Jealousy suspected in murder-suicide on Via Notarbartolo in Palermo: favored angle
Whispered rumors of a marital crisis that had been going on for some time, rumors about the changed mood to the point that colleagues, who had known her for a lifetime, tell away from the notebooks of a woman “deeply troubled by her personal problems.” No one can say openly for the moment but – at least according to the initial reconstructions – jealousy could be at the base of the murder-suicide discovered yesterday morning (May 4) in Palermo, in all its shocking drama in an apartment on the third floor of via Notarbartolo 49, not far from the Falcone Tree. A condominium that is also a “sensitive” target guarded day and night by a patrol of the financial police because in the same place lives a well-known Palermo magistrate engaged in an important role outside Sicily.
The dynamics would leave no room for doubt: Laura Lupo, 62 years old, a municipal police inspector, would have killed her husband, Pietro Delia, 66 years old, a chartered accountant and former Bnl employee, with the service pistol, and then shot herself. The investigation has been entrusted to the carabinieri, while the autopsy will be carried out next week at the Policlinico: the forensic doctor would have found the weapon still in the sixty-two-year-old’s hand on which, at a first examination, wounds to the head and neck would have been found.
The tragedy would have occurred between 6:30 and 7 am: the front door was locked from the inside, there were no signs of forced entry, except those left by the firefighters who had to break through the reinforced door to enter. The neighbors had heard the noise – probably caused by the gunfire – and had become concerned, but the alarm was raised an hour later by the couple’s daughter, who could not contact her parents. The girl, also a chartered accountant, had gone out with both of them the night before, but yesterday morning she had an appointment with her father to go to the office, which is located in via Nicolò Gallo, between via Libertà and piazza Castelnuovo, to work on some paperwork.
When the firefighters forced their way in, they saw the corpses of the two spouses lying on the floor in a pool of blood and did not touch anything until the arrival of the soldiers of the San Lorenzo company, who carried out the initial checks together with the forensic personnel. The daughter Eleonora is in shock, unfortunately she witnessed what had happened inside the house, while the other son, Giuseppe, who lives in Milan, was informed of the terrible news by other relatives.
From the initial surveys, it seems that there was nothing out of place, so everything would suggest a crime that would have taken place within the family, perhaps due to a feeling of jealousy that had slowly become unbearable for the municipal police officer. Six shells were counted on the floor: according to a possible sequence of events, which will have to be confirmed by the results of the autopsies, Laura Lupo would have fired four fatal shots at her husband, hitting him in the chest and abdomen, and then would have turned the gun on herself. At the first attempt, she would have only wounded herself – hence the marks on the neck – but in the end she would have taken her own life. The motive could be sentimental, although no leads have been excluded so far and the investigations are moving in multiple directions.
The woman had been in service for thirty years in the municipal police force: for some years she had been detached to the offices of the justice of the peace in via Cavour, while her sister, also a municipal police officer, works in the barracks of via Ugo La Malfa. Pietro Delia, on the other hand, was a passionate football fan and a fan of Palermo’s team, he was part of the board of directors of Samot, the association that takes care of palliative care for terminally ill patients, also due to his friendship with the founder Giorgio Trizzino.
Officially, the relationship between Pietro Delia and his wife was peaceful even though there had been a period of separation at the end of which they had gotten back together: those who knew them speak of a solid couple even though, after many years of living together, there had been difficult moments. No one could have imagined such an outcome even though, to confirm what could be the cause of the murder-suicide, there would be statements from some friends and acquaintances who described a delicate psychological situation on the part of the inspector who confided to those closest to her that she was anguished by the particular moment she was going through in her relationship with her husband.
“The hypotheses can be the most disparate – said the commander of the municipal police Angelo Colucciello – however, out of respect for the dead, it is right to let those who have to do the work. It is a very ugly story that has taken us all by surprise. No one could have imagined such a drama. Our colleague was a person characterized by great calm and dignity in demeanor and behavior, an agent of great professionalism and preparation, impeccable.”
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