Police have arrested a thief they believe was responsible for the death of an American tourist who was hit by a train near the Tiburtina station last Friday.
Police had initially thought that the American, Hungarian-born Phel Frank, may have committed suicide but footage on closed-circuit TV showed that he and his wife had been served drugged coffee by the thief who then robbed them when they lost consciousness.
Investigators are now convinced that the 75-year-old tourist awoke from his drug-induced sleep and stumbled onto a railway track, unaware of a fast-approaching Florence-Rome intercity train.
Police checked the closed-circuit footage after listening to the version of events given by Frank's wife, who later identified the thief from stills taken from the footage.
The thief, described as a homeless person from Mondragone, between Rome and Naples, was arrested not far from where the incident took place.
The American tourists were at the station waiting for a bus connection which was to have taken them to Hungary after their Mediterranean cruise holiday.
