Marco Poggi breaks 19-year silence on sister Chiara's murder: 'They played with her life and death'

Marco Poggi, the 38-year-old brother of Chiara Poggi, has spoken publicly for the first time since his sister was murdered in Garlasco on 13 August 2007. In an exclusive interview with the Italian television programme Quarto Grado, aired on Rete 4 on 5 June 2026, he described how the reopening of the investigation by the Pavia Public Prosecutor's Office had dragged him and his family back into a media storm.

The decision to speak

Poggi, who lives in Veneto and works as an office employee, explained why he chose to end nearly two decades of silence. He said he had always tried to stay in a "bubble" but that the past year had made that impossible. He acknowledged that his refusal to give interviews may have fuelled speculation, including false claims that he had been in a psychiatric clinic at the time of the murder.

I never accepted all the media exposure of what happened to Chiara. Since this reopening, my figure has been much more involved and talked about.

Accusations and fake news

Poggi stated that the most painful accusation was being implicated in his sister's killing. He said that investigators could have easily dampened certain lines of inquiry. He also firmly denied rumours linking the case to drug use or paedophilia rings, calling them pure fantasy.

Being accused of being involved in Chiara's murder, even of being a perpetrator, is something that will hardly ever leave me. I have learned to live with it.

The memory of Chiara

What hurt him most, Poggi said, was the damage done to his sister's memory. He claimed that for a year people had played with Chiara's life and death, forcing his mother to intervene publicly and the family's lawyers to issue repeated statements to counter false reconstructions.

The things that hurt me the most are those concerning Chiara and the attempt to sully her memory.

The investigation context

The interview comes after the Pavia Public Prosecutor's Office closed a new investigation into the murder, naming Andrea Sempio, a former schoolmate and friend of Marco Poggi, as a suspect. Alberto Stasi was previously convicted for the crime. Poggi, who has never been investigated and is a civil party in the case, was on holiday in Trentino with his parents when Chiara was killed. The Pavia prosecutor's office reportedly described the accusations against him as "defamatory" and groundless.