The Monstrous Lovers’ Lane Murders
The Monster of Florence
Long time no see! 👋 I’m back again with another murder mystery that spans over a DECADE! 🫣
If you are new here, WELCOME! I like to keep these articles in a condensed and easily digestible format so won’t be long.
Welcome again to the Midnight Murking Club. If you have 30 seconds to spare that would be AMAZING!
Sit back, relax, enjoy a cuppa, and let’s go!
ONE SHOT//TWO SHOT
August 21st, 1968.
A man (Antonio Lo Bianco) and a woman (sister-in-law Barbara Locci) are in a parked car in a remote part of Tuscany.
They are too preoccupied to notice who’s outside.
A person aims a Beretta pistol and kills the couple.
All while Barbara’s six-year-old daughter is sleeping in the back seat.
FIRST CONVICTION
Barbara’s husband, Stefano Mele, is their primary suspect in the murders.
According to the police, he has the motive to kill due to his wife’s marital affair.
He is convicted of murder and sent to prison.
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..
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Years later, however, the same gun would make another appearance.
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST
On September 15, 1974, the same gun kills Pasquale Gentilcore and a woman, Stefania Pettini.
They died while having sex in his Fiat 127.
Stefania received approximately 96 stab wounds and her genitalia mutilated.
Here is a quick list of the other couples:
- Giovanni Foggi and his fiancé Carmela De Nuccio (06/1981)
- Stefano Baldi and his fiancé, Susanna Cambi (10/1981)
- Paolo Mainardi and his fiancé Antonella Migliorini (06/1982)
- Wilhelm Friedrich Horst Meyer and Jens Uwe Rüsch (09/1983) *the only male couple killed
- Claudio Stefanacci and Pia Gilda Rontin (07/1984)
- Jean Michel Kraveichvili and Nadine Mauriot (09/1985) *the last couple to be killed
Part of Mauriot’s breast was sent to state prosecutor Silvia Della Monica along with a letter.
RACK ‘EM UP
As far as suspects go there weren’t many.
But there was one in particular that stood out.
A farmer by the name of Pietro Pacciani.
His arrest didn’t come until an anonymous tip came in (nothing was given as to what the tip was).
He was arrested in 1994.
Pacciani was convicted for six out of the eight murders and for raping his own two daughters.
OVERLOOKED
Pacciani’s conviction was overturned in 1996.
He would die two years later from a heart attack at the age of 73.
Prosecutors believe that he murdered the couples with the help of his friends Mario Vanni and Giancarlo Lotti.
Vanni and Lotti were convicted for four out of the eight murders.
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..
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Attorney Valter Biscotti states:
“none of the trials so far have got to the whole truth”
Five men have been arrested and prosecuted for the murders and yet each one let go after another murder popped up.
While the “Monster of Florence” remains a mystery, hopefully, new evidence may come to light to finally close the case for good.
Side note: The case inspired Thomas Harris’s novel Hannibal (1999).
Thank you so much for stopping by and if you made it this far I am grateful! 🥲 I hope you continue along on this wild ride and enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed writing it.
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