Isabella Mueller (crime writer)
One of Italy’s worst serial killers was Giancarlo Giudice, who was born in Turin on 11 March 1952. He is better known as ‘The Monster of Turin’ because, between 1983 and 1986, he brutally and inhumanely murdered nine prostitutes in Turin, all of whom reminded him of his hated stepmother. According to Giancarlo, they were ‘ugly, dirty and old’. Killing these women sent “a shiver down his spine”. But why did Giancarlo become one of Italy’s most horrific serial killers? Giancarlo grew up in a difficult family environment. His father, Primo, a veteran of the Russian campaign who worked for the Italian car manufacturer Fiat, was a rough and alcoholic man, whilst his mother, to whom Giancarlo was very close, cared for him tenderly. But when Giancarlo was eight years old, she fell ill with a heart condition. Giancarlo began to care for his ailing mother selflessly. However, his overwhelmed father, Primo, sent him instead to the Don Orione boarding school in Fubine. During his time there, where Giancarlo was subjected to physical and psychological abuse, his beloved mother died. Giancarlo was only 13 years old at the time; he subsequently attempted suicide by taking pills, after which he was forced to leave the boarding school. From then on, he lived with his father, Primo, again, although their relationship was extremely strained. When Giancarlo came of age, he began military training. However, he soon deserted from military service, after which he was imprisoned in a military prison for a time. He was subsequently allowed to resume his service. In the meantime, his father had married a new wife, and moved to Calabria with her without any regard for Giancarlo. His relationship with his new stepmother was extremely strained, as she had, in his eyes, taken his father away from him. From then on, Giancarlo’s mental health problems worsened. His abuse of drugs, particularly cocaine and LSD, led to an erratic lifestyle characterised by frequent changes of job and social isolation. Following the death of his father, Primo – whose funeral he did not attend – he lost all sense of stability. He found solace only in his work as a lorry driver. He was regarded as a hard-working and reliable employee who had a penchant for pornographic magazines and weapons. Giancarlo lived in a run-down neighbourhood near Turin. His neighbours described him as a strange and uncouth man who often lived in a state of disarray and had hardly any social contacts. Giancarlo was charged with his first murder on 27 December 1983. On that day, he met the 40-year-old prostitute Francesca ‘Franca’ Pecoraro and murdered her in her flat. Not only did he rape her, but he also whipped her. He had tied her hands with electrical cables. After the murder, Giancarlo placed the body in a stolen car and set it alight to cover his tracks. This brutal method marked the beginning of a savage series of murders that would shake the city of Turin. However, Pecoraro’s body was not discovered until August 1986. This was followed, on 1 January 1984, by the murder of Annunziata ‘Nunzia’ Pafundo, a 48-year-old prostitute who had previously been convicted of infanticide. Giancarlo raped and tortured her before suffocating her. He threw her naked body into a river. In March, he attempted to kill 24-year-old Lidia Geraci, but abandoned his plan after she told him about her children. This led to a brief period in custody, but Giancarlo remained unmoved and soon resumed his cruel acts. In 1985, Giancarlo killed several women, including 64-year-old Giovanna ‘Gianna’ Bricchi and 47-year-old Addolorata Benvenuto, whose bodies he disposed of in rivers as if they were rubbish. His violent acts became increasingly brutal and occurred at ever shorter intervals. Killing elderly prostitutes had become an addiction for Giancarlo. In February 1986, he killed 44-year-old Maria Rosa Corda with a hammer and strangled 66-year-old Laura Belmonte with a stocking. He threw both women’s bodies into canals. Just two months later, he shot 44-year-old prostitute Maria Galfré, whose body he burnt in a hut. On 21 May 1986, he tortured and strangled the 58-year-old prostitute Clelia Mollo in her flat. His final victim, on 28 June 1986, was 36-year-old Maria Rosa Paoli, whom he shot dead with a 9-millimetre pistol. This murder ultimately proved to be Giancarlo’s undoing, as he was stopped at a police checkpoint shortly after the killing. During a search of his car, the police found the 9-millimetre pistol with which he had shot Maria Rosa Paoli, as well as blood on the back seat and a bloodstained cloth. Giancarlo was arrested. He quickly confessed to Paoli’s murder and led the officers to her body. During further questioning, he also confessed to the other murders, revealing shocking details and a motive centred on his distorted perception of beauty and revulsion. He stated that he murdered the women because they resembled his stepmother. He felt a strange sense of satisfaction whilst killing. His trial began on 22 March 1989, and the well-documented evidence led to a life sentence. This sentence was later reduced to 24 years. Whilst in prison, Giancarlo attempted to strangle a prison guard, which resulted in a further 8-year sentence. Ultimately, despite the severity of his crimes, he served only 22 years in prison before being released on parole on 25 October 2008. Following his release, Giancarlo was given a new identity. His current whereabouts are unknown. Naturally, his early release from prison with a new identity sparked heated debates about the criminal justice system and the treatment of sex offenders in Italy. The story of Giancarlo Giudice is not merely that of a serial killer; it also raises questions about the extremes of the human psyche, social neglect and the complexities of law and order. Giancarlo’s horrific spate of murders represents a dark chapter in Italy’s history, one that still sends shivers down the spine today because it lays bare, in a terrifying way, the dark side of human nature.
