The mystery deepens in the disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi. Prosecutors say a lead was overlooked

The case of Emanuela Orlandi, the 15-year-old daughter of a Vatican employee who disappeared in Rome 40 years ago, has taken another twist, after prosecutors in the Vatican and Rome suggested the child’s uncle was involved in the case, reports said. CNN. Emanuela’s brother Pietro Orlandi rejected what he described as a “shameful attempt” by prosecutors to shift the blame onto his family.

Pietro Orlandi, who has devoted his life to searching for his missing sister, gave a press conference on Tuesday as Italian news channel La7 aired a special report based on documents from the investigation handed over to Vatican prosecutors. Rome in June after the case was reopened in January.

According to documents handed over by the Vatican to prosecutors in Rome, Pietro Orlandi and his lawyer Laura Scro confirmed that it was true that Mario Meneguzzi, who was married to Emanuela’s maternal aunt, had sexually abused Emanuela’s then-elder sister for 21 years. , Natalina suggested that he may have been abusing the missing child during the period of the youth’s disappearance.

The track didn’t notice

Although the Orlandi family says the complaint against the uncle was investigated and his involvement ruled out, a document on the alleged uncle provided by a lawyer to the Italian TV show says a possible lead was overlooked. Now, the Orlandi family fears the file lacks the investigative leads they hoped the prosecutor in Rome would consider — primarily that the Vatican was somehow involved.

After the show aired, Orlandi wrote on her Facebook page that her hopes of hearing “good news” were dashed. “That evening, my uncle was 200 kilometers (124 miles) away on vacation with his family, and my father called him, and he immediately came to Rome – well known to the prosecutor’s office because it was written in the documents. For 40 years. Tonight a shameful act took place.

The Vatican also responded to the documentary, with a spokesperson saying, “The Holy See shares the family’s desire to get to the truth about the facts and, to that end, trusts that all investigative hypotheses will be examined.”

Emanuela disappeared on June 22, 1983 after a music lesson at a school adjacent to the Sant’Apollinare Opus Dei Catholic Church near Piazza Navona in Rome. The daughter of a Vatican employee, the young woman lived within the walls of the Vatican Castle, where her mother still lives.

Natalina Orlandi said at the press conference that her uncle had been “trying” to reach out to her for a month, but she refused and eventually engaged her boyfriend at the time. “Then it was over and we never looked back,” he said, adding that the family maintained a good relationship with his uncle, his wife and his children. Although she admits she has a “bad” impression of her uncle, who died a decade ago, she does not believe he was involved in her sister’s disappearance. “We reject that possibility,” he said.

Laura Skrow, the attorney for the Orlandi family, said during the press conference that authorities questioned Emanuela’s uncle and concluded that he could not have been involved in the child’s disappearance following an investigation. “The Italian judiciary already dealt with these investigations in the early 1980s without reaching any conclusions,” he said. “I believe these are not the only new documents the Vatican prosecutor has sent to the prosecutor in Rome.”

Emanuela Orlandi’s case has been known throughout Italy since her disappearance and has fueled conspiracy theories involving the Mafia, international terrorists and even leaders of the Catholic Church. It gained even more international fame with the release last fall of Netflix’s documentary series Vatican Girl, directed by Mark Lewis.

Publisher: CLB