proved extremely difficult for investigators to penetrate the mountain villages – Ponte Selva
Clusone and Rovetta – where they were looking for clues and leads
Some Italian journalists spoke of the “cocciutaggine”
of the Bergamo Alps – a caricature which only served to antagonise the already defensive locals
“were irritated by the stereotype of highlanders closed in on themselves
which implies [the silence of] Sicily and the mafia
human element: the sort of person who goes into a bar in the village … and puts someone at ease so that something slips out.” Locals felt there was something cold about this investigation
And it was changing the atmosphere in these small communities
Investigators knew that from the early 1960s onwards
Giuseppe Guerinoni used to go to a spa resort called Salice Terme
Ruggeri’s team scoured records and registers
tracking all the women who had stayed in the resort at the same time of year as Guerinoni
They searched orphanages and homes for “fallen women”; they tested single mothers and women who had left the mountains for lower Bergamo
Divorce was only legalised in Italy in 1970 – until that time many couples had stayed together despite infidelities
Confirmation of paternity demands that at least 15 STR regions be compared
the horizontal slot in a cemetery wall where his coffin was kept
They were transferred by carabinieri to the Papa Giovanni XXIII hospital in Bergamo for examination before being returned to Gorno just a few hours later
It was now absolutely certain that Guerinoni was the father of Ignoto 1
As the investigation dragged on through 2013
the public slowly became aware of why a woman was being sought
It became common knowledge that the late Giuseppe Guerinoni had had a lover
and that she was thought to be the mother of the murderer
“We have rediscovered,” wrote one journalist
“that accursed desire for gossip which spices up small-town life
everyone wants to know whose son so-and-so is.”
Long-forgotten infidelities and old suspicions surfaced
Bonicelli laughs as he describes how his journalists discovered five illegitimate children in two small villages: “Five
It was like an open sewer: we were receiving anonymous letters
people telling us about backgrounds and cuckolds.” A society which had always prided itself on its sense of loyalty and traditional Catholicism
suddenly discovered the betrayals in its midst
“Perhaps the point is this,” Bonicelli wrote in an editorial
the investigation had been characterised by cutting-edge
but it was an old-fashioned detective who broke the case open
Marshall Giovanni Mocerino was Ruggeri’s right-hand man
His desk is covered in hundreds of scraps of paper
scrawled with names and numbers in different coloured inks
Mocerino has bushy grey hair and black-rimmed glasses and speaks in a light-hearted
a stubborn man: “I get fucked off when I can’t solve a case,” he told me
he had lived in the Bergamo Alps area since 1983 and he had come to know the region well
amid all the gossip about infidelities that had been sparked off by the hunt for Guerinoni’s lover
he knew everything about Guerinoni’s life: born in Gorno
Guerinoni had moved in the mid-1960s to Ponte Selva
a nearby settlement which had grown up around the bridge over the Serio river
He drove a public bus for the Motallini (later SAB) bus company
In the 1960s and 70s he would have driven plenty of young women to and from jobs in the various textile factories
Mocerino questioned Guerinoni’s fellow bus drivers
one of whom had already gone to the press in March 2013 saying that Guerinoni had confessed to having got a young woman “in trouble”
Another former colleague described Guerinoni as a “man” with a “capital M”
that one of Mocerino’s sources finally gave him the name he was looking for
and refuses to confirm who first whispered the name of the mystery woman to him but however it came about
investigators had the final piece of the jigsaw: Ester Arzuffi
Arzuffi had been a neighbour of Guerinoni’s in Ponte Selva in the late 1960s
she had married Gianni Bossetti from Parre
Bossetti was a man whose tough life had turned him inwards: he had been orphaned young and suffered from psoriasis
Arzuffi seemed very different: an outgoing
She got a job at the textile factory a few miles away in Villa d’Ogna
Ruggeri’s team immediately cross-checked the DNA samples they had
and discovered that Arzuffi had already been tested in July 2012
and realised that a basic error had been made by a geneticist in Rome – Arzuffi’s DNA had been compared not to Ignoto 1’s
Now investigators hurriedly reran the test and discovered that Arzuffi was
the woman they had spent so long looking for
