Woman sentenced to 23 years for killing elderly man who wanted to marry her in Palma di Montechiaro

Last Updated: May 16, 2024

The first section of the Court of Cassation rejected the appeal: the 23-year sentence for Romanian Dana Mihaela Nicoleta Chita (pictured), 26, convicted of killing 89-year-old Michelangelo Marchese, has become final. The judges of the appellate court of Palermo (chaired by Angelo Pellino), on September 21, had confirmed the first-degree sentence against the woman who, according to the prosecution, strangled the man from Palma di Montechiaro in the night between July 11 and 12, 2020.
The murder took place in the pensioner’s home where the few savings and car parked on the street were taken away. The woman, who had been hired by the elderly man as a caregiver, was arrested on November 20, 2020, several months after the murder. The elderly man not only hired her as a caregiver but also promised to marry her and leave her his inheritance. The case was solved by the carabinieri discovering what had happened to the pensioner’s car: the Romanian had handed it over to a criminal who was supposed to demolish it but decided to keep it for himself.