«I free them from Satan» and massacres the family: a couple of acquaintances are also stopped

He felt demonic presences in the house , so – in the grip of hallucinations – he killed his wife and two of his three children . It happened in Altavilla Milicia (Palermo). The 54-year-old Giovanni Barreca's obsession with religion had become such an obsession that it pushed him to carry out the massacre. On his social profiles, we lose count of the posts against society and the official Church. It is not yet clear whether the spouse Antonella Salamone and the two children, Kevin, 16, and Emanuel, 3, all died on the same day and investigations are continuing to reconstruct the story. Late in the evening Barreca was stopped by the carabinieri together with a couple who allegedly participated in the massacre, which was survived by the couple's 17-year-old daughter , who managed to escape and ask for help, only to be rescued by 118: « They did an exorcism to chase away the devil", the girl allegedly told the police, accusing her father and the couple of friends arrested in the evening.

The three crimes could have occurred at different times: last night or even in the previous days. A first false alarm came with the discovery of some bones in the garden, only later classified as animals. A circumstance that leads to evaluating the possibility of satanic and esoteric rites as well.

According to what the investors explain, the triple murder was particularly bloody, with one of the sons tied up and strangled with chains . From the testimonies of the surviving teenager it emerged that the man woke up in the middle of the night in the throes of hallucinations, saying he felt demonic presences in the house. After killing the family he called the police, warning them that he would be found in Casteldaccia, a nearby town, where he was spotted.

According to relatives, the two spouses have recently had some financial problems and some misunderstandings but nothing that could suggest such a dramatic epilogue. He attended the evangelist community and was a bricklayer, she was a carer. Yet it seems there was never enough money.

(Unioneonline/vf)