but she had continued her affair with Guerinoni
and in the autumn of 1970 she gave birth to twins – a boy and a girl
The boy was called Massimo Bossetti (his middle name was Giuseppe
he was nicknamed “the animal” by his friends
married with three children and living in Mapello
the hamlet near Yara’s hometown where the last signal from Yara’s cell phone had been recorded on 26 November 2010
she set up a fake roadblock breathalysing drivers
When her police officers stopped Massimo Bossetti
they pretended the machine hadn’t worked the first time
His DNA was immediately sent for overnight tests and results showed it was an exact match with Ignoto 1
One geneticist told me that the chance of a random match between Ignoto 1 and Massimo Bossetti was 2 x 10-27
the man accused of murdering Yara Gambirasio
Photograph: The GuardianRuggeri wanted to observe Bossetti before arresting him
to study his movements and behaviour from a distance
but she was also worried that the news would get out and that he might leave town
Bossetti was arrested and charged with the murder of Yara Gambirasio
The Italian home secretary himself released a statement announcing his arrest
was relief: the murder suspect was from lower Bergamo
The suspect’s internet history
was troubling
using search
words which implied a compulsion
for pubescent young girlsInvestigators discovered plenty of circumstantial evidence
Bossetti had frequently hung around Yara’s house; he parked his car in Via Don Sala
and ate at the Toscanaccia pizzeria at the end of her road
He had gone for regular UV showers at a tanning shop nearby
using search words which implied a compulsion for pubescent young girls
records suggested that his phone had been present in Brembate di Sopra on the evening of Yara’s disappearance
but had been switched off from 5.45pm until the following morning at 7.34am
the arrest was the reward for almost four years of dogged investigative work
After enduring a barrage of criticism for alleged incompetence
The case is likely to come to trial this spring
and his lawyers are planning to contest the DNA evidence
claiming that DNA merely indicates “presence
three families are dealing with the devastation of the case
to come to terms with her husband’s infidelity and the existence of his other children
just as he was diagnosed with terminal cancer
Giovanni Bossetti became the nation’s most famous cuckold
learning at the same time as the rest of the country that none of his three children are his (leaks from the investigation revealed that Ester Arzuffi’s third child
has also come under strain: since his defence sought to portray him as a family man
two people have come forward to claim that they had affairs with his wife
Such is the local loathing for Bossetti that since his arrest
his twin sister – herself coming to terms with both her brother’s fate and the fact that the man she thought was her father is not biologically related to her – has twice been beaten up
still denies that she’s ever been unfaithful to her husband
awarding a gymnastics trophy named after her daughter
Maura Gambirasio struggled to smile and made no public comments
Yara is buried between her two grandparents in a cemetery just across the road from her gym
only a signature next to a photograph of her wearing a white alice band
All around the grave are mementoes left by her friends: gym shoes
gazing at the resting place of his parents and his daughter
Tobias Jones’s A Place of Refuge will be published by Quercus in May
Follow the Long Read on Twitter: @gdnlongread
This article was amended on 13 January 2015 to clarify that a DNA sample came from Yara Gambirasio’s phone battery
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Italy (BRAIN) — The owners of Vittoria Group
including founder and president Rudie Campagne
Wise Equity partner Stijn Vriends is being named president and CEO
Campagne bought the Italian company Vittoria Spa in 1990
when it was a small operation with fewer than 180 employees
the company has expanded to become one of the largest high-end tire makers in the world
with more than 1,300 employees producing more than 7 million tires a year
Annual sales are about 60 million euros ($68 million)
Vittoria produces tires for several other brands
The company has been a leader in use of graphene in tires and other products
Vittoria said the addition of graphene products led to a 15% increase in revenue since then
The company said it needed capital and new leadership to "to become the undisputed number one in developing products and materials with disruptive technologies
so it can keep on providing the best bicycle tires and wheels out there."
