The Monster of Florence /// Part 1 /// 124 | Forensic Files

Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, thanks for listening. I'm your host Nick and
with me as always, ladies and gentlemen, not since the time of Conan the Barbarian and Destroyer have we seen a
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area. We also have Sarah Lou from Portland, Oregon. She asked, "Why don't you guys have a glass of wine in the
garage?" My answer would be, "Well, I don't know, Sarah." You know, and today might have been a good opportunity
seeing how we're flying the old garage ship to Italy. So maybe that's something we'll have to keep in mind. Regardless,
cheers to you. Well, my answer would be I I sometimes have a little bit of a problem with drinking wine.
I I drink too much of it. Next we have Rebecca from Well, let's see if I can nail this on the first attempt, Captain.
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. So if I got it wrong, I apologize to all the good people of Mississauga including
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the iTunes store. That's enough of the business. Everybody gather around, grab a chair, grab a beer. Let's talk some
true crime. You should have told everybody to grab their sword. Florence is the capital city of the
region of Tuscany. Florence was the center of trade and finance during the Middle Ages and was
considered one of the wealthiest cities of that era. It is considered to be the birthplace of
the Renaissance. Today it is a city known for its architecture, famous monuments, and
Renaissance art. Each year millions of tourists flock to the area. Florence is one of the most beautiful
cities in the world. But amongst all of this culture and beauty lies a stain. Gruesome and ugly stain
that has permanently left its mark on Florence and scarred the city forever. Because in the second half of the 20th
century, something awoke a monster that was sleeping in the hills outside of the
great city. For nearly 20 years, the monster crept in the dark under a moonless sky
ambushing its prey. Over a dozen people were murdered while making love in parked cars in the hills
of Florence. This monster has not only ended many lives, but destroyed families and
terrified the hundreds of thousands that live in the area. It does not take supernatural insight
into the dark side of the human soul to see absolute evil that not only lies within, but oozes from the monster.
Over 100,000 men have been investigated. Over a dozen men have been arrested. And countless lives have been ruined by
false accusations. There have been suicides, exhumations, poisonings, body parts sent in the mail,
and seances in graveyards. It quickly became clear to the entire country that Florence now
had its very own serial killer. A killer unique to the area, but disturbingly familiar to us in the
United States. The monster's murderous crimes are hauntingly similar to that of the Son of
Sam, the Phantom Killer of Texarkana, and the Zodiac. But unlike his evil American brothers,
no one would survive the Monster of Florence. For us, our story starts on Saturday,
September 14th, 1974. Just about 40 km outside of Florence. A young man, 19 years old, named
Pasquale, who worked at a local bar, spent that evening with his lovely young girlfriend, Stefania,
who was only 18 years old. After a few hours at one of their favorite spots, a local disco club, the
two hopped in Pasquale's small car, a blue Fiat 127, and drove off into the night.
The young man knew he had to have his sweetheart home at a reasonable hour. But before dropping her off, the two
were looking for a little privacy. So they went and parked the car in a secluded area near a lake.
Sometime just before 11:45 p.m., a dark figure approached the vehicle. There was no moon that night, so it was
particularly dark out. The dark figure got very close to the car's driver's side door.
The couple likely did not see this as they were quite busy. Suddenly, five gunshots broke the
night's silence. Pasquale was hit all five times at a close range. Once in the heart and four times in the
body. Then, four more gunshots, all hitting Stefania. None in vital parts of her body.
The dark figure, the monster, walks around to the passenger side door, pulls the door open and grabs Stefania
and pulls her out of the car. The monster throws her to the ground just behind the car near the tailpipe.
The monster pulls out a knife and lunges toward the very badly injured girl. And
with this very sharp knife, he stabs her 96 times. The monster then violated the woman's
corpse after he grabbed the necklace from around Stefania's neck and yanked it off of her.
The monster picks up Stefania's purse and dumps the contents on the ground. Before leaving, he walks over to
Pasquale, who has by now died from the gunshot wounds. The monster stabs Pasquale five times.
Their bodies were discovered the next day by a farmer. This is True Crime Garage.
And this is the Monster of Florence. The Monster of Florence, Captain, one of a very famous case worldwide. And the
first double homicide that we're going to discuss is the one that took place in 1974 described right there by our
wonderful narrator. I don't know who that guy is. He's very very talented. You should see him. He was he was
reading that, telling that story, and playing the cello at the same time. Blew my mind.
Yeah, blindfolded. Blindfolded. The thing here is, Captain, so let's go through that crime. Let's talk about
what evidence may have been found and if there were any leads in that double homicide of the two young people that
were shot that night in their car. Now, a little bit of background on the two young people, well, they they had a
long-term relationship. This was not a one-night fling. I know they were very young. Pasquale was only 19 and Stefania
was 18 at the time. But they were high school sweethearts. They had been together for some time and they were out
enjoying the evening together and then they're gunned down in their vehicle. Mhm. Um as far as the autopsy goes and
the findings of that, you know, we already said that Pasquale he he was already dead when he was stabbed. He was
shot first and then for some reason the killer went back to him and stabbed him five times.
