Murder of Yara Gambirasio

Yara Gambirasio (21 May 1997 – 26 November 2010) was a 13-year-old Italian girl killed on the evening of 26 November 2010.

Murder and case development

At 18:44 of 26 November 2010, Yara left the Brembate di Sopra, Italy sport center alone, but never arrived home 700 meters away. Her family soon called the Carabinieri, but despite a search involving hundreds of volunteers, her body was not found until 26 February 2011 in Chignolo d'Isola, 10 kilometres from Brembate di Sopra. There were multiple stab wounds on her body and a large wound on her head. In August 2011 a final autopsy report had not yet been released and not even the exact cause of death had been ascertained, leaked details from the investigation suggest that the death was caused by a combination of a head blow (probably with a stone), at least six cut wounds (none deadly) and freezing. It does not appear that Yara was raped. The funeral of Yara Gambirasio took place on 28 May 2011 and was presided by the bishop of Bergamo Francesco Beschi. The first suspect was a Moroccan who was arrested, and then exonerated. After a trace of genetic material was taken from the victim's pants, the forensic scientists analysed and compared about 22,000 DNA profiles in the search of a suspect with matching DNA, referred as "Ignoto 1" (Unknown 1, the identifying nickname given by investigators to murderer of Yara). On 16 June 2014 an Italian bricklayer who lives and works in the zone, Massimo Giuseppe Bossetti, was arrested and accused of being the murderer mainly based on the DNA match with "Ignoto 1". While the deceased father of the "Ignoto 1", Giuseppe Guerinoni who died in 1999 was identified relatively quickly, the search for the actual suspect was very long and complicated because he was an illegitimate son of Giuseppe Guerinoni - which was apparently previously totally unknown to anyone else. He became target of investigations after his mother was tested for DNA and the tests showed that it was likely that the suspect was a son of hers. Because the investigators wanted to observe the suspect for several months before confronting him, the DNA match of Massimo Giuseppe Bossetti with that of "Ignoto 1" was confirmed during an apparently routine breathalyser test, which was performed specifically with the intention of obtaining Bossetti's DNA.

Bossetti claims his innocence (affirming that he suffered from epistaxis, and that someone stole his work tools including a knife, an awl and a trowel, perhaps soiled with blood for this reason, or that the DNA proof is falsed, also due to excessive exposure to the weather or human miscarriage; forensics affirm instead that the trace is "of excellent quality... 21 loci") and refuse every hypothesis of any plea bargain or confession, despite risks life imprisonment. His wife confirmed his alibi, but she's not believed, also based on some phone recordings.

In January 2015 a scientific adviser to the court states that the MtDNA of "Ignoto 1" may not match that of Bossetti, and there might be the possibility of an error. According to rumors, as early as July 2013, the DNA had no correspondence with the genetic maternal line of Massimo Bossetti (explained with an error of comparison between the thousands of samples), while that correspondence was found after a further analysis on the illegitimate child - after a suggestion of an acquaintance - of Ester Arzuffi (the mother of the suspect). If Bossetti appears to be Guerinoni son, there are still doubts even on the nuclear DNA and its correspondence with the profile of the suspect. The attorney refuses, however, to question the evidence, as requested by the lawyers of Bossetti, who have repeated several times the request for release of their client, and ask to declare him not guilty in a future trial. Bossetti's lawyer said that «there is an obvious anomaly, the mitochondrial DNA does not match the nuclear DNA. This should at least make us raise a question: whether the whole process which led to the identification of DNA has been done in the most absolute correctness, or not».

External links

• New York Times: In Search for Killer, DNA Sweep Exposes Intimate Family Secrets in Italy, 27 July 2014
• The Guardian: The murder that obsessed Italy, 8 January 2015