Overview
- Two women from Pietracatella, mother Antonella Di Ielsi and daughter Sara Di Vita, died after suspected ricin poisoning in December 2025 and investigators now treat ricin as the likely cause.
- Police seized phones, a tablet, a PC and two modems from the family home and recent forensic reads of those devices produced chat messages that changed the direction of the inquiry.
- Prosecutors say the recovered chats show past family tensions that conflict with some testimony, prompting investigators to prioritize a family-focused line of inquiry.
- A close family friend has been denounced for favoreggiamento after she repeatedly denied knowledge of family problems that the chat records appear to contradict.
- Autopsy results expected later this month and continued digital forensics are meant to establish the timing and method of poisoning; ricin confirmation requires specialist lab and postmortem work, and no suspect has been charged in the killings yet.