Campagne will remain as non-executive in the Vittoria board and honorary chairman for life. Wise Equity is a private equity fund based in Milan
new CEO Vriends said he sees opportunity in urban mobility and e-bikes
"It's more exciting than ever to be part of the ever-changing Urban Mobility landscape and our graphene tire technology
can now become our dominant competitive edge in the Urban bike category
as graphene tires are ideal for city and E-bikes which need long-endurance tires that don't run flat," he said
Vittoria launched an e-bike tire line on June 30
with a tire compound the company said makes e-bike batteries last longer
Vittoria is moving its headquarters from the Netherlands to Italy
which Campagne said was always in the plans
"Me and my partners eventually always wanted to bring the brand home to Italy
Turning over the reins to Wise Equity therefore feels like the completion of a cycle," Campagne said
Vittoria recently built a 7 million euro headquarters
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either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter
or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources
Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content
police went to the home of the widow of a bus driver in a small town in northern Italy
The widow produced a box of documents that contained her husband's paper driving licence
to which was affixed a marca da bollo (a postage stamp used for tax purposes)
Perhaps – they reasoned – the back of the stamp would contain the dead man's DNA
he had licked the stamp himself before sticking it on to the licence
The police had already DNA-tested so many people and documents in their search for the killer of 13-year-old Yara Gambirasio
that they did not hold out much hope of a breakthrough
results came back from the lab showing that the DNA on the stamp was a close match to DNA found on the underpants and leggings of the murdered girl
but they had a problem: he had died in 1999 – 11 years before the girl was murdered
went missing on the evening of Friday 26th November 2010
It is the kind of place where nothing happens
It is hardly open even by day – not even its church
Her parents repeatedly tried to contact her on her mobile phone
a Moroccan builder in the same town was arrested in connection with the case
after boarding a ferry to Tangiers from Genoa
Fikri was held for several weeks in custody but released when it became ever clearer that he was not the murderer
Three months after Gambirasio's disappearance – on 25th February 2011 – her partly decomposed and frozen corpse was found in a field 10 kms from her home by a model aircraft enthusiast who was out flying his radio-controlled plane
Yara had a dozen knife lacerations to her throat and back
which were too superficial to have caused her death
She had lost consciousness and died of exposure
Despite the time that had passed since her death
police forensic scientists found several good samples of DNA material from other people on her corpse
Several thousand people attended her funeral at which a message was read from the Italian president
Her family have refused to talk to the media
Lieutenant Colonel Michele La Russo of the Raggruppamento Opere Speciali (ROS) is the Carabinieri officer leading the murder investigation
rain and snow those two DNA traces were excellent
And we were able to exclude saliva and sperm
So that left blood." Gambirasio had not been raped
but he adds: "There are many other ways to sexually abuse a girl
the police launched a massive screening programme which involved not just combing DNA data banks but administering 15,000 voluntary DNA tests on men and women
"Nothing so large had ever been attempted anywhere in the world before," says Giorgio Portera
a former Carabinieri lieutenant and now a geneticist employed as a consultant by the family of the dead girl
Or as the Rome daily Il Foglio put it: "There was launched an operation perhaps without precedent in the field of criminology and jurisprudence – the genetic screening of an entire territory."
Among those asked to undergo the voluntary DNA tests were young men who frequent a disco called Le Sabbie Mobili (Quick Sand) near the field where the dead girl's body was found
These included Damiano Guerinoni whose DNA was very similar to that of the killer
who was by now nicknamed by police "Ignoto Uno" (Unknown One)
This young man was unquestionably a close relative of the killer
had even worked for several years as a daily help for the dead girl's family
So the police began to investigate his family
His father is one of 11 brothers and sisters
It was via this route that they arrived at the dead bus driver – one of his uncles – Giuseppe Guerinoni
In September 2012 they went to the house of his widow
in another small town near Bergamo called Clusone – 30km northeast of Brembate di Sopra
Clusone boasts one of the most impressive surviving external medieval murals: "The Triumph of Death" executed in 1485 by Giacomo Borlone de Buschis
Its inscription declares: Non è omo così forte
che da mi non po' schapare (No man exists strong enough to be able to escape from me.)
