Neighborhood shopkeepers are saddened. “It’s a beautiful family, the boys are three wonders,” says Mamadou Diane, merchant and friend of the lady. In Novara, where the girl played opposite, on the sports hall a banner appeared: «You will always live in the heart of those who love you. Bye Titus.” A minute of silence was observed on all volleyball courts, from those of the youth teams to those of the Serie A. The inscription “Ciao Julia”, accompanied by a red heart with the number 15, appeared on the sideline displays before matches began. There are still many questions about the death of the athlete who had a promising future ahead of him. Yesterday at the airport her mother, after saying goodbye to her daughter, met the Turkish police inspectors who are conducting the investigation.
The first autopsy results confirm suicide but nobody seems to know why. Only the telephone records and messages which are now in the hands of the investigators will be able to give the answer and which will be returned to the mother once the investigation is complete: the mobile phone has been emptied to make a copy of all the data. Only then will this heartbroken woman be able to give a reason for the loss of her Julia. Last Wednesday, after losing the second leg of the Champions League semi-final and being eliminated, the team returned to their hotel where they had dinner. The weather was obviously sad. Ituma was very shaken. He called her mother and talked to her about the game. PLater, around 10.30 pm, the surveillance cameras of the hotel they show the young woman walking with her head bowed in the deserted corridor.
Then he collapses against a wall and remains in that position for a long timehead tucked between her legs. THEFinally he gets up, in a sweatshirt and dark shorts, the sports shoes on, she looks at her phone one last time before opening her bedroom door as the other lights behind her go out. Its almost midnight. A few hours later the girl will crash on the asphalt. In the police station her roommate Lucia Varela Gomez she said she talked to her friend until half past midnight, after which she fell asleep and didn’t notice anything. Until the police knocked on her door.
According to Turkish media, Julia had called a high school friend of hers, perhaps a boyfriend, who then not hearing her anymore, in the night, had written worried messages to her teammates asking for news. A circumstance denied by Igor Novara who also denied that the athlete had sent a WhatsApp on the team chat with the words: “Goodbye”.
Closed in their pain in Novara, the teammates resumed training behind closed doors yesterday. All will be in the front row next to the family on Tuesday at the funeral, which will be open to the public. But the parish priest, Don Ivan Bellini, he explained that “filming and photos during the celebration will be prohibited to maintain a sober and respectful atmosphere”.