Prosecutors in Pavia seek trial for Andrea Sempio over 2007 Garlasco murder

Prosecutors seek a trial

On Tuesday, 3 November 2026, the Procura di Pavia asked for Andrea Sempio, 38, to be sent to trial for the aggravated murder of a 26-year-old economics graduate killed in Garlasco on 13 August 2007. The request follows the closing of the investigation, and it now falls to a preliminary hearings judge, the gup, to weigh the case. The gup can either dismiss the charges or send Sempio to trial before the Corte d'Assise. According to the prosecutors' note cited by il Giornale, the office is headed by Fabio Napoleone. Sempio is a friend of the victim's brother.

What prosecutors allege

In a note quoted by il Giornale, the prosecutors say that after an initial scuffle the suspect struck the victim repeatedly with a blunt object, knocking her to the ground. They say he then dragged her toward the cellar door and pushed her body down the stairs, where he kept striking her although she had already lost consciousness. The blows caused severe brain injuries that led to her death. The charge includes two aggravating circumstances, cruelty and abject motives, which prosecutors tie to hatred after the victim rejected his approach. The prosecutors explain the cruelty aggravator as follows.

“The cruelty aggravator applies given the number and extent of the wounds, including at least 12 lesions to the skull and face.”

The defence's position

Sempio's lawyers, Liborio Cataliotti and Angela Taccia, say he is ready to face the charge and remains convinced his innocence will be shown. Cataliotti told Canale 5's programme Dentro la notizia that the charges and aggravating circumstances matched what the defence had expected. He said the defence will respond step by step, beginning with procedural questions, then requests for evidence, and only then the merits. In his words:

“There is nothing new, nothing unexpected. We are absolutely ready to face this charge.”

Once the gup sets the preliminary hearing, the defence plans to ask for the proceedings to be suspended until the review of Alberto Stasi's conviction is decided. Stasi's defence has not yet filed that review request, ANSA reported. The Sempio defence may also raise a question of constitutional legitimacy before the Constitutional Court.

The Stasi case and earlier steps

Alberto Stasi, the victim's boyfriend at the time, is serving a final 16-year sentence and is in semi-liberty. He was first detained on 24 September 2007, but the investigating judge released him for lack of sufficient evidence for an arrest. He was acquitted at first instance in December 2009 and again on appeal in December 2011, before the Court of Cassation annulled the appeal ruling in April 2013. A retrial appeal court sentenced him to 16 years in December 2014, and the Court of Cassation confirmed that sentence in December 2015. Pavia prosecutors placed Sempio under investigation in December 2016, and the Brescia appeal court rejected a defence request to review Stasi's case in January 2017.

Next steps

The preliminary hearing has not yet been scheduled. Cataliotti said it could take place next year, possibly by the end of this year, because the file is very large and the gup will need time to study it. ANSA reported that the first hearing could fall after the new year. Until then, the case stays at the stage of the prosecutors' request. The gup will decide whether the case goes before the Corte d'Assise or is dismissed.