As for Stefania, she was shot four times and then stabbed. There's there's two different uh arguments here. One being
that she was stabbed 96 times, the other that she was stabbed 97 times. Who knows? I mean, that's a lot of stab
wounds. I don't know if you're going to be able to determine if exactly how many
it was. Right. Regardless, um it was determined that the first three times that she was stabbed is what
actually killed her. And it is believed by the investigators that the remaining 93 or 94 stab wounds were made
postmortem. And most of these stab wounds focused on the female areas of the body. A lot of them being what
people would typically dub superficial stab wounds. Yeah, there's going to be some very gruesome stuff in this
episode. Just a warning there. Well, I'm glad that you dropped that warning because uh another very strange thing
about this crime, uh the killer had placed a vine shoot inside the female victim.
Placed the what? A vine shoot. Like a some kind of vegetation that would have been growing in the area. Okay. Um the
authorities did find, as far as evidence goes, they did find shell casings at the
crime scene. All of these came from bullets that were used in a Beretta handgun. They were .22 caliber long
rifle bullets. And both the ammo and the gun are commonly used guns or commonly owned
guns in this area. Mhm. And as we mentioned Stefania's necklace, uh it must have been stolen.
Um she It was reported that she was wearing it that night and it was not found at the crime scene. Uh the
investigators found Stefania's bra and purse about 200 m from the murder scene. Remember, we had said that the killer
had taken her purse and dumped the contents of it onto the ground. Now, more than one witness driving in
that area that night reported hearing gunshots around 11:45 p.m. And judging by reports of what time the
couple left the disco, the investigators believe that the couple were parked at the location for about an hour or so
before the shooting took place. As for leads, well, there were there were a few, but
as you will see, there is not much detailed information for investigators to work with here.
So, yes, uh two of Stefania's friends came forward in the investigation. One says that on the day that the couple was
killed, Stefania told a friend that she had a strange encounter with a man that had scared her. Now, Stefania failed or
did not give any further detail about the man. You know, didn't mention if she knew his name.
But what what was the situation? Didn't give a description of the man or didn't even say what had terrified her about
this situation. So, it was just basically, I met this guy, he freaked me out, and that's it.
Yeah, or I was I was I was here and this happened. It was a very brief thing, but
it was enough for after she was killed for her friend to come forward and say, "By the way, she happened to mention
this casually to me the day that she was killed." Mhm. Okay, the next lead again
comes from a friend of Stefania's, a a different friend, says that the couple had been in somewhat of a secluded area
just days earlier. Uh Pasquale was giving Stefania a driving lesson. Mhm. Uh but they said that a man had followed
them. They believed that a man had followed them to the location and was watching them during the course of this
uh so-called driving lesson. Um the thing here is though, this again, it's one of those things that you know,
when when you are talking to your friends and when you're talking to your family and something weird happens to
you that day, it might only be just a weird little thing that happens, right? But then if when a crime like this takes
place just days later, all of a sudden it's a big thing that you're wondering, "Well, why didn't I nudge that person
further? Why didn't I say, 'What kind of car did you see?'" Right, right. "What color was the vehicle? What did
the man look like? Was it somebody you knew?" You know, uh these are things that happen to us in our daily lives and
we, you know, kind of casually tell our friends and family about it. The other lead, um this came from
several people. Came from a bunch of young couples that would park in the same area where the couple was killed.
These couples told investigators that they had often seen men watching them. Uh voyeurs observing the couples as they
were being romantic in their vehicles. A bunch of peeping Toms. Is what you're saying?
Thank thank you, Captain. Uh here's what I think is funny about this. Yeah, we we knew this guy was
watching. And it didn't stop you? Um well, the thing here that that was that was obvious to me very quickly in
this case that that was foreign to me um because not being, you know, from the area or even familiar with it, I didn't
realize that there's a whole community of this going on in Italy. And if anybody in Italy is listening to the
show and they're thinking that I'm speaking out of turn, I'm only going off of all of the information that I've
consumed. So, what are you saying? I mean, you say there's a community. What I've been
told, okay, from everything that I've read and found and watched, is that there's there's two things going on
here. Um that that during the times of these crimes, um that a lot of young people would would remain living with
their parents until they went off and got married. So, these people that are in long-term relationships or or in love
with somebody and they want time alone with this person, it's very common that they would spend an evening or a couple
of hours in in in a vehicle parked somewhere. Well, this is pretty common in the states as well, right? Well,
yeah, but I but I got the vibe that it was it's happening a lot, you know, like like overwhelmingly
uh compared to how it's happening here. You are just you're going to have to finish the show. I'm going to have to
get my plane ticket. Oh, now you sound like one of the peeping Toms. So, I'm No, who said I wanted to be the one of
the peeping Toms? I was going to get my own car and go out there. Have some fun. Rent a big car
with some leg room. Yeah. The thing here is, Captain, though, what this has what this has inspired, let's
say, is now you have a bunch of men that go out in the evening and they watch these young couples. You know, they kind
of Yeah, they kind of hide in the bushes, hide in the woods, and Flicky flicky. and watch these young
couples. I've even heard that, you know, you know, as more recently, that some people have,
you know, brought technology into this quote-unquote hobby. Now, amongst these peeping Toms or voyeurs, they call each
other Indians. I guess that's some kind of term that they've come up with. I've seen it used in many reports regarding
these crimes. However, I think it's a it's a degrading the Indian population by using
that name. The pilgrims never talked about the Indians like being peeping Toms. no complaints of
being watched from a from the Chief peeping Tom. So, we won't call them that. We'll just call them peeping
Toms. We'll call them watchers. Uh but regardless, when we speak of these people, you'll call them watchers.
who we are talking about. Or losers. Well, according to uh newspaper reports, uh one of the
mysteries surrounding the murders that investigators thought would really help point them toward the perpetrator of
this crime is that the investigators wanted to know this a simple answer to a complicated question, in my opinion.
