A significant development has emerged in the long-running investigation into the disappearance of Vatican citizen Emanuela Orlandi, who vanished in Rome on 22 June 1983 at age 15.
Laura Casagrande, identified as a friend and former classmate from the same music school Orlandi attended, has been formally registered as a person of interest by the Rome prosecutor’s office on suspicion of providing false statements to the public prosecutor.
According to investigators, Casagrande supplied contradictory accounts of events in the hours leading up to Orlandi’s disappearance. She was questioned this morning at the investigative offices in Piazzale Clodio, accompanied by her attorney.
Pietro Orlandi, the missing girl’s brother, described the development as “an important piece of news” and expressed satisfaction that the prosecutor is handling the matter with due seriousness. The legal representative for the Orlandi family reiterated their “full confidence in the work of the magistrates.”
Investigations into the case were reopened in 2023 and are being coordinated by the Carabinieri’s investigative unit in Rome under the supervision of the public prosecutor. Authorities are reviewing extensive material, with particular focus on reconstructing the timeline of Orlandi’s final hours.
Casagrande had previously been heard by a bicameral parliamentary commission of inquiry into the Orlandi case, where she provided detailed testimony about her recollections of Orlandi’s movements on the day she disappeared.
Via ANSA
