The killing took place on the morning of 22 October in an apartment the couple had rented in Vergiate, Varese province, and the woman was found dead in the bedroom with a kitchen knife beside her.
Lawyer Leonardo Casciere says Panichi acted in self-defence and that the woman, out of jealousy, attacked him first with a knife. He cites a deep wound to Panichi's left arm and injuries to his right hand, and investigators have yet to verify the account.
Panichi drove back to Abruzzo and confessed overnight at the Avezzano carabinieri station, before the prosecutor Maurizio Maria Cerrato, after fleeing and reaching his father first.
Panichi is detained in Avezzano prison, and a hearing to confirm the detention is set for the afternoon of 23 October. The Busto Arsizio prosecutor's office is coordinating the investigation.
Investigators say Marco Panichi, a 53-year-old man from Civitella Roveto in the L'Aquila province, killed his 36-year-old partner on the morning of Thursday, 22 October, in an apartment the couple had rented in Vergiate, in the Varese province. The woman was found dead on the bedroom floor with several stab wounds to her body and neck, and a kitchen knife lay beside her, which investigators point to as the weapon. Carabinieri from Gallarate entered the flat after firefighters opened the door. Il Fatto Quotidiano reports that she was originally from Colombia, while other outlets describe her only as a foreign national. Panichi had posted a photo of the couple embracing on social media on 19 October, only days before the killing.
According to Fanpage, citing investigative sources, the woman lived in the Marche region while Panichi, who worked in plumbing, came to see her on weekends, and the Vergiate flat served as his base for work. The same outlet reports that the row began when the woman found a photo of another woman on an old phone belonging to Panichi.
Panichi's lawyer, Leonardo Casciere, says his client told the prosecutor that the attack came from the woman, who he describes as extremely jealous and who was holding a knife. The lawyer spoke to ANSA after the questioning and framed the account as a version the investigators still need to verify. He said the woman had the knife in her hand and that Panichi suffered several wounds while trying to defend himself. On the injuries, Casciere said:
“He has defensive wounds, both on the left arm, which is very deep, and on the right hand.”
The number and severity of those injuries have not been established and will depend on medical records. Rai News reported that Panichi had several knife wounds when he surrendered, which it described as not serious.
According to the lawyer, Panichi first ran away out of fear, then reached his father before turning himself in. He drove back to Abruzzo and presented himself overnight at the carabinieri station in Avezzano, where he confessed to the killing in front of the Avezzano prosecutor, Maurizio Maria Cerrato. The chronology below sets out the key moments reported so far.
Investigators have not yet established how the wounds were inflicted or what happened in the moments before the killing, and the lawyer's version of the fight has not been confirmed.
Panichi has been detained and is being held in prison in Avezzano, pending a hearing scheduled for the afternoon of 23 October to confirm the detention. The detention was ordered by the Avezzano judicial authorities in coordination with prosecutors in Lombardy. The Busto Arsizio prosecutor's office, which covers the place where the killing happened, is leading the investigation, and the woman's body was moved to the Institute of Legal Medicine in Pavia for an autopsy. ANSA notes that Italy has seen a run of femicide cases and that parliament approved a law in 2025 making femicide a specific crime punishable by life imprisonment. Investigators are still working to reconstruct the exact sequence of events and to determine the origin of the wounds found on Panichi.
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Italian authorities detained Marco Panichi, 53, after he turned himself in at a carabinieri station in Avezzano, Abruzzo, following the killing of his 36-year-old partner in Vergiate. His lawyer says the woman attacked him with a knife first, a claim investigators have yet to verify.
AI text based on reports by Fanpage, Adnkronos, ANSA.it and other publishers. Published .