A horrific murder and many mysteries. The tragic end of the molecular biologist, Alessandro Coatti, whose body was found dismembered in Colombia, remains a story that has yet to be deciphered and on which the magistrates of Rome are also working. At the moment the hypotheses are still being examined by the Colombian investigators: from the action of paramilitary armed groups while links with drug traffickers and criminals seem to be excluded. For the experts the "signature" on the type of murder would lead to armed groups and in particular to the Clan del Golfo and the Autodefensas Conquistadores de la Sierra. Those investigating are trying to put all the pieces in order: the 38-year-old was in Colombia, in Santa Marta, a city of half a million inhabitants overlooking the Caribbean Sea, to spend a study holiday.
According to the findings, on April 3, Coatti left his hotel by taxi and disappeared into thin air. After three days, the body of the researcher, a graduate of the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, a specialist at the Max Planck Institute, and until a few months ago an employee of the Royal Society of Biology in London, was found dismembered in three different places. The head, arms and feet were found on Sunday by a group of children, in a suitcase, near the local stadium, while other remains were found in two other areas of the city. After establishing his identity and informing the Italian ambassador in Bogota, investigations began.
A crime that has the characteristics of a puzzle even for the local police, an atypical case in the region. There are no elements of the motive linked to drug trafficking or organized crime. The investigators are working on the telephone records and the latest bank movements of Coatti. The security cameras present in the areas where the body was found are also being combed through. The objective is to reconstruct the route taken by the 38-year-old to verify whether the man was the victim of a trap or whether he found himself involuntarily in a dangerous situation. There is also the hypothesis of a case of mistaken identity as part of a settling of scores between drug clans.
A witness, quoted by a local newspaper, says that the researcher had been hiking to enjoy the landscapes of the region and had asked for information on the routes to reach a place considered the ecological capital of the Sierra Nevada.
"We are stuck at the starting point, and we will be stuck until the investigations there are finished but we have no idea why this tragedy happened", says Giovanni Coatti, Alessandro's paternal uncle. The researcher's family, mother and father, are closed in silence and grief in their home in Longastrino, in the Ravenna area . On the Italian front, the public prosecutors of the capital will delegate the police forces for the investigations and, as a first step, will send a rogatory letter to Colombia to start a judicial collaboration. The investigators could ask their Colombian counterparts to be informed about the future steps of the investigation and an investigative team could be sent to Bogota as happened for the Giulio Regeni case in Egypt.
(Online Union)
