A man is under investigation for the murder of Noemi Impellizzeri, the 33-year-old woman found hanged last August 23 in her home in Riposto (Catania), where a fire had also broken out . The suspect, married with two children, is the friend—he denies being her boyfriend—who allegedly went to the woman's home to find her dead. Instead of immediately calling the police, he claims, he called all her relatives without receiving a response. Then, late that night, he was called back by the victim's mother, and together they returned to the house where the firefighters were already at the scene. These allegations are not credible for the Catania prosecutor's office, which investigated him "as a necessary step to carry out unrepeatable investigations," considering that the autopsy "did not reveal a clear indication but was open to multiple solutions."

Investigators seized the man's cell phone, which was also crucial to reconstructing his story: on Friday night, according to his statement, Noemi contacted him, expressing her intention to commit suicide, even showing him the rope she was going to hang herself with and telling him she would watch YouTube to see how to tie the knot. But he didn't believe her. The next day, the suspect sent the woman several messages without receiving a response, until—he told investigators—he went to her home at 2 a.m. and discovered she had hanged herself.

The victim has three young children who now live with their maternal grandmother. "I didn't call the police because I felt guilty for not believing her claims of suicide," the suspect said. "But I called all the family members without getting an answer. Then her mother called me back, and together we went to the house where the firefighters were working on the blaze."

Lawyer Ivan Siragusa states: "My client is under investigation because he has been identified as the person who had the last meetings with the deceased. From the beginning, he cooperated with investigators, providing all the information with specific details and handing over phones and other items so that they could carry out the necessary checks. He himself," the lawyer added, "asked investigators to acquire all the video surveillance images in the area and their movements to carry out the necessary checks. My client maintains his absolute innocence, is sorry, and is grieved. Noemi Impellizzeri was a friend whom he greatly helped and supported. She had a boyfriend in recent months, and until the last day he met her, she had been in the company of other people."

"The dark side, unclear to anyone, not even to him, is the issue of the house fire," the lawyer states. "He maintains that once the body was found at 2 a.m., 24 hours after exchanging messages with Noemi, there was no smoke inside the house, no sparks, and nothing that could suggest a fire." The Impellizzeri family's lawyers disagree. "We want justice for this poor girl, and doing so means truly establishing the facts and effectively punishing the person who committed this atrocious crime," state Francesco Strano and Valeria Raciti. "Our expert witness attended the autopsy," the lawyer adds. "We believe there are valid reasons to rule out the girl's suicide by hanging. For all other questions regarding the tragedy we are dealing with, we await the outcome of the expert report by the coroner appointed by the prosecutor's office, as well as any other investigations carried out by the investigators, in whose work we have the utmost confidence."

(Unioneonline)

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