After a month of non-stop investigations and endless calls to release Tommaso Onofri - an 18-month old toddler kidnapped from his home - the kidnappers have now confessed that Tommy was killed just 30 minutes after being kidnapped.
Tommy's body was found hastily burried underground a few metres from the Enza river, and only a couple of kilometres from his family's home. The people responsible for his kidnapping and death, Mario Alessi (44) and Salvatore Raimondi (27) are accusing each other of the death of the child.
Raimondi, held by the Carabinieri, has accused Alessi of the murder, while Alessi, held by the Police, has said that his accomplice was responsible for the death. They have provided two differing versions of what happened that night. What is certain is that a preliminary autopsy of Tommy's body has revealed hits made with a heavy object. However, investigators added that an autopsy is made difficult since Tommy's body was left unprotected under earth for a month.
According to Raimondo, Alessi killed Tommy by strangling him. Alessi says that Raimondo hit Tommy several times. Investigators are analysing all possible elements in an effort to determine the exact events of that night.
It seems clear now that the boy was kidnapped so as to ask Tommy's father for a sum of money apparently inherited from an aunt. A sum that doesn't seem to go over 50 000 euro. The two men knew about this money because they had been working at the child's house as builders two months before the kidnapping.
However, in those 30 minutes following the kidnapping something seems to have go wrong for the kidnappers and led them to cause the death of Tommy.
The Pope, president of Italy and all leading politicians have expressed their anger and horror at these actions. The football team of Parma held a minute's silence while the people of Parma and all of Italy send messages of support to the family.