Okay. Was the killer waiting for just any couple to arrive in this area, or was the killer waiting for this
specific couple to arrive? Or did the killer just happen to come across them and kill them? I think there
needs to be more questions there. I think you're right. I think the other question would be what I think is more
likely is, you know, was this individual was this peeping Tom as and he's not at this
point that the killer we don't know is a peeping Tom. Right. But was he just you
know, was he stalking them? Was he following them? Because the the idea that yeah, if look if this is happening
in a bunch of points and you got you know, make out lane over here and make out look out you know, make out mountain
over here. You can just sit there all night if you want. But that works I think as far as a peeping
Tom not a professional. Um but I'm just saying that's what I think a peeping Tom would do just let's
go to the area that people are making out or fornicating and let's hang out there.
To me as far as the murder is concerned it'd be I follow these people. I went to the
disco with them. They left the disco. I followed them out here. I think you bring up a good point because we see at
least two of her friends coming forward stating that there was something that had taken place
in the days leading up to the murder where Stefania thought something weird was going on being followed being
watched or strange encounter with some some weird dude. Um and I think you're right Captain. I
think that they they didn't ask enough questions as well and and one question I have regarding this particular crime
would be why why would the killer stab the boy after he was dead. I mean he had shot
him five times by that point and then he goes back and stabs him another five times. I I don't know why but my my
question Well, possibly just a adrenaline, right? You're exactly right. Could be adrenaline but I also wondered
if he wanted to make sure that the the boy was dead. Right. That he had some concern that he left him alive. Now why
would he be concerned? Well, one his mission was to go out obviously and kill these two young people but two
was he was he worried that he could be identified if he left anybody alive? Did did they happen to know him?
Had they seen him before or was there something about him that would give himself away as far as his identity?
Well, I mean at the end of the day if you leave somebody alive there's always a possibility that they're able to
identify you later. And then the other thing is the overkill with the female victim.
He degrades her and and stabs her over 90 times. That usually indicates some type of personal relationship or some
kind of previous relationship with the victim. Yeah, I mean I see that but I also see
that you know, that victim could be a symbol for something Mhm. greater you know, where it's like maybe just a
hatred towards women and and so you know, that victim is it's not so much that he hates that victim
it's she's the symbol for every female that he's ever hated or that has ever tormented him or didn't give him enough
attention or maybe it's mom issues. Well, and to me the other thing here Captain is what what I think is
absolutely terrifying is that rather than him being concerned rather than the killer or killers being
concerned that they might be observed by somebody else or that another couple might pull up in a
vehicle or they could have been spotted by somebody rather than being concerned about that the killer seemed to be more
focused and concerned about actually finishing the job about he had an idea of what he wanted to go out and do it's
it's almost ritualistic in a way Yeah. and he was going to continue and finish this job no matter what. He was going to
take his time do what he felt he had to do before leaving the area. But he's also again if he is concerned about you
know, somebody coming up on lovers lane or something this guy has a knife and he
has a gun. You know, so what is he worried about? The other strange thing here Captain and this
on. I was just going to say I don't think a murderer you know, after he's done murdering somebody is scared that
he's going to be murdered. Well, I meant spotted that he would be identified or there would be witnesses
to something. Well, yeah and that's kind of hard to know just cuz we don't know the exact layout of where they're at.
Like how open was it? Was there a bunch of was it a big field? Was it you know, was there some trees blocking the
entrance? Who knows? One thing I also wondered about and this is a detail that's not widely reported
but later Stefania's grave was vandalized. And I don't have details on how it was vandalized just that it was
it was vandalized. Now that makes you wonder and question was this a coincidence? Does this or does this
further point to that the killer may have known her and had had hatreds toward her or coincidence because
sometimes stupid people just do bad dumb things and it could be completely unrelated to the crime. Yeah or it could
be something where somebody read something in the paper and they're just a sicko. And they're like let's let's
deface if we deface her grave then then people are going to be talking about this. We'll start some rumors. Well, the
investigators continue to look for the killer or killers of the young couple despite the few leads that they have to
go on. Now just under 7 years later on Saturday June 6th, 1981. This is just about 15 km outside of Florence. A
couple who'd been together for quite some time went out for ice cream. This is 30-year-old Giovanni and his
girlfriend Carmela who is just 21 at the time. They went out for you know, it's it's June, right? So it's nice and warm
out and even though it's late at night, let's go out and get some ice cream. It's about 10:00 that night. After they
go out they decide that they're going to go and park at a place that is again frequented by other couples looking for
privacy but also a location that is frequented by these peeping Toms or voyeurs. Mhm. So while they are parked
there they they are attacked. Uh investigators have reason to believe the man was attacked first. Giovanni was
shot three times. Once in the heart, once in the lung and then in the head. Carmela was shot five
times. One of these shots was at point-blank range to the chest. This was the death blow.
