The eviction of the former Astor hotel in Florence has put a firm point on the disappearance of Kataleya Mia Alvarez Chiclio. Drones, thermal cameras and probes have found no trace of the girl. And during the sifting, a “secret room” popped up. In addition to a cell phone, found in a dumpster. A camera owned by a company that is carrying out work nearby could tell what happened to the child. While Luciano Garofalo, former head of Parma’s Ris and now consultant to Sharon Matteoni and Filippo Zanasi, new lawyers for Kata’s family, says that there was a war going on between groups for control of the hotel rooms and that the little girl she may still be alive.
The big search
The maxi search will continue tomorrow as well. In the meantime, the former hotel, now under seizure, will continue to be guarded by the police. Prosecutor Christine von Borries was also on the spot. The searches involved, in particular, the upper part of the large building, where the false ceilings were removed. The inspections then concentrated on manholes, ravines, tunnels, pipes, manholes, and an attic, also not normally accessible. The building’s foundation compartment was also checked. Here the investigators would have used a cutter to enter the foundations of the building. Over time, the hotel would have undergone several changes and also has ravines that are difficult to reach. There are 132, including 42 minors, the people who lived inside the building registered in the eviction.
“There was a risk”
Garofalo explains today in an interview with National newspaper that «based on experience and what I’ve seen, there was a risk that the child could have been hidden in there. And the operations of the carabinieri of the Gis and of the Ros had to be done because no stone can be left unturned in a case of minors ». For the former carabiniere “the time that has passed goes in the direction of unfortunately serious, criminal outcomes”. But “it hasn’t been said yet. The child may still be alive.” The lawyers’ consultants have asked to carry out their inspection. The permit awaits him for tomorrow or the day after. But the questions remain on the table: «Is it a case of pedophilia, the transfer of a child abroad, linked only to racketeering? It’s too early. Do we know what happened to Denise Pipitone and Angela Celentano by chance?
The Antimafia investigation
The District Anti-Mafia Directorate investigates for kidnapping for the purpose of extortion. Among the leads beaten by the investigators there is the hypothesis that Kata may have been kidnapped for a matter of settling accounts between gangs of South Americans (Peruvians and Ecuadorians) and Romanians inside the occupied former hotel who controlled the rent racket (from 500 to 1,500 euros per room). An eventuality that Kata’s father Miguel Angel Ramon Chiclio Romero would have talked about, who until Monday 12 June was locked up in the Florence prison for a conviction for theft. A resident had told reporters in recent days that the family “knows everything”. The father explained that according to him it was a planned kidnapping.
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