It was in Clusone – nearly two years after Yara's disappearance – that they made their first breakthrough
"Finding the marca da bollo on the driving licence in the house of the bus driver's widow was a significant step forward," says Lieutenant Colonel La Russo
"It connected the killer with a real person at last – even if he was dead."
who had died in 1999 aged 61 had three children with his wife who were quickly excluded as suspects
He was "a strong man able to live each day in symphony with his vital spirit"
an old friend Antonio Negroni would later tell the press
that he must also have had a child – a male child – out of wedlock and that this child was the killer
That the killer was a man rather than a woman was clear from the DNA samples found on the dead girl
according to the former Carabiniere lieutenant Portera
the DNA on the marca da bollo was "insufficient" because the DNA trace was "feeble" and he insisted that the body of the deceased man be exhumed
samples of his DNA were taken from one of his femurs
There was a total absence of old-fashioned clues as to the identity of the murderer; the only way to catch him was via modern science
So the police had to track down the illegitimate child of the dead bus driver and one way of doing that would be to identify his mother
She was in the dark about her dead husband's extra-marital activities and
like all the major protagonists in this saga
The police reconstructed a biography of Guerinoni's private life and of every single woman he had ever known
the kind of omertà that you associate not with the north of Italy but with Sicily and the mafia
but in the end we got there by means of patient
They located a former colleague of the bus driver
he was a ladies' man and lots of young women travelled on his bus to and from work
he got into trouble." But he was either unable or unwilling to reveal to police the name of that woman
He now risks prosecution for 'false testimony'
which is a crime in Italy as there is no right to silence there
The police tracked down the woman from her DNA
Police identified 532 women who the dead bus driver had known in his life with whom he could have had sexual relations and who were still alive
They DNA tested them all first in 2012 –2013 and again in 2014
Like all the other women identified by the police as women that knew Guerinoni
she consented to a DNA test without protest
Her DNA was a perfect match for that found on the dead girl – perfect in the sense that she is the mother of the killer
"She has the female part of the DNA of Ignoto Uno," explains Portera
Arzuffi has been married to the same man – Giovanni Bossetti – since 1967 when she was 19 years old
These days she and her husband also live in Brembate di Sopre
The couple have three children: two twins (a boy and a girl) born in 1970 – Massimo Giuseppe and Laura Laetizia – and a younger son – Fabio
But the DNA tests revealed that the father of her twins is not her husband
her eldest son – Massimo Giuseppe Bossetti – now stands accused of being the killer
"It's complicated but the female twin was excluded as a suspect because in females the chromosomes are different," explains La Russo
But could the bus driver not have had another illegitimate son – Ignoto Due
with the same DNA – who killed the girl
but those children could not be the killer because even though their DNA would be a close match it would not be close enough."
The police soon arrived at Massimo Giuseppe Bossetti
an apparently happily married 43-year-old carpenter who has three children aged 13
10 and seven and whose only quirk seemed to be a passion for sun lamp massage parlours
the police set up a roadblock near Bossetti's home in Mapello
a village a few kilometers from Brembate di Sopra
But they now had his DNA on the breathalyser tube which they swiftly sent off to the lab for analysis
The match between the DNA on the breathalyzer tube and the DNA on the dead girl's clothing was clear
To be precise it showed 21 compatible markers (16 to 17 are normally considered enough)
and their forensic experts are almost completely sure that he is the killer
the police arrested Bossetti at the building site where he worked
He refuses to speak except to say that he is innocent and that he does not understand how his DNA is on the dead girl's clothes
which the DNA that was found on the dead girl also reveals
This was a detail the Italian police discovered in the course of their inquiries from a visit to a lab in Washington DC with more sophisticated technology
has spoken only once to the media – to the Corriere della Sera – when she denied having an affair with the bus driver but admitted that she had known him as a young woman
and said: "I did not have an affair with him unless my mind is playing me absurd tricks."
there remain many doubts about the alleged culpability of Bossetti
two men came forward to tell magistrates that they had had affairs with Bossetti's wife
He last used his mobile phone on the night of the murder at 17.45
and then switched it off until 7.44 the following day
was filmed by the security-cameras at the Shell petrol station opposite the gym in Brembate di Sopra at around 6pm and 10 minutes later by the video-cameras of the Banca Credito Cooperativo near the girl's home
Bossetti went to the town frequently to see his brother and his accountant
and had passed through it the night of the murder on his way home from work
to avoid the heavy traffic on the more direct route
broke her silence only last month in a TV interview
in which she proclaimed her husband's innocence: "They cannot explain to us how his DNA was found on Yara's clothes," she said
and he was always there – as he was that night."