After she is shot the monster pulls Carmela from the vehicle and over to an embankment about 12 m away. Then he cuts
her jeans all the way up to the belt. I couldn't find where a report of where this cut started at what location you
know, low on the jeans. I'm guessing quite low on the jeans because you know, maybe even the bottom of the
pant leg or legs because for what was about to take place the jeans would have had to have been basically removed. Uh
I'm going to say this as politely as I can without leaving anything to question but the killer removed the pubic area of
the female victim. This was done at the previous crime as well. Um again the killer opens up the purse and
scatters the contents on the ground and just like at the first crime scene the monster stabs the male victim
postmortem. So there's a lot of evidence that maybe it's the same killer or possibly a
copycat killer. I mean we we're talking about the first crime happening in '74 and now this crime has taken place in
1981. There's a lot more to get into and we'll get right back to this after this
quick beer break. All right, cheers mates. Cheers everybody for filling up the fridge and
the the beer fund. Cheers to you. The the bodies were found by a policeman out walking with his son
the following day. Uh at this time the male victim was still in the car and the driver side door window was shattered.
Mhm. When investigators found Carmela she was as we said at an embankment. Now this was about 12 m away from the
vehicle. So the first question that comes to mind here Captain is you know would you say that the perpetrator
appears to be relatively strong or at the very least in good physical condition? 12 m away from the vehicle
would be about 39 ft. Now I I don't know any of the uh you know, height or weight
of this woman of Carmela. However, I've seen pictures of her. She appears to be of average height and weight. But that
still seems 39 ft seems like a considerable distance to carry somebody that probably weighs 100 to 115 lb.
Right but he you know, maybe not carry he might have dragged. Well, that that was one thing that I was
curious about because um you know, there were there were no drag marks found on the ground or the body according to the
evidence that I reviewed. Yeah, but again it's it's all about terrain. I mean, if if we're talking about a rocky
area, then then you're going to see some of that on the body, but if we're talking about a you know, grassy
the grassy knoll, right? You're not going to see you know, the marks on her body. You know, you
could drag somebody through the grass and it's not going to you know, mess up the body. And none of the
evidence pointed towards anything as as far as mud or dirt on the hands and knees or the bottom of her feet or
shoes, but I guess that information is not necessary because you know, there they're stating that she died from that
point-blank gunshot to the chest and died in the car, then obviously she didn't walk or crawl 39 feet away. Well,
right. And I think as far as the detectives go, yeah, is is this murderer is he does he have some strength? Is he
able to pick her up, put her on the shoulder, carry carry her wherever he needs to, right?
Or is he dragging the body? Or is there two suspects? Right. So, that that'd be the
other question. I'm not suggesting that this man, if it is a single perpetrator,
I'm not suggesting that he needs to be a hulking person, you know, a giant man. I'm just simply saying that you could
you could probably if it's a sole perpetrator, you could probably rule out a a 79-year-old man or a or a very small
man that maybe only weighs 110 lb. The thing here though, remember we discussed in the first crime It could be a very
strong small man. Built like a fireplug. In the first crime, the necklace was stolen from the female victim. In this
crime, Carmela's necklace was found at the scene. However, it had been laid across her mouth. So,
her mouth is open, Right. and I don't know if it was I'm guessing that the necklace would have been broken, you
know, yanked off of her neck rather than someone taking the time to unclasp it. But it was laid so it would be going
across her mouth or or through her teeth if you want to say that, almost creating
some kind of smile with the with the necklace there. Both victims were stabbed in the abdomen
as well. So, I mean, there's again, you know, I know where I know there's somebody out there right now
going, "It's a true crime show. You don't need to tell people." No, look, I'm trying to
if this is too much for you, try a different episode. So, we have a lot of mutilation as far
as the pubic area goes, but above that in the lower abdomen, there's a lot of stab wounds as well.
And and that happened on both victims. Yeah. So, so what's the motive of that? That that that is my question. You know,
it again, it almost seems with the removal it almost seems like that's some kind of
ritualistic aspect to these crimes. The investigators has been widely reported in this particular crime that
the investigators believe that the couple saw or detected the presence of the monster before they were attacked.
They have reason or more likely they probably have evidence to believe that the couple was trying to flee when they
were attacked. With a car? Trying to flee with the car or Well, I think okay, so I have a I have somewhat of a
description of the state that the bodies were found in, okay? The the male victim,
his his pants were not all the way on, okay? So, it what what the the investigators believe is that he was
compromised because he was not dressed, but he was trying to get dressed uh and flee
the scene. You know, that maybe maybe he was trying to get dressed and then trying to start the car.
Other than the other than him pulling up his pants, I don't know what other evidence they had to suggest this to
them other than it's been reported as such. I'm I'm guessing that they had more evidence to point towards this.
Maybe they found the key in the ignition. Maybe they you know, the key was in his hand, you know, there's
there's anything there's these little bits and fragments and pieces that we will we may never know, but it's always
been reported that they believe that they they had detected or heard or seen somebody approaching the car.
