ROME, Italy – Italian prosecutors have reconstructed the final moments of 22-year-old engineering student Giulia Cecchettin, who was allegedly murdered by her ex-boyfriend Filippo Turetta. Cecchettin was found dead in a gully near a lake in the northeastern Italian region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. Prosecutors revealed that she suffered at least 20 knife wounds to the neck and head. Her ex-boyfriend, Turetta, was on the run for over a week before his arrest in Germany at the weekend. According to the Judge for Preliminary Investigations (GIP), the victim and her ex-boyfriend had driven to a shopping centre in Marghera, Venice, the night of November 11, where they had dinner. Turetta then allegedly hit Cecchettin for the first time in a car park near her home before driving away. Carabinieri found a blood-stained knife in the car park. A local resident later reported hearing a woman screaming and seeing a man kicking someone on the floor. Turetta allegedly immobilized Cecchettin and drove towards the industrial area of Fossò.
According to Italian newspaper La Repubblica, magistrates said the victim bled out and died from “haemorrhagic shock” after being allegedly killed in half an hour. Turetta then put the victim back in the car and abandoned her body near Lake Barcis, where it was found after a week of searches. Turetta was caught by German police when his car ran out of petrol and he parked with his lights off on the emergency lane of a motorway near Leipzig.
Cecchettin’s murder has sparked outrage in Italy, with young people calling for “a day of anger against every single femicide.” Thousands of people took part in a torchlight procession in memory of Cecchettin, and hundreds gathered at schools and universities to pay tribute to her and speak out about violence against women. Cecchettin’s sister, Elena, described her as “a pure soul,” “sweet,” and “an eternal child” who lived her life “lightly and without malice.” Giulia was the 105th victim of femicide in Italy this year.