Triple murder in Rome: parents and their young daughter stabbed to death, suspect on the run
Police in Rome are searching for a suspect after a Bangladeshi family was found stabbed to death in their apartment in the Aurelio district on Thursday evening. A teenage son survived and raised the alarm.
Discovery
Police officers and forensic teams rushed to an apartment in via Montiglio, in the Pineta Sacchetti area of north-west Rome, late on Thursday 26 June. Inside, they found the bodies of a man, a woman and their young daughter, all killed with a knife. The three victims were of Bangladeshi origin and had no prior criminal record.
The victims
Sources differ on the exact age of the child: some report she was five years old, while one outlet gives her age as six. The parents have not been publicly named. Neighbours told investigators they heard screams shortly after dinner that evening.
A survivor
A teenage boy – identified by Il Messaggero as the couple’s son – was found injured at the scene. His condition is not life-threatening, though accounts vary between him being lightly hurt and more seriously injured. It was this young man who called the emergency services and provided the first clues. Police are conducting further checks to clarify his exact relationship to the victims, although no link to the crime itself is currently suspected.
The suspect
Investigators believe the attacker was a family friend. After the killings, he fled the apartment. Officers set up roadblocks across the north-west quadrant of the capital in an attempt to intercept him. As of early Friday morning, he remains at large.
Investigation
The police mobile squad and the scientific branch have begun collecting evidence at the apartment. The survivor is expected to be questioned again in the coming hours, as authorities work to reconstruct the motive and exact sequence of the attack.
