Wednesday, September 18, 2024 -A local babysitter had two newborn babies buried in her garden, an investigation into infanticide revealed.
Chiara Petrolini, 22, was arrested
after DNA tests allegedly confirmed she was the mother of one of the
infants, a boy, found buried in her garden.
Petrolini, who lived with her
parents, was described as a "model university student" and was
holidaying in New York when the grim discovery was made by authorities. The
investigation into the garden in the quiet commune of Vignale di Traversetolo
near Parmer in Italy began last month, August, when Petrolini's grandmother's
dog unearthed a body.
The baby had been buried alive, as
indicated by "soil found in the lungs" according to a leaked autopsy
report.
Last week, a second body was
discovered, but no details about that infant's death have been disclosed yet.
The autopsy of the first baby
revealed that the father was Petrolini's 22 year old boyfriend, named locally
as Emanuele.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that the
second body was found after Petrolini confessed to the police.
She is currently in custody on
suspicion of infanticide and has reportedly claimed that she acted alone
without anyone else's knowledge.
Petrolini, a law student, is believed to
have concealed her pregnancy before inducing labour on 7 August and
giving birth alone at home in her bathroom.
Shortly after the birth, she allegedly
killed the baby and hid him in her back garden.
Two days later, she left for a
pre-planned holiday to the US with her parents, the Mirror
US reports.
The day she left was when her
grandmother's dog unearthed the body, which was wrapped in a sheet and hidden
in a hole in the garden, according to Italian media.
Initially, the grandmother thought
the body was an animal's and called a neighbour for help.
The neighbour made the horrifying discovery
that it was actually an infant and promptly alerted the police.
While investigating Petrolini's phone and
internet history, the police made the second horrific discovery of another
body.
According to Italian newspaper La
Repubblica, she allegedly searched online for ways to terminate "a second
child".
Her boyfriend and friends claimed they
hadn't noticed anything unusual about her and were unaware of her pregnancy.
"I didn't know anything, I can't
believe it," her boyfriend told the Italian press.
He expressed that if he had known about the
pregnancy, he could have cared for the child.
"I would have wanted that child, I
could have kept him by myself. I'm 22, but I work and my mother would have
helped me," he said.
Local media reported that Petrolini
hid her pregnancy by eating very little for months to keep her slim figure,
even at full term. A friend reportedly said that when Petrolini left for
holiday, she exhibited "a calm that now scares me."
"I'm shocked, I had to go over
everything step-by-step because I was questioned by the police," the
unnamed friend said. "I can't get over it, it's as if
the world had turned upside down in front of me."
Parma's local prosecutor has
revealed, in a chilling statement, that an investigation kicked off following
the gruesome discovery of two bodies, pegging Petrolini as the sole suspect.
The prosecutor's words painted a grim
picture, noting: “As far as we can establish the pregnancies were in secret and
without the knowledge of the family or the father of the first child or
friends. It would also appear that no medical facility or doctor was aware of
the pregnancies but investigations continuing.”
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