Rome University student Sara Di Pietrantonio was burned alive by her ex-boyfriend after she left him, authorities said Monday. The lead investigator called the most atrocious crime he has seen in his career.
Di Pietrantonio, 22, died before dawn Sunday after Vincenzo Paduano, 27, set her car afire, prosecutor Maria Monteleone told reporters. He then chased her after she ran out of the car, setting her ablaze when he caught up with her, authorities said. Paduano was being held for premeditated murder, with the prosecutor saying of the crime: “Paduano didn’t accept being abandoned’ by the woman. He organized, he planned the aggression.”
Luigi Silipo, the lead police official in the investigation said: “I can say that in 25 years in this work I have never seen something so atrocious.”
Silipo continued to describe the events in detail:
The suspect walked off his job as a security guard about 3 am and waited outside the home of Di Pietrantonio’s current boyfriend. Then, after the woman left the home and drove off by herself, Paduano drove off, eventually forcing her car to the side of the road, he said. He got into her car, and after an argument, doused the car (interior) with a small bottle of alcohol, and doused Sara, too. She ran out, he torched the car, caught up with her, and after about 100 meters set her ablaze, leaving her to die in an atrocious manner.
