Colombian Tourist Abducted, Drugged, and Gang-Raped for Three Days in Abandoned Rome Building; Five Arrested
A 32-year-old Colombian woman was held captive, drugged, and repeatedly gang-raped over three days in an occupied building on the outskirts of Rome. She escaped semi-naked and pleaded for help from a passing motorist.
A 32-year-old Colombian tourist, identified by the pseudonym Cristina, endured a three-day ordeal of abduction, drugging, and gang rape in an abandoned building in the Tor Cervara district on the eastern outskirts of Rome. The nightmare began on the evening of May 17 or 19, depending on the source, when she was approached outside a restaurant near Termini station by an Italian man named Antonio. After she asked him for marijuana, he offered her hashish and convinced her to follow him. After a 30-minute walk, she was forced into a white van and transported to the occupied building on Via Cesare Tallone, a site previously cleared by authorities and the scene of an unsolved 2023 murder.
The Captivity
Inside the dilapidated structure, Cristina was stripped of her clothes and subjected to repeated sexual assaults by multiple men who took turns over a period of at least 36 hours. She was threatened with death, with her attackers telling her, "You're not getting out of here alive." To prevent her escape and limit her resistance, the assailants forced her to take drugs. At one point, she begged a woman inside the building for help but was refused. Another man gave her two euros for water but threatened to kill her if she tried to flee.
They tore off my clothes and raped me in turns.
The Escape
On the third day, during yet another assault, Cristina seized a moment of distraction. According to one report, she jumped from a height of at least five meters, landing on a mattress surrounded by garbage. She scaled a fence and ran into the street, wearing only jeans and a bra. At approximately 6:30 p.m., motorist Piertomaso Monaco, 48, saw her throwing herself in front of moving cars, crying desperately. He stopped, put her in his car, and called for help.
That woman was desperate, she was throwing herself into the street and crying. I understood something was wrong and that I had to intervene immediately.
Medical and Police Response
Cristina was taken to the Casilino Polyclinic, where doctors documented clear signs of violence and a state of alteration consistent with drug use. She filed a formal complaint with the IV Section of the Mobile Squad on May 20, providing testimony that a judge later described as "credible and not contradictory."
The Raid and Arrests
Based on her account, police conducted a large-scale raid on the occupied building. Twenty-nine individuals were identified, including 22 irregular non-EU citizens. Five men—citizens of Gambia, Nigeria, and Mali, aged between 29 and 43—were arrested on charges of aggravated gang sexual assault. Eleven other occupants were issued expulsion orders and transferred to detention centers in Ponte Galeria, Palazzo San Gervasio, and Bari. The Italian man who initially lured Cristina, along with two North Africans present in the van, remain at large.
- Cristina arrives in Rome from Seville with a friend and checks into a hostel near Porta Maggiore.
- Cristina is approached outside a restaurant near Termini station by an Italian man offering hashish; she is forced into a van and taken to the occupied building.
- Cristina is stripped, drugged, and subjected to the first of repeated gang rapes over a period of at least 36 hours.
- On the third day, Cristina escapes by jumping from a height, scaling a fence, and running into the street, where she is rescued by a motorist.
- Cristina files a formal complaint with the IV Section of the Mobile Squad, leading to a police raid on the building.
Ongoing Investigation
Authorities continue to search for the remaining suspects. The case has intensified scrutiny on occupied and abandoned buildings in Rome's periphery, which residents describe as a "ticking time bomb."
