Louis Dassilva acquitted and immediately released . The verdict on the murder of Pierina Paganelli, the elderly neighbor of the sole defendant, occurred in Rimini on October 3, 2023 , after more than 16 hours of deliberation at the Rimini Assize Court.

Dassilva faced a life sentence, requested by prosecutor Daniele Paci, and had been in prison since July 2024. He arrived in court shortly before the reading of the verdict, greeted by a roar from many friends and acquaintances, including fellow Senegalese, as well as his wife Valeria Bartolocci, and left the courtroom escorted by the Penitentiary.

It all began when Pierina's body was found by her daughter-in-law, Manuela Bianchi, on the morning of October 4, 2023, in the garage on Via del Ciclamino . Police immediately suspected femicide. However, her ex-husband, a hotelier from Rimini, had been in Germany for months, and the theory was quickly abandoned.

The crime scene revealed the body lying on a toy, her hair wet and pulled back, her skirt hiked up, and her underwear cut. Pierina, a fervent Jehovah's Witness, did not appear to be a random victim. The investigation, coordinated by prosecutor Paci, the same one who busted the Uno Bianca gang 30 years ago, immediately focused on Pierina's neighbors .

Louis and his wife Valeria Bartolucci, their son Giuliano Saponi, and their daughter-in-law Manuela and her 16-year-old daughter live a few meters away . Loris Bianchi, Manuela's brother, used to frequent the house, but he had never had a good relationship with Pierina.

The investigation took a step forward when a garage camera captured Pierina's screams as she was killed, establishing the exact time of death at 10:13 PM. The Prosecutor's Office says Dassilva has no alibi for that time . The wiretap on October 4th, in the police station waiting room, revealed his relationship with Manuela.

In what investigating judge Vinicio Cantarini would later call the "alleged confession," Dassilva, pressed by Manuela Bianchi, responded after a long silence, "Nothing changes between us." Details of the extramarital affair then emerged, including photos at the beach, graffiti, and coded messages. The meetings in the garage where Pierina had been killed became public knowledge. In an escalation, his wife and the other woman argued live on TV a few days before his arrest, July 16, 2024, which was confirmed by three preliminary investigations and two Supreme Court rulings on pre-trial detention.

The trial opened on September 15, 2026, with Dassilva in custody. Over the course of nine months, the Assize Court acquired thousands of documents, including wiretaps of voodoo rituals that the defendant requested from the Senegalese sorcerer against the police and the prosecutor. Thousands of pages of expert reports also exist, including the DNA test performed by Professor Emiliano Giardina, which found nothing linking him to Dassilva, and the Cam3 camera from the pharmacy on Via del Ciclamino. According to the Prosecutor's Office, it filmed the killer after the crime. However, the court expert believes the man is another resident of the condominium.

It was therefore primarily the confession of his daughter-in-law, Manuela, that nailed the Senegalese man . Interrogated for three days, investigated for aiding and abetting, she finally confessed, tearfully, to having met Louis in the garage before discovering Pierina's body . Manuela said that it was Louis who told her what to do and what to tell the police. Much of the trial hinged on the daughter-in-law's credibility, on which the Prosecutor's Office presented extensive evidence, and although the parties never opposed each other, a direct confrontation between Louis and Manuela never took place.

At the Assize Court , Dassilva, questioned at length, reaffirmed his innocence and denied his love for Manuela, admitting to two other relationships in addition to his partner in Senegal, with whom he has two children. "Valeria has always forgiven me; she would have done so this time too." And Valeria waited until the very end, rejoicing in the acquittal, along with her lawyers.

(Unioneonline)

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