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Michele Giuttari Biography & Facts

The Monster of Florence (Italian: Il Mostro di Firenze) is the name commonly used by the Italian media for a non-definitively identified serial killer active within the Metropolitan City of Florence between 1968 and 1985. The Monster murdered 16 victims, usually young couples secluded in search of intimacy, in wooded areas during new moons. Several connected persons have been convicted for involvement in the murders, yet the exact sequence of events, the identity of the main actor and the motives remain unclear. Law enforcement conducted several investigations into the cases over several years. In 2000, courts convicted two individuals for four of the double homicides. They had been charged with being part of an alleged group of murderers which became known in the popular press as the "Snack Buddies" (Compagni di merende), following the notorious and absurdly comical courtroom protestation of one of the suspects that the group were merely friends who on frequent occasion innocently consumed "snacks" together in local bars and restaurants. Multiple weapons were used in the murders, including a .22 caliber Beretta handgun and a knife, and in half of the cases, a large portion of the skin surrounding sex organs was excised from the bodies of the female victims. Murders Lo Bianco and Locci On the night of 21 August 1968, mason worker Antonio Lo Bianco (29) and homemaker Barbara Locci (32) were shot to death with a .22 handgun in Signa, a small town to the west of Florence. The couple were attacked in their car while Locci's son, Natalino Mele (6), lay asleep in the backseat. Upon waking up and finding his mother dead, the child fled in fright and reached a nearby house. Locci, a native of Sardinia, had been well known in the town, receiving the nickname ape regina ("Queen Bee"). Her older husband, Stefano Mele, was eventually charged with the murder and spent six years in prison. However, while he was imprisoned, another couple was murdered apparently with the same gun. Several lovers of Locci's were suspected to be perpetrators of the crime. Even Stefano stated on several occasions that one of them had killed her, but no evidence was found, as other murders were committed while they were in prison. In 1982, the murders of Lo Bianco and Locci were linked to the more recent murders based on a tip from an anonymous writer, who had possibly signed himself Un cittadino amico ("a friendly citizen") in a letter to police. On 20 July 1982, examining magistrate Vincenzo Tricomi found five bullets and five shell casings inappropriately stored in a folder among records of Mele's case file. Authorities were unable to reconstruct the chain of custody of those pieces of evidence and did not request a scientific comparison, even though it would have been necessary to check whether they matched the ballistic report from 1968. As the spent cartridges were fired by a gun used in four similar crimes, their presence in the Mele's case file suggested to law enforcement officers that the perpetrator of the more recent double murders was connected with them. Gentilcore and Pettini On 15 September 1974, teenaged sweethearts Pasquale Gentilcore (19), a barman, and Stefania Pettini (18), an accountant, were shot and stabbed in a country lane near Borgo San Lorenzo while having sex in Gentilcore's Fiat 127. They were not far from a notorious discothèque called Teen Club, where they were supposed to spend the evening with friends. Pettini's corpse had been violated with a grapevine stalk and disfigured with 97 stab wounds. Some hours before the murder, Pettini had disclosed to a close friend that a weird man was terrifying her. Another friend of Pettini's recalled that a strange man had followed and bothered the two of them during a driving lesson a few days before. Several couples of lovers who used to "park" in the same area where Gentilcore and Pettini were murdered stated that particular area was frequented by voyeurs, a pair of them acting very oddly. Foggi and De Nuccio On 6 June 1981, warehouseman Giovanni Foggi (30) and shop assistant Carmela De Nuccio (21) were shot and stabbed near Scandicci, where the engaged couple both lived. De Nuccio's body was pulled out of the car and the killer cut out her pubic area with a notched knife. The next morning, a young voyeur, paramedic Enzo Spalletti (30), spoke about the murder before the corpses had been discovered. He spent three months in jail and was charged with murder before the perpetrator exonerated him by killing again. Baldi and Cambi On 23 October 1981, workman Stefano Baldi (26) and telephonist Susanna Cambi (24), who were engaged, were shot and stabbed in a park in the vicinity of Calenzano. Cambi's pubic area was cut out like De Nuccio's. An anonymous caller phoned Cambi's mother the morning after the murder to "talk to her about her daughter." A few days before the murder, Susanna had told her mother that somebody was tormenting her and even chasing her by car. Mainardi and Migliorini On 19 June 1982, mechanic Paolo Mainardi (22) and dressmaker Antonella Migliorini (20) were shot to death just after having sex in Mainardi's car on a provincial road in Montespertoli. This time the killer did not have the time to mutilate the female victim, as the road was relatively busy. Several passing motorists had seen the car parked at the side of the road after its interior light had turned on. Mainardi was still alive when found, but died some hours later in hospital due to serious injuries. Mainardi is believed to have heard or seen the killer approaching and attempted to drive away, only to lose control of his car and drive into a ditch on the other side of the road. Another reconstruction of the events suggests that, after shooting the couple, the killer drove Mainardi's car for a few meters to hide the vehicle and the bodies in a woodland area nearby, only to lose control of the car and abandon it in the ditch where it was discovered by a motorist only a few minutes later. Meyer and Rüsch On 9 September 1983, Wilhelm Friedrich Horst Meyer (24) and Jens Uwe Rüsch (24), two students from Osnabrück, West Germany, were visiting Italy to celebrate an important scholarship Meyer had just won. They were found shot to death in their Volkswagen Samba Bus in Galluzzo. Rüsch's long blond hair and small build could have deceived the killer into thinking he was a female. Police suspected that the students were gay lovers based on pornographic materials found at the scene. Stefanacci and Rontini On 29 July 1984, law student Claudio Stefanacci (21) and barmaid Pia Gilda Rontini (18) were shot and stabbed in Stefanacci's Fiat Panda parked in a woodland area near Vicchio. The killer removed Rontini's pubic area and left breast. There were reports of a strange man who had been following the couple in an ice cream parlour some hours before the murder. A close friend of Rontini recalled that she had confided that she had been bothered by "an u.... 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