Isabella Mueller (crime writer)
A horrific crime shook the whole of Italy in 2010 and revealed a true family tragedy. On August 26, 15-year-old Sarah Scazzi, a pretty blonde girl from the small Apulian town of Avetrana with a population of 7,000, wanted to visit her best friend and cousin Sabrina Misseri. She had had a heated argument with Sabrina, who was seven years older, the day before. She wanted to make up with her and go to the beach. But Sarah never arrived at Sabrina’s house and had disappeared without a trace since leaving home. Her mother reported Sarah missing to the Carabinieri on the same day, who immediately launched a large-scale search operation. For over six weeks, the search for Sarah continued at full speed, with her family desperately appealing to the public through the media. In addition to Sarah’s mother, Sarah’s cousin Sabrina and her uncle Michele also appeared in front of the cameras. Sarah’s 56-year-old uncle Michele searched particularly intensively for Sarah and even found her cell phone in a meadow. However, the SIM card was missing. After weeks without any hot leads, there was a sudden and completely surprising spectacular turn of events. Sarah’s uncle Michele, a farmer with piercing blue eyes, confessed to Sarah’s murder. He had strangled her with a rope in his garage because he had become intrusive towards Sarah. When she resisted, he killed Sarah. He then transported her body by car to a field, where he undressed Sarah and had sex with her. He then buried her body in an old water hole. The Carabinieri found Sarah’s body there. Macabrely, the discovery of Sarah’s body was announced live on the SRAI program Chi l’ha visto, where Sarah’s mother was a guest. After the confession, his wife Cosima Serrano immediately filed for divorce. His daughter Sabrina completely distanced herself from her father, who was now nothing more than a monster. However, the police had doubts about Michele Misseri’s confession, which is why they continued their investigation. They found out that Sarah and Sabrina had argued over a man named Ivano R., who was interested in Sarah but not Sabrina, a corpulent black-haired woman. Did Sabrina want to get rid of Sarah as a rival? Did Michele only want to protect his daughter Sabrina with his confession? During questioning, Sabrina repeatedly contradicted herself, having exchanged thousands of text messages with Ivano R. Then florist Giovanni Buccolieri made a crucial statement. On the day of her disappearance, he had seen Sarah with Sabrina and her mother, who had dragged her into the car. Both Sabrina and her mother denied this. Shortly afterwards, the florist withdrew his statement and dismissed it as a dream. Michele, who had confessed to the murder, was released. The police believed that his confession was only intended to protect his daughter and wife, who had killed Sarah out of jealousy and over an inheritance issue. Sabrina and her mother Cosima, who maintain their innocence to this day, were sentenced to life imprisonment by the Supreme Court of Cassation on February 21, 2017, for conspiracy to commit murder. Sarah’s uncle Michele Misseri, who repeatedly claims to be solely responsible for Sarah’s death, was sentenced to eight years in prison for concealing a corpse and tampering with evidence. To this day, the murder of Sarah Scazzi continues to provide ample material for films and books. Only her killer knows who killed her.