Well, that'd make me wonder. Okay, a couple things. When somebody's going to go park with their significant other,
normally like I said, you you park in an area and there's some kind of you know, blockade at the entrance, you
know, like maybe some trees or something. So, but you're going to park far enough away from the entrance that
when you see you know, headlights, Mhm. then it kind of gives you a warning. Okay, okay, got
to put my Jimmy away, right? So, what I'm wondering about this this attack is did they park far enough away
and did they have some headlights come in and then they go, "Okay, we we got to get decent, you know, we don't know if
this is a cop or not." That that to me seems more likely than you know, this individual just rolling
up on them and shining a flashlight. Right. You know, because if he's trying you know, what sense would it make if he
was parked somewhere else or just got there by foot and started approaching the vehicle with the light
flashing towards them. Mhm. You know, unless he wanted to create more fear. Maybe he wanted to
see that fear. But so, then I'm now I'm wondering, do we have other vehicle, you know, tire tread or what?
Well, we we don't have any of that. We don't have any evidence of that here. And but you bring up a good question
because with the first murder scene, the bra of the female victim and the purse are found 200 m away from the vehicle.
So, that would suggest that this individual is walking. That that was my first initial thought and then I
recalled some some information that we gathered from Theodore Bundy, who when he talked about
his crimes Let's call him Ted. When when Ted would leave the the crime scene, the
murder scene where he was dumping a body, and he would take a lot of the females um
identification and any of their personal items with him. And he said, you know, they they thought he was some kind of
mastermind of going undetected. How did you go so undetected for so many years? What did you do with their stuff? Did
you burn it? Did you bury it? He goes, "No. I just simply drove away from the crime
scene from the murder scene, and I would randomly toss an item out the car window
as I was driving. Once I got far enough away, I just randomly tossed these things out. They have a way of
disappearing." Now, he had the benefit Bundy had the benefit of the bodies not being found for a considerable amount of
time. Here we see two crime scenes where the bodies are found the very next day.
Almost as if somebody takes little to no precaution, does not mind them being found. And again, we talk about the
mutilation to the female victim. It's almost that somebody not only does he have this ritual, but he also has
a need to to shock and disturb whoever's going to find or see these bodies because he leaves the victim, the female
victim outside of the vehicle. Yeah. Yeah, or was she outside of the vehicle when she he approached them? Were they
both outside of the vehicle? Well, they can determine that she was killed inside the car.
Based off of blood splatter. Is that Blood and bullets and all that that that type of evidence. They can
determine that she was killed inside the vehicle. And then the first and removed and same
same scenario in the first crime. In the in the first and and what we have here,
the key piece of evidence to really connect these, you know, is this a copycat or the same person is the
the shell casings are very similar. And and both of these murders. Yeah, and we couldn't tell you the story of the
monster of Florence without discussing a a fine gentleman and captain I like this guy a lot. This
is Mario Spezi. Mario worked for one of the area's more prominent newspaper publications. He
spent he was sent to this crime scene the day after the murder when the bodies were found to cover the story. Okay. And
here is a brief version of Mario's account of what he saw when he arrived on the scene that day. He says, "The boy
seemed to be sleeping in the driver's seat, his head leaning on the window. Only a little black mark on his temple,
and the car window shattered by a bullet, indicating that it was a crime scene. The girl's body lay some feet
behind the car at the foot of a little embankment amid scattered wildflowers. She had also been shot and was on her
back naked except for a gold chain, which had fallen between her lips." Now, according to Mario, everything at
the scene was unnaturally composed, um immobile. There were no signs of struggle or confusion. And I found this
I found this to be very interesting because you know, when we spoke with prosecutor Juan Martinez, who who
prosecuted Jodi Arias back in that was episode 23 of of True Crime Garage, available in the iTunes store, shameless
plug there. But when we spoke with Juan Martinez, remember he said that in his jurisdiction, what they do as
prosecutors is when there's a murder scene or they they whoever the prosecutor that gets that case is sent
to the crime scene relatively quickly after the discovery of of the victim. And he said that one thing you know, so
this guy's been to dozens and dozens of murder scenes as well as Mario Spezi who's covering these murders and crimes
in Italy. Mhm. And both of them had the same thing. They're saying that when we show up to these murder scenes, one
thing that is obvious to us is an obvious sign of a violent struggle. You know, that there's usually blood smears,
there's furniture that's knocked over, there's things that are broken, there's things scattered on the floor. Uh it's
an obvious sign of a violent struggle. Where Spezi is saying the thing that was different for him about this crime and
he knew immediately that this was going to be different from anything that he's ever investigated before or reported on
before was that when he arrives at this crime scene, it's it's composed. It there is no sign
of violent struggle. This is simply somebody came upon these people and attacked them and killed them very
quickly and precisely. Well, I I can't remember every detail cuz it seemed so long ago. But uh you know, the
first case we ever covered in the garage and I I do remember sweating a lot. I do remember sweating a lot. I also
remember uh that's when you you didn't understand the idea that you had to talk into the mic so you just kind of walk
around the garage. Mhm. I wanted it to be a walking show. You've confined me to a chair.
Yeah, you need to well, peo- people need to be able to hear you. Um So, but in that case, we covered the
Phantom Killer and there was there's several attacks, which is that's kind of what we got going on here.
But there is some of those attacks, there was a struggle and some there weren't. Right. A- A- so so right now we
have two two attacks. No sign of struggle pretty much on either one. Mhm. Uh to me,
that's why I don't I don't put any weight into the investigator saying that they saw the attacker.