There remain doubts as well about the accuracy of DNA analysis
a 24-year-old Italian woman Annalisa Vincentini
was shot dead in a pine wood on the coast near Livorno
the Italian police said that DNA traces found on her corpse matched "perfectly" those of a 23-year-old British barman from Liverpool
had been arrested by British police under an international arrest warrant
DNA traces found in her car and on her corpse had been circulated throughout Europe and matched – so it was claimed – those of the barman
whose DNA had been tested in 2001 when he was arrested for drink-driving
the barman was on duty in the pub where he worked in Liverpool on the day of the murder and furthermore he had never even been to Italy
There is now no suggestion that he is anything other than completely innocent
the British police admitted that they had bungled the DNA match between the samples sent from Italy and those of the barman in their DNA data bank
a different man was convicted of the murder
in this case investigators had to do the DNA screening of the 532 women who might have had an illegitimate child with the bus driver twice
The first screening in 2012–2013 did not identify the mother of the killer whereas the second screening at the beginning of 2014 did
The investigators ordered the second screening – according to some sources close to the inquiry – only after Antonio Negroni
the town where he had lived – finally told a carabiniere officer
the name of the woman who was the mother of his illegitimate children: Arzuffi
Lt Col La Russo denies the importance of this testimony and he also denies that mistakes were made in the first screening
we tested only the nucleus in the DNA samples from the women
but we then discovered that the nucleus of the DNA on Yara's corpse was damaged and too poor for a match with the mother although it was fine for a match with the father," he says
"So we ordered a second screening in which we tested the mitochondria that surround the nucleus of the DNA which contains more female traces."
says: "We have of course asked to do our own DNA tests because my client professes his innocence and is adamant that the DNA found on the deceased cannot therefore be his."
When news emerged in 2012 that the Italian police were seeking illegitimate male children of the bus driver
in connection with the murder of Gambirasio
Bossetti did ask his mother: "Did you ever know Giuseppe Guerinoni?" He admitted this to magistrates
It is perhaps the closest thing they have to proof of his guilt
from a man who continues to protest his innocence – apart
from that nearly perfect DNA match – of course
Correction: This article originally made an error in describing a model plane as being radar-controlled when it was meant radio-controlled
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Vittoria Park is the first theme park in Italy dedicated to cycling
combining fun for enthusiasts with the research and development functions of the two-wheel tyre company
It’s a park dedicated to cycling with 4 km of trails of all kinds that allow product testing but are also open to the public of amateurs
the park was created on the initiative of Vittoria
The project covers a total area of about 50,000 square metres
made with permeable paving and natural materials (earth
Integrated into the project is the building called “Vittoria House”
changing rooms and toilets for park users.
In the area of the Vittoria Park in Brembate
with a gravel deviation and two parallel tracks that replicate iconic cycling roads
such as Strade Bianche and the pavé of Paris-Roubaix
as well as a 380-metre long jump line with drops of up to 2 metres
roots and rocks and various obstacles for fun and training.
