Missing Italian woman artist Pippa Bacca found dead in Turkey
Turkish police have found the body of an Italian artist who went missing while hitchhiking in a white wedding dress for peace, officials said on Saturday. Giuseppina Pasqualino di Marineo, 33, was hitchhiking with a friend from her hometown of Milan to Israel and the two separated near Istanbul, shortly before she went missing. Police arrested Murat Karatas, who later confessed that he first raped and killed di Marineo. Turkish people condemned the murder as the leading newspaper Hurriyet wrote "We are ashamed" in the headline. (UPDATED)
Missing Italian woman artist Pippa Bacca found dead in Turkey
Italian artist, also known as Pippa Bacca, was last seen on March 31. She was raped and then killed on March 31, according to the initial autopsy results, Dogan News Agency (DHA) said.
Di Marineo and her friend left Milan on March 8 and hitchhiked to Turkey together. They separated in Istanbul shortly before di Marineo went missing, with the aim of reuniting in Beirut, Lebanon.
The suspect, Murat Karatas, was arrested on Friday. The police reached the suspect after determining that he had used her mobile phone after di Marineo's disappearance, the news agencies reported. Police tracked down the suspect when he switched on di Marineos mobile phone, having inserted his own SIM card, an Italian Embassy official told the AP.
Police found her naked body hidden amid bushes in a forest area, after questioning the suspect. Karatas had previously been convicted for theft, the official Anatolian Agency reported. DHA said he confessed that he first raped the Italian artist and then killed her. Karatas also said he took her from a gas station near Gebze.
Di Marineo's body was taken to Istanbul for autopsy after her sister identified the body. Her sister, Antonia Giuseppina Pasgualino di Marineo, told reporters on Saturday they are planning to take Bacca's body back to Italy on Monday once the legal procedures completed. "This is very painful. I don't want to answer the question," she replied when asked about her feelings.
She also thanked the security officials and the General Consulate of Italy for their efforts to find Bacca after she went missing.
TURKISH PEOPLE COMDEMN MURDER
Di Marineo's mother Elena Manzoni told reporters her daughter was trying to prove that people could be reliable. "They ask me why my sister was hitchhiking. What can I say? She was just trying to prove that people are reliable," she was quoted as saying by DHA.
Turkish people condemned the murder and expressed their feelings in the internet. Turkey's leading newspaper Hurriyet said "We are ashamed" in the headline of its internet edition.
"We should be ashamed... Is it so easy to kill such innocent people?" Huseyin Somer commented in hurriyet.com.tr.