How Denise Pipitone might look today.
On 1st September 2004 Denise, then aged four, was playing outside her house in Mazara del Vallo [Trapani] while her mother was preparing lunch. She was last seen at 11.45 am. By noon there was no trace of her.
On 18th October 2004 a bank security guard saw a child who resembled Denise in Milan. The child was with a group of people who appeared to be travellers or Roma. The guard called the police but the group left before they arrived. The guard took a videoclip with his cellphone and in it the child speaks to a woman in the group in Italian. Denise’s mother, Piera Maggio, told the press that she believed the child was her daughter and a police analysis of the clip found physical resemblances to Denise but it was not possible to confirm the child’s identity.
Since then, as in the Madeleine McCann case, there have been many unconfirmed “sightings”, most notably of a child found on Kos in 2008. However, DNA tests confirmed that the woman looking after that child was her biological mother.
Piera Maggio has never given up her efforts to find Denise and she was largely responsible for the passing of a law making the abduction of a minor without demanding a ransom a crime in Italy and for an amendment imposing more severe penalties.
Now, however, the case has taken on an upsetting and sinister twist: Denise’s 22-year-old stepsister, Jessica Pulizzi, has been indicted on charges of complicity in kidnapping and her trial began, in her absence because of illness, yesterday. Jessica’s mother, the first wife of Piero Pulizzi, is also under investigation. The hypothesis is that Jessica Pulizzi abducted Denise in order to avenge Piera Maggio, the woman she blamed for the break-up of her parents’ marriage. Pulizzi’s former boyfriend is also being tried for giving false statements to the prosecutor.
Meanwhile Piera Maggio’s agony continues.
The 2004 disappearance of Denise Pipitone in Sicily was so strange that she has been dubbed “Italy’s Madeleine McCann”.
On 1st September 2004 Denise, then aged four, was playing outside her house in Mazara del Vallo [Trapani] while her mother was preparing lunch. She was last seen at 11.45 am. By noon there was no trace of her.
On 18th October 2004 a bank security guard saw a child who resembled Denise in Milan. The child was with a group of people who appeared to be travellers or Roma. The guard called the police but the group left before they arrived. The guard took a videoclip with his cellphone and in it the child speaks to a woman in the group in Italian. Denise’s mother, Piera Maggio, told the press that she believed the child was her daughter and a police analysis of the clip found physical resemblances to Denise but it was not possible to confirm the child’s identity.
Since then, as in the Madeleine McCann case, there have been many unconfirmed “sightings”, most notably of a child found on Kos in 2008. However, DNA tests confirmed that the woman looking after that child was her biological mother.
Piera Maggio has never given up her efforts to find Denise and she was largely responsible for the passing of a law making the abduction of a minor without demanding a ransom a crime in Italy and for an amendment imposing more severe penalties.
Now, however, the case has taken on an upsetting and sinister twist: Denise’s 22-year-old stepsister, Jessica Pulizzi, has been indicted on charges of complicity in kidnapping and her trial began, in her absence because of illness, yesterday. Jessica’s mother, the first wife of Piero Pulizzi, is also under investigation. The hypothesis is that Jessica Pulizzi abducted Denise in order to avenge Piera Maggio, the woman she blamed for the break-up of her parents’ marriage. Pulizzi’s former boyfriend is also being tried for giving false statements to the prosecutor.
Meanwhile Piera Maggio’s agony continues.
10 comments:
Oh! What a terrible story! I do hope there is a positive happy resolution.
Revenge is never sweet - too many lives are smashed and hearts broken. Too much time and energy wasted on evil deeds and thoughts.
For those of us who do not get news beyond Hollywood's latest gossip (in other words, those in the U.S)...please let us know what happens in the trial.
What a Sicilian case: love, jealousy and revenge! I hope Denise was kidnapped by the first wife as at least there's a good chance she's still alive.
How horrible...
So abducting a minor WITHOUT a random was legal up until then..?!? CRAZY man! CRAZY!!!
You know when I was about 8 or 9 I was approached by a strange man I had never seen before, who knew my name and said he had "come to pick me up"... thankfully I was quickthinking enough to say I was somebody else... but to this day it puzzles me who the hell that was and what he was up to...
We think we're in civilized times and yet this sort of thing is always somewhere close at hand.
I can't even imagine what it must be like for that mother. It's the not knowing that would drive me crazy. What a sad case.
THis kind of story leaves one no where to go for hope...
Hi, Lee. Yes, terrible. I agree with you about revenge. Hi, Laura. I will. Hi, WW. A terrible story, though. We all hope she is still alive but I think even her mother is losing hope now. Hi, GLeds. Very complicated. Before, kidnapping of a minor was not a separate crime in Italy - "kidnapping" covered all. And there was a higher penalty for kidnapping with a ransom demand. I think this was during the period of kidnapping of adults in Sardinia and Campania some years ago. Hi, James. Yes. It's a horrible reminder. Hi, Betty. Yes, her pain is unimaginable and I agree. Not knowing must be the worst part. Hi, Lady M. I agree. It is so sad.
THat is a terrible story Welshcakes. I can only imagine the agony of the mother
Hi, jams. Yes, terrible.
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