there is an airbag for jumps (which also uses the clubhouse roof)
which meets the standards for hosting UCI races
coordinamento generale progettazione e realizzazione:
TEMPUS Architettura & Design (architetti Gaetano Colombo e Alberto Previtali)
Progetto strutture: Chiappa Ingegneri Associati (ingegneri Paolo Chiappa e Stefano Chiappa)
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The Yara Gambirasio Case: Beyond Reasonable Doubt is a new five-part documentary series on Netflix that strikes up a conversation about one of the most prolific murder cases from Italy in recent times
When a young schoolgirl of 13 was found dead in the Brembate di Sopra area of Bergamo in 2011
the Italian media and the public launched a devastated outcry against the horrific crime
While a suspect was identified and arrested in 2014 and then eventually tried and found guilty as well
many consider the case to be still unsolved
The Yara Gambirasio Case promises to bring the matter back into public discussion and make some efforts to find out the real truth while also providing an interesting watch for those unacquainted with the grisly murder case
The Yara Gambirasio Case begins with old photographs of a bright and happy girl
with her father Fulvio describing her as someone who was always kind and nice to others
Both the visuals and Fulvio’s voiceover make it clear that Yara is not really present to tell her own tale
Yara Gambirasio was a young schoolgirl whose disappearance caused a massive stir in the Italian media and society at large
Born into a middle-class family in Brembate di Sopra
Yara was interested in rhythmic gymnastics from a very young age
resulting in Yara and her three siblings also growing up with these values
Within a short while after beginning training
young Yara turned out to be very skilled in gymnastics
was not really very different in that regard
as Yara left home to go to her practice at the gym
which was only a couple of blocks away from her house
which was past Yara’s usual time of return
her mother started to call her up to check on her
The parents mention how their daughter had a habit of calling up and informing them about every little detail
made the situation a bit suspicious for them
Maura’s calls were also unanswered and redirected to voicemail
Maura called up the authorities at the gymnasium only to learn that Yara was no longer at the place and must have left a long time ago
This was when the alarm bells went off for the Gambirasios
and they immediately informed the police about their daughter being missing.
The police initially considered whether the girl might have run away from home
but her family was confident this was not the case
and she had not had any experiences or made any connections that would make her think like a rebellious teenager
and then panic changed to a feeling of despair for the family as days passed with no trace of Yara
While everyone at the gymnasium reported that the girl had left after her practice
nobody had actually seen her leave since the main doors of the facility were not visible from the practice area
The security camera right outside the facility was also in an inoperative state
meaning that her movements could not be tracked in any way
After talking to the authorities and also the other gymnasts
one of whom was the last one to speak to Yara over text messages
the police were sure that she must have left the gym and not returned home
The fact that she did not have any money with her
as she always walked to the place from her home and so did not carry her purse
meant that she must have gotten into a car with someone she knew and trusted enough.
in the Bergamo area by the police and citizens
with helicopters also being used to scan localities from above
The police opened up to any suggestions by the common people
all while the media was extensively reporting on the case of the girl who seemed to have disappeared
but none of it led to any significant result
A local boy who claimed to have been an eyewitness said that he had seen Yara with two men on the evening of her disappearance
but this information did not lead the police anywhere either
A team of sniffer dogs was eventually employed to find the girl
and their movements made it seem like the girl had indeed left the gym and walked in a direction opposite to her home
The dogs stopped at a shopping mall construction site some two kilometers away
around three months after Yara’s disappearance
the first major breakthrough was made when a man was pursuing his hobby of flying model planes over an empty field behind a few clubs and other businesses
the man had to go retrieve it when he found something unnatural
and he immediately informed the police about it
The decomposing body of a young girl was found
and the clothes and items on it confirmed that it was indeed Yara Gambirasio
The autopsy that was conducted suggested that the girl had been a victim of sexual assault
and then she had been left to die in the empty field
As everyone in the community and the entirety of Italy demanded a proper investigation into the matter and a strict punishment for the perpetrator
the police went on to conduct one of the biggest manhunts in the history of Italy in order to solve the mystery of Yara Gambirasio’s death
The most important finding by the police from the autopsy was that Yara seemed to have been murdered in the same field where she was found
with her hand clutching grass that matched the ones growing at the place
Fragments of lime and small metal balls were found on her clothes and body
suggesting that the assailant must have been a construction worker
as these objects are usually found at construction sites
fragments of an unknown man’s DNA were found on Yara’s underwear and leggings
which suggested that this person was obviously her rapist and murderer
soon started an extensive drive to collect DNA samples of citizens
and these samples were tested against the one found on the victim’s body
While it did not initially lead to a considerable lead
a close match was eventually found with a young man named Damiano Guerinoni
who incidentally regularly visited the club behind which Yara’s body was found
the boy’s mother used to work earlier as a nanny at the Gambirasio house
but Damiano had been living abroad during the time of the murder
Since Damiano’s DNA matched closely with that of the perpetrator
who had been named as Suspect One by the police and media
and DNA samples were taken from each of them
While a cousin of Damiano also showed a close result
neither of them completely matched the DNA of the perpetrator
and so it was believed that the mystery lay with the only dead person in the family
Giuseppe was the biological father of Suspect One
even though the sons in his family did not show the same genetic structure
This meant that Giuseppe had some illegitimate child who had kidnapped and killed Yara
and the police searched for a connection from then on
A lead was eventually found when an old scandal was unearthed in which Giuseppe
was believed to have been in an affair with a married woman named Ester Arzuffi
her husband introduced her to a friend of his
and the latter agreed to drive her to work every morning in his personal car.
