June 12, 202321:21
According to the carabinieri, the most probable hypothesis is kidnapping
Photogallery – Missing girl in Florence, the search has begun
There are still no traces of Kataleya Alvarezthe five-year-old Peruvian girl disappeared in Florence Saturday June 10th. The prosecutor’s office of the Tuscan capital has opened an investigation file for kidnapping. “It is the hypothesis that begins to become more probable”, explained General Gabriele Vitagliano, provincial commander of the carabinieri of Florence. “Everything is possible: if it’s a kidnapping, it can be motivated by retaliation, an element that doesn’t necessarily refer to the argument the mother was talking about,” he added.
Cameras and reports are being examined – At the moment there have been no extortion requests. “We are also working on the cameras – explained General Vitagliano -. A particularly expert and sensitive team is tracing all the cameras in the neighborhood, with great patience, frame by frame”. Then, speaking of the report of a little girl seen dressed in red on board a bus, the general added: “It’s a track we’re working on trying to locate the car to check if there are cameras on board: it’s as good as other tracks” .
The father attempts suicide – Meanwhile, on Sunday 11 June, Kataleya’s father attempted suicide in the Florentine prison of Sollicciano after learning of his daughter’s disappearance. Some sources close to the investigations gave the news. The man, who allegedly ingested detergent, is being held for property crimes. Transported to the emergency room of the Torregalli hospital, he remained under observation until the morning of Monday 12 June, before being taken back to prison.
The mother ingests bleach Kataleyna’s mother, on the other hand, fell ill after allegedly ingesting a small amount of bleach and was taken by ambulance to the emergency room. 118 intervened on the spot and then alerted the police. A friend of the woman was also taken to the hospital with another ambulance.
The demonstration – About thirty people and Kataleya’s mother marched from Piazza Puccini to the juvenile court. The protesters, including some tenants of the squatted former hotel where the missing girl’s family lives, carried a banner that read “Help us find Kataleya” and chanted slogans. Arriving in front of the court, the demonstrators posted placards and banners.
The control room – The search for the little girl continues unabated. Drones were also used to find it, explained the prefect of Florence Francesca Ferrandino. Their use by firefighters is one of the tools of the provincial plan for the search for missing persons, immediately activated by the prefecture when the missing girl was reported. There were also two meetings of the control room in the prefecture on Sunday, and another one on Monday afternoon.
“We continue to manage the plan – explains the prefect Ferrandino – but in agreement with the prosecutor, given the delicate situation for the involvement of a child and the role of coordination of the investigations that belongs to the judiciary. The new meeting of the control room it serves to take stock of the situation, to evaluate whether it is advisable to insist on certain areas or to expand them, always – I repeat – in agreement with the prosecutor”.
The volunteers – To find the girl, the Civil Protection of the Municipality of Florence employed 75 teams of volunteers with the task of searching the streets indicated by the carabinieri. The city councilor Titta Meucci made it known on social media, explaining that more than a hundred volunteers had already responded within an hour. A total of 178 were employed, in addition to nine technicians from the Civil Protection Service. Around thirty volunteers from the Florentine Misericordie are also participating in the research. Kataleya’s photo was distributed to all ambulances and Misericordie vehicles: drivers and operators will keep the image on the dashboard in order to be able to recognize it if necessary, during their services for the city, and report it.
The help of Mercies – “The Misericordie of the Florentine area have been engaged since Saturday in the search operations for Kataleya in the Novoli district and throughout the city, with the control room of the Prefecture of Florence – says Andrea Ceccherini, president of the Coordination of the Misericordie of the Florentine area – The capillary presence of our teams in the area can be a further contribution, for this reason we have distributed her photo to all the vehicles in service, hoping that the little girl will be found soon”.