Therefore, they're trying to get away. Right. Like I I don't put a lot of weight in
there because to me, we we also have a shattered driver's side window. Mhm. So to me, this guy is stalking from a
distance. Right. Approaching them. And you know, depending on how how bright it is outside
or how much his eyes are able to adapt to the darkness, uh maybe there is a light on in the car,
who knows. Right. Um Or maybe the car's still running. Then I think this individual is just
stalking from a distance, coming up and that first shot is through that window and hitting the
male in this attack. And I think you're right here, Captain. I think he the killer got the jump on
them, let's say, because because all of these shots hit a target. They weren't, you know, immediate death
shots, but they all hit a target. So, either this guy's a super you know, super marksman or he's very
close to the vehicle, very close to these victims when he's shooting at them. Yeah, and well, we have evidence
that some of the the some of the wounds are, you know, what's it called? Uh point-blank range.
Right. So, So yeah, I would assume that you have some of those and so maybe these other and now this is '80 '81. So,
maybe the forensics isn't up to par with what we have now. So, they might not be
able to tell you how exactly far away he was. But I'm I'm guessing this guy wasn't any more than 5 ft away. Right.
And possibly right up on the window Right. even. And you pointed out some obvious signs of of
links, you know, of of similarities into the previous crime. A couple of other things that we haven't mentioned yet
though, you know, the first crime takes place in the month of September, this one in the month of June. So, both
warmer months. Um they also take place on a Saturday night as well as moonless nights. So,
these would be nights that would be particularly dark out. Mhm. Uh both both on a both on a weekend.
it means there. Um and in the warmer months. Now, Mario Spezi as I said is a seasoned and might I add a very talented
investigative journalist. He is covering the case and his article covering the crime, well, it became a newspaper
sensation. And eventually he revealed that a serial killer was stalking the countryside of
Florence. The newspaper pointed to something that the police had overlooked. This killing, this double
homicide was similar to the double homicide that had taken place in the hills north of Florence back in 1974.
That's the first crime we discussed. Right. The um the this prompted the police to compare
the shells, the bullet casings recovered from both crime scenes. They discovered
that the bullets had been fired in fact by the same gun. Yes, it was a .22 caliber Beretta firing Winchester H
series with a copper jacket, which according to the ballistics experts, not only came from the same gun, but very
likely came from the same box of 50 bullets. Mhm. Uh so the the gun the this gun had a defect. Uh
it had a defective firing pin that left an unmistakable mark on the rim of each shell. So now, you know, they know that
this is a one-of-a-kind marking. So there's no question this is the same gun. So now they have a huge
breakthrough, but of course, a scary one. And Spezi appears to be right in his assessment that Florence is dealing
with a serial killer. Well, and what I think is so scary is the time that has elapsed. I mean, '74 to '81, that's a
long period. And what other crimes might have happened during that that we that we're not aware of. Mhm. The police
report also noted that the killer had used a particular knife with a special notch in it. And Spezi
throughout his time covering the case would come to the conclusion that this was probably what he calls a scuba
knife. Scuba Steve. Yeah, I I don't know really what that means, scuba knife. I mean, I'm guessing
it has some ridges on one side. Correct. Well, following Spezi's breakthrough in the case, the excitement
of the readers of the newspaper was through the roof. They wanted to learn more about the crimes, more about
the monster and more about any possible leads in the case. Mhm. Uh Spezi wrote many many articles about the crimes and
poss- and possible suspects. During some periods, he was releasing an article a day about the case. Once Spezi
wrote about one suspect who was a priest who frequented prostitutes for the thrill of shaving their pubic hair.
What? Yeah, he also wrote about a psychic what? Yeah. I said there was a priest that liked to visit prostitutes. To
shave them. To shave their pubic hair. That was his his fetish and Spezi thought that it was worth telling the
community about because he thought it was a strange enough fetish that it might carry over to something that the
monster was doing. He also wrote about pay you to shave you. No. No, thank you. He also wrote about a psychic who spent
a night in the cemetery where one of the victims were buried. The psychic claimed to be sending and
receiving messages from the dead. And Captain, you know how much via email or was it
Was that USPS? Stamps.com. Walkie-talkie. Uh You Captain, you know how much some of
the listeners love it when I or or better we bring up psychics, right? So, I couldn't when I came across this
portion of the story, I couldn't help myself and had to include cuz you're That's what you're
That's your weekend job. Yeah. Makes a psychic on the side. Yeah, if you I mean, call the show. I'll do a
reading. The public was now reading about the crimes almost daily and discussing them
at bars, around water coolers and in many social settings and they loved talk about this in garages, I heard.
Yeah, they and they loved to indulge in the wild speculation. They were getting a lot of wild speculation from Spezi's
articles and I think that might be why they were so popular. Now, later that year, Mario Spezi was actually the one
who named the killer the Monster of Florence. Yeah, which is such an interesting name because when you think
Florence, you think love and romance and all this stuff and then to toss in, you
know, such a bad word. Mhm. You know. Well, he had covered other like European serial killer. So,
he was kind of he had some insight into this and I think he had uh you know, kind of saw other nicknames
that were given to killers and this was one that he really really thought was terrified the
community and I think there's no better name than what he came up with. Right. Now, okay. So, following the second set
of murders, remember we talked about the peeping Toms, the voyeurs, the the watchers.