As soon as news of this scandal reached the media
intense scrutiny was carried out against the woman
who seemed to desperately try and bury her secret affair
even though it was clear that she was hiding something
suddenly found out that the man whom they knew to be their father was not even biologically related to them and that they were children of an extramarital affair
their younger brother’s DNA did not match theirs or their father’s
meaning that Ester had lied about his parentage as well
While the police investigation led to this familial scandal
which was instantly picked up by the media to sensationalize the case
was analyzed and matched with that of the perpetrator
When the police arrived at Massimo’s worksite to arrest the man in June of 2014
which obviously did not work out considering the large police force that was sent after him
his failed attempt at escape was seen as a sign of his guilt by many
Although he claimed innocence in the matter from the very beginning
Massimo was imprisoned as soon as he was arrested
A video of a van driving around in circles near the gymnasium on the night of Yara’s disappearance was released in the media
and the description of the van matched exactly with Massimo’s personal vehicle
His personal habit of getting a tan regularly and of watching adult films
were also factors in his character assessment
It was even stated by the prosecution that words associated with child exploitation videos were also found in the man’s internet history
have claimed that he is innocent and that he has only been framed for the murder
Massimo appears in the Netflix documentary as well
and he claims that he wants justice for Yara
for he is not the one who hurt her so terribly
neither he nor his lawyers could ultimately convince the court back in 2016 when the trial finally ended with a result
the Bergamo court overseeing the case found Massimo Bossetti to be guilty of the rape and murder of Yara Gamirasio and sentenced him to life imprisonment
and his participation in the documentary is also from behind bars
Although the court trial found Massimo Bossetti guilty of the murder of Yara Gambirasio
there are still some who argue that the case has not really been solved
suggesting that Massimo is not the real perpetrator
The purpose of Netflix’s The Yara Gambirasio Case is to raise questions about the flaws in the investigation and to once again ask whether the real murderer is still out there living a free life
The investigation led by state prosecutor Letizia Ruggeri did indeed have quite some discrepancies and irregularities
the DNA collection drive that was first carried out had the authorities mistakenly compare the samples from common people to those of Yara herself instead of the DNA of the perpetrator
the mitochondria cells in the DNA sample of Suspect One did not actually match those of Massimo
which makes the main evidence only partially true to the prosecution’s claim
There was a clear rush from the authorities to find the killer
and when someone like Massimo fit the description of the perpetrator in some way
The video that was circulated of him driving his van around the gym on the night of the girl’s disappearance
which caused public opinion to turn against Massimo
The prosecution stated that the video was actually fabricated for some TV program and did not have any connection to reality
The dead body of a teenage Indian girl was also found in the area only a few weeks earlier
and the fact that both these bodies had similar injuries could have suggested that a serial killer was on the loose
But this angle was never seriously investigated
There are also possible theories about Yara having been killed inside the gym and her body later being transferred to the field
the field had been searched by the police earlier
Some also believe that Yara was killed due to some professional rivalry against her father
who feared for the safety of his remaining family members and did not report this
the biggest question that still remains is about the motive that Massimo could have had behind the kidnapping
While the man’s mobile network was stated to have put him near the crime scene
it was later revealed that the same tower signal could be tracked at his house as well
meaning that it was not a serious piece of evidence
The court trial also could not put any motive behind his actions
and such was the misdirection in the case that an official investigation for fraud was carried out against Letizia Rugger in 2022
The former prosecutor has been indicted in the case
But the ones most devastated by the incident
still live in their home in Brembate di Sopra
and run an association for teenagers pursuing sports and the arts.