Monster of Florence
The facts and theories
The investigators noticed some elements that were similar in the murders - the killer usually attacked on Saturdays, the victims often spent their last evening on the discotheque, he preferred to attack in total darkness, especially moonless nights. At the beginning the fact that he was going through the purses of female victims suggested that robbery could have been one of the reasons behind the murders, but since the mutilations started it was believed that he killer was taking things that belongs to the victim as sort of gruesome souvenirs.
Few of the female victims (Rontini, Pettini and Cambi) before their deaths were telling their friends or relatives that an unpleasant man was bothering them. Since they were young (two of them 18, one 24) and did not mention that it was much older man this would rather rule out the Pacciani or his friends involvement since they were about 40-50 at the time and for such young girls they would seem to be dinosaurs. But those reports would again suggest the very personal motives behind the killings.
During the investigation police noticed the complete lack of fingerprints, which led them to conclusion that the killer was using surgical gloves, which is a little bit far fetched assumption. Without further evidence any sort of gloves would give the same effect - lack of fingerprints. Perhaps it was based on the suggestion of one of the pathologists that the killer was skilled with the sharp instruments, which leads to the obvious conclusion - a surgeon. If we assume he is surgeon we automatically assume he was using surgical gloves.
This was in fact a good lead since two other facts would point in that direction - a Winchester bullet found on the sidewalk outside of the hospital and the phones to the hospital employee asking for informations about Mainardi statement while the employee was on the vacation. The bullet of course could have been a complete accident that it was dropped outside the hospital, but on the other hand if the killer was as organized as the police believes he might have been trying to deceit them by placing the bullet there and pointing them in wrong direction. After all there were rumours in the media that suggested that the killer was of medical profession.
The other interesting fact is the phone made by the killer to the hospital employee while he was at the vacation. After all we are talking about times when there were no cellphones, so the killer not only must have known the identity of that person, but also known that the person wasn’t at work, find out where he was staying during the holiday and find the number for that place. It is interesting because the killer obviously had spent a lot of time collecting that information and the easiest way to get them is ask someone who knows this employee - for example other people that work in that hospital. The easiest way to achieve it would be pretending to be a colleague, or in fact being a colleague. After all doctors will stick together just like firemen, policemen, car fans or any other social group. Unfortunately we do not have any informations if the police actually checked that part of the story.
During the investigation Massimo Introvigne, a religious historian, came up with the theory that since Florence, which partly inspired the poet Dante to write his Inferno, had a long tradition of sorcery and occult sects, the mutilations to the female victims might have been a part of the religious motive behind the killings. This has influenced the police investigation and even led to the incarceration of Vanni and Lotti.
Can you solve a case like this?
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