Mhm. The the priest that are into shaving. Well, forget forget about the priest. I
think that was just that was just an odd story that happens to be part of this. Um
The the police got some information. And with this information, they went and they picked up one of these watchers.
Okay. Uh so, do you want to hear about this guy, Captain? His name was Nick. No, his
name was Enzo Spalletti. Old Enzo Spalletti, belly full of spaghetti. Yes, he was born in 1945. He
was an ambulance driver and a peeping Tom. Um Well, those things don't go together.
Well, it's his hobby. Um he he His car was spotted in the area of the crime scene of the second crime scene.
Okay. Uh, now that night he was out with one of his {quote} {unquote} nighttime expedition friends. So, like we said,
there's there's people that go out and do this by themselves, there's people that go out with their friends and do
this, there's It's like like finding Bigfoot. It's It's a strange thing to think that
there's a whole community of these peeping Tom watcher people. I'm going to go find Bigfoot. I'm going to go watch
people touch each other. But the key thing here is, Captain, his friend, when interviewed by police, tells them that
he went home. The friend went home around midnight. And Spalletti was still in that area. Spalletti tells his wife
and some customers uh that he had saw a young couple murdered that particular night. Uh, he
also mentions some of the mutilations that were done before the information is released to the public. This was
information released in the newspapers. Okay. Um so, because of this, this is why he's called into questioning. When
questioned about where he was that night, he starts off by making up stories and telling lies. It's after
about 6 hours of questioning that he admits to being near the crime scene, but he insists that he went home after
his friend left at midnight. Now, the problem that Enzo Spalletti gets into here is that when his wife is
interviewed, she she does not agree with him leaving at midnight because she says
that he didn't come home that night until around or after 2:00 a.m. Right. Spalletti is arrested and he's
imprisoned. Now, while he is locked up, a strange A stranger calls his wife and calls his brother.
And both state that this is not a voice that either one of them had recognized. Right.
But basically, his wife is told on the phone from the stranger, "Tell him to be quiet. He soon will be acquitted and
released from jail. A little jail time will serve him well, the idiot. What was he thinking saying he knew the victims
from the newspapers when the newspapers didn't release that information until the next morning."
So, a strange phone call to get to the wife of our number one suspect. And Eddie Spaghetti, he he might have known
this couple if they were known to, you know, park, right? You'd think, you know, this guy
is going out, has a partner in crime, um peeping Tom partner. Mhm. What they do, hold each other's hands and [ __ ]
while they beat off? Oh my god. Anyways, no, but it's like it's weird, so maybe he did know the
couple. Maybe he saw more than he's, you know, leading on the investigators on what he saw. But there's So, we got this
weird call. So, we're Let's just assume this is the murderer. But if this is the murderer that's
calling and saying, "Hey, look, he's going to be acquitted soon if he just shuts up."
Right? Right. Then, we can assume what I was saying from the beginning that this this person
is stalking these people. And not only is he stalking everybody, he's stalking that whole area. And that And he knows.
He He has his He has his hand on on the pulse of the city. Oh, somebody is arrested for my crimes. I
will go out of my way to connect with that person's wife, brother, friend, whatever, right?
So, I mean, we're talking about somebody that's very dedicated to what is happening. Yeah.
Yeah, and it It's strange in a way that that his wife is getting the phone calls. Now, of course, we don't have any
proof of these phone calls other than his wife saying it and his brother saying it. Both of them would have a
motive to see their husband or brother not imprisoned for four heinous murders. Okay, so the murderer calls and says
he's going to be acquitted soon and he's going to be released. So, then what happens? Well, he Enzo Spalletti is
still locked up in prison. And in October of 1981, this is October 22nd, uh just 30 km from Florence, another
young couple, this is Stefano, uh he's 26 years old, and Susanna, who's 24, they went out to dinner that night and
around 10:00 p.m., uh they say they're going to go to the movies. Well, they are found dead the next day.
Stefano was shot four times, um two of these shots in the heart, and he was stabbed four times postmortem.
According to the investigators' reconstruction of the crime, Susanna it was shot five times, and then like the
others the other crimes, she was pulled from the car and placed about 10 ft away
from the vehicle. Uh her female area is mutilated. It was reported that when the
two were found, Samantha Sorry, Susanna had a chunk of hair in her hand. Now, it's not clear if this chunk of hair
belonged to her boyfriend or if it belonged to the perpetrator of this crime. Mhm.
