It is a long path, which gets lost in the countryside of Torre Voluta, in the hamlet of Villaggio Frassa, in Corigliano Rossano. A dirt road full of potholes that immerses itself in a citrus grove. And it is there that, at a certain point, the body of a woman can be seen from afar, hidden under a cloth. The area is cordoned off with red and white tape. All around, the men of the Forensic Police, wrapped in their white overalls, look for traces and collect any element that could help piece together the crime scene.
Next to the body there is a man, who appears shocked. He is the husband of Carmela Bifano, 73 years old, originally from Acre, found lifeless with a serious head wound. It was he who alerted the police around 1.30pm yesterday. From his sobs a first key would emerge to try to put order in this mess.
The man, originally from Sardinia, said he was worried when, returning home to Schiavonea, he did not find his wife. Knowing that Carmela often went to the family citrus grove, he would have gone to look for her right there. Once he arrived on site he said he noticed, from a distance, a couple of people hurrying away from the farm. However, he would not have had time to distinguish their faces or to grasp other details useful for identifying them. Then, later, the discovery of his wife’s body, lying on the ground and with an injured head.
It is from this exact point that the investigators’ work starts. An attack? A robbery that ended in blood? Or a disagreement that developed for reasons yet to be clarified? There is no answer at the moment. And precisely for this reason the investigators of the Cosenza Flying Squad and those of the Corigliano Rossano police station worked for hours in the citrus grove, trying to piece together every step of the story.
The only certain fact is the death of the 73-year-old. The head injuries could be compatible with the use of a blunt instrument, but the autopsy will clarify the nature and severity of the trauma and, above all, precisely establish the cause of death. Some stones were also found on the ground, elements that will have to be examined by investigators to understand if they are the crime items.
As evening falls, the Torre Voluta countryside is still patrolled by the police. Forensics continues to sift through the ground, while investigators try to reconstruct the last hours of the woman’s life. Some people in the police station would also have been interviewed. People “informed about the facts”. Among these, the woman’s husband himself, perhaps, to fix all the details of his version. And not only that. According to what was reported by theHandlethe man’s position would also be under investigation by investigators.
The investigation is coordinated by the Castrovillari Prosecutor’s Office. The head of the prosecutors, Alessandro D’Alessio, follows the developments of the work of the investigators of the police commissioner Antonio Borelli. Maximum confidentiality inevitably accompanies this first phase, in which every element must be verified and cross-checked. The Prosecutor’s Office has ordered an autopsy, which will be carried out in the next few hours. It will be a decisive step in establishing the truth about the crime. There are many doubts that, for now, remain imprisoned in the silence of the Torre Voluta countryside.
