Two people , linked by a thin virtual thread, committed suicide. This remains of a story made of illusions, fragility, lies and shame. Daniele was 24 years old when, a year ago, he decided to end it after discovering that what he believed to be his girlfriend - known online and never met or heard - was actually a man who lived in a town near Forlì, the his city. The latter, Roberto , was 64 instead of years old. He killed himself in the night, after this story, and his behavior, became public knowledge.

The story was born as what in the jargon is called 'catfish' , literally a catfish. It is the widespread practice of creating a false virtual identity , especially with social networks. Two years ago Daniele met Irene on the internet , a beautiful 20-year-old girl with whom he fell in love without ever having seen her. As investigators have found, Daniele and Irene exchanged over 8 thousand messages , in which they even came to plan a family together. However, the young man had begun to doubt the woman's true identity when he realized that her photos were the same as those of a Roman model . When asked for explanations, she ended the relationship.

So in September last year, the 24-year-old took his own life , leaving a letter to his family. Her parents checked her contacts and learned of the relationship with Irene , but discovered that the girl was actually a 64-year-old man who lived in a town a few kilometers from Forlì.

The complaint to the carabinieri was immediately launched with the prosecutor who opened an investigation. Roberto suffered a criminal decree of conviction with a fine of 825 euros for the replacement of a person, but the accusation of death as a consequence of another crime was dismissed by the investigators themselves , because a causal link between the death of the young man was not found. and man's behavior. The young man's family, through their lawyers , opposed the request for archiving and decided to tell the whole story on the television program “Le Iene” . The report also shows the condemned man, joined by the television crew in the village where he lives with his elderly mother. "It was a joke, if he had problems with his head it's not my fault," said the man into the microphone.

After the service of the Hyenas, Daniele's case rose to the media spotlight. His parents wrote a letter to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in which they take it out on the functioning of justice. The story comes to an end when Roberto's mother finds her son's lifeless body on the floor of the house. Investigations are underway to clarify the dynamics of the death, but on one point the carabinieri have no doubts: Roberto committed suicide.

(Unioneonline / vf)

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