For some strange reason, Captain, and this is These are the things that boggle the brain,
but for some strange reason, this bit of evidence has been lost over the years. The hair? Yeah, the the the hair that
was reported to have been found clenched in her hand. Uh, and this part This next part is unlike
any of the other attacks. Okay. The monster, for some reason, pulled the man's body out of the car this time. And
it is believed that he did this because the body of the man was, for some reason, obstructing him from removing
the girl's body from the vehicle. Okay. Uh, so Stefano's body was found laid out, or let's say, maybe more
appropriately, Stefano's body was dumped or dropped by the driver's side door. Mhm. Um the police reported that the
driver's door was jammed for some reason. So, this means that the monster carried the dead body of the man from
the passenger side of the vehicle, pulling it out from the passenger side, and took the time to carry it around the
vehicle and then dropping it on the driver side of the vehicle. Which, like you said before, is
different but the other two crimes, but it makes me wonder if this uh murderer is trying to like
you know, commit a perfect murder in his head and then to create a perfect scene
outside. Yeah. You You know what I'm saying? You know, and you tapped into something
interesting there because one thing that I kept coming across when the description of this particular crime and
the reconstruction of this crime comes up is it's often mentioned that there's some
kind of psychological factor in there that the the killer might be trying to separate the man from the woman before
he does the mutilation to the woman's body. Um so, like you said, that he might be he he's created in his his mind
the way he wants this thing to go down or the way that he wants it to look when it's found, and he's going to He's
painting a picture for for people to see. And I think you tapped into something very interesting there,
Captain. Now, the Of course, the female victim, her purse was dumped, the contents was dumped on the ground. Uh
police were unable to determine if anything of the female victims was missing from the crime scene. They
couldn't tell if she had missing jewelry or anything from her purse. Mhm. Um they
did find some evidence. You know, we're talking about a killer that so far has left very little evidence other than the
shell casings at the crime scene. They found a size 11 shoe print uh near the vehicle. Um Also, not far from the
vehicle, they found And this This is going to sound strange. Um they found a pyramid-shaped black basalt stone
uh is found near that vehicle. Mhm. Uh Uh What is one of these things that they're talking about?
Okay, so basically, it's a picture like a like a rock, you know, that maybe somebody would try to to sculpt or shape
into some kind of form. Mhm. Uh so, this is a dark bl- almost black or black um stone that someone has shaped into
almost a pyramid-type shape. Okay. I've seen pictures of this one. It appears to be
a a little larger than two fists put together. Um So, pretty big. Yeah. Yeah, and this is something that that we will
come back to. Uh but this is this strange object is found and noted as evidence in this
particular crime. Now, after this the murders take place, there's another strange phone call situation. Okay.
Uh this is before the bodies were actually found. Someone called Susanna's mother. Now, the strange thing here is
um I believe that that that Suzanne she you know, she lived I know she lived with her mother. But the thing is, I
believe that they had recently moved that it that they were living with her her aunt uh pretty recently. And once
they had moved, the number was not listed at the time of Suzanne's death. Um she did not Her mother did not
recognize the voice of the caller. Um she said that that the caller said that they had important information
about Suzanne that they needed to give to Suzanne's mom. Right. Then the call was disconnected for some reason. Maybe
the caller hung up, but regardless it was disconnected. And there was no further communication regarding whatever
important information this caller had to give to Suzanne's mother. Now, keep in mind, like we said at the top of this uh
crime, that Enzo Spelletti is still behind bars during this whole attack. And due to the
attack matching that exactly of the monster. Not exactly, but Well, very close. We have the body We have the
male's body pulled from the vehicle. However, we have the same gun used. Mhm. And the same ammunition used in this
particular crime. So, Enzo Spelletti cannot be the perpetrator of this crime and most likely cannot be
the monster himself. Yeah, possibly. There's some other theories about that. Um there was a lead in this case. Um
there was a you know, the phone call. We discussed that. Um but there was also a
situation where Susanna had told her mother that she believed she was being followed. Again, we're hearing the same
thing time and time again, Captain. That someone was following her in a car uh when she was out walking and driving.
Right. She didn't give a description of the vehicle to her mother. Um and she didn't say if it in fact was more than
one vehicle. Could have been possibly two vehicles. But again, we're seeing a vague description of somebody watching
or somebody being feeling though that they're being followed before they end up being murdered. Yeah, which goes to
my original thought of you know, possibly somebody stalking stalking their victims. We have so much more to
get to regarding the Monster of Florence, and this case is a huge one. So, we have a jam-packed day for you
tomorrow. We also want to thank all of you for joining us in the garage today. That's right, you. I'm talking to you.
Thank you for joining us in the garage. We We hope you're having a fantastic day
or a fantastic evening. Regardless, we'll see you right back here tomorrow in the garage. Until then, please be
good, be kind, and don't litter.

The Monster of Florence /// Part 1 /// 124

Part 1 of 2

TrueCrimeGarage.com

Florence is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Rich with history, monuments and art, it is truly one of the great cities. This city has been haunted and its people hunted. For nearly twenty years something crept in the dark ambushing it's prey. Over a dozen people have been murdered while parked in cars in the hills of Florence. This killer has been described as absolute evil. This is the story of the Monster of Florence.

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Brief Summary

The episode details the Monster of Florence murders, focusing on the brutal killings of young couples from 1974 to 1983.

Key points

The Monster of Florence. A chilling tale of a serial killer that haunted Florence for nearly 20 years.
A Night of Horror. A young couple's romantic evening turns into a nightmare as they encounter a dark figure.
Gruesome Details. The aftermath reveals the horrific nature of the crimes committed by the monster.
Vandalism of Stefania's Grave. Stefania's grave was vandalized, raising questions about the killer's connection to her.
The Monster of Florence Strikes Again. A couple is brutally attacked while parked for privacy, raising questions about the killer's motives.
Mario Spezi's Haunting Account. Journalist Mario Spezi describes the chilling scene of the crime, noting its eerie calmness.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This monster has not only ended many lives, but destroyed families.

5:23WatchDec 4, 2022

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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