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Search for Emanuela Orlandi, Missing for Three Decades, Leads to Vatican Cemetery
Search for Girl Missing for Three Decades Leads to Empty Vatican Tombs
(about 5 hours later)
ROME — The disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi, the 15-year-old daughter of a Vatican City employee, who vanished off a Rome street one summer day after attending a music lesson, has given rise to one of Italy’s most enduring mysteries, fueled by false leads, red herrings and never-ending media attention.
ROME — The disappearance 36 years ago of a Vatican City employee’s teenage daughter, who vanished off a Rome street after attending a music lesson, has given rise to one of Italy’s most enduring mysteries, fueled by false leads, red herrings and continual media attention.
The latest installment of this drawn-out drama, which began 36 years ago, will begin early Thursday morning, when, acting on a series of tips to the family, a Vatican-appointed forensic anthropologist will exhume two tombs in a cemetery inside the Vatican walls and analyze the contents.
The latest installment of the drawn-out drama came Thursday morning, when, acting on a series of tips to the family, a Vatican-appointed forensic anthropologist exhumed two tombs in a cemetery inside the Vatican walls to analyze their contents.
“I don’t want to think about what will be inside,” said Emanuela’s brother, Pietro Orlandi, who has led the family’s decades-long efforts to arrive at the truth behind her disappearance. “Until I am presented with a corpse, it’s my duty to look for her and hope she’s still alive.”
His team found nothing.
The family’s quest has taken its members on various tortuous paths — following tips, anonymous letters and reports of sightings.
The quest by the family of the girl — Emanuela Orlandi, who was 15 at the time of her disappearance — has led down various tortuous paths, following tips, anonymous letters and reports of sightings.
“Every tip could be the real thing, so I’ve had to verify them all,” Mr. Orlandi said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “I couldn’t live with the doubt that I’d missed something.”
“Every tip could be the real thing, so I’ve had to verify them all,” Emanuela’s brother, Pietro Orlandi, who has led the family’s decades-long efforts, said on Wednesday. “I couldn’t live with the doubt that I’d missed something.”
The most recent twist to the tale began at the end of 2017, when Mr. Orlandi was approached by the first of several people working inside the Vatican suggesting to him that Emanuela might be buried in the Teutonic Cemetery, for centuries a final resting place for people of Germanic origin.
The most recent twist began at the end of 2017, when Mr. Orlandi was approached by the first of several people working inside the Vatican who suggested that Emanuela might be buried in the Teutonic Cemetery, which for centuries was a final resting place for people of Germanic origin.
His sources told him to seek the place in the cemetery, which is located between St. Peter’s Basilica and the Paul VI Audience Hall, where an angel was pointing.
His sources told him to seek the place in the cemetery, which is between St. Peter’s Basilica and the Paul VI Audience Hall, where an angel was pointing.
That led Mr. Orlandi to the tomb of Princess Sophie of Hohenlohe, who died in the 18th century. That tomb will be exhumed on Thursday by Giovanni Arcudi, a professor of forensic medicine at the University of Rome Tor Vergata.
That led Mr. Orlandi to the tomb of Princess Sophie of Hohenlohe, who died in the 18th century. Giovanni Arcudi, a professor of forensic medicine at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, began the exhumation of the tomb on Thursday.
Mr. Arcudi has been authorized by a prosecutor in Vatican City to analyze the contents of the tomb — as well as the adjacent tomb of Princess Carlotta Frederica of Mecklenburg, who died in 1840 — and take samples for DNA testing. The theory is that Emanuela’s body is in one of the tombs.
Mr. Arcudi was authorized by a prosecutor in Vatican City to analyze the contents of the tomb — as well as the adjacent tomb of Princess Carlotta Frederica of Mecklenburg, who died in 1840 — and take samples for DNA testing. The theory was that Emanuela’s body was inside one of the tombs.
In an interview released by the Vatican Wednesday, Mr. Arcudi said he couldn’t be sure how long the examination of the tombs would take, as that depended “on the state, quality and quantity of the remains that we will find,” he said.
It was expected that from an initial examination of the bones, he and his collaborators would be able to approximately date them, he said in an interview released by the Vatican on Wednesday.
From an initial examination of the bones, he and his collaborators would be able to approximately date them, he said.
“We can distinguish whether the bone has been there 10 years, 50 years or 150 years,” he said, and whether more than one body had been buried in the tomb. He added that DNA testing could be used to try to establish “in a definitive and categorical way” any connection to Emanuela, though those tests would take longer to carry out.
“We can distinguish whether the bone has been there 10 years, 50 years or 150 years,” he said, and whether more than one body had been buried in the tomb. He added that DNA testing would try to establish “in a definitive and categorical way” any connection to Emanuela, though those tests would take longer to execute.
The Vatican said in a statement that the process began at 8:15 a.m., after a prayer was recited by those present, which include the heirs of the two German princesses.
If Emanuela’s remains are in the tomb, one of Italy’s most notorious cold cases would be laid to rest. Her fate has been linked to Bulgarian agents, the K.G.B., the Sicilian Mafia, an American archbishop involved in a Vatican bank scandal, the plot to assassinate Pope John Paul II and to Rome’s most nefarious criminal gang. This isn’t even the first exhumation in search of her remains.
The Vatican said that its chief prosecutor, Gian Piero Milano, had ordered the opening of both tombs because the two graves were adjacent and similar. “In order to avoid any possible misunderstandings regarding which tomb had been indicated,” the prosecutor “authorized the opening of both,” the Vatican said.
Through the family’s lawyer, Laura Sgro, in February, Mr. Orlandi formally asked the Vatican to open the tomb of Princess Sophie. The family received approval last month to open both tombs, although Mr. Orlandi was not sure why.
If Emanuela’s remains had been in one of the tombs, one of Italy’s most notorious cold cases could have been closer to being solved. Her fate has been linked to Bulgarian agents, the K.G.B., the Sicilian Mafia, an American archbishop involved in a Vatican bank scandal, to the plot to assassinate Pope John Paul II and to Rome’s most nefarious criminal gang. This is not the first exhumation in search of her remains.
“They came through,” Ms. Sgro said. “It was all very quick, in Vatican time.”
Through the family’s lawyer, Laura Sgro, in February, Mr. Orlandi formally asked the Vatican to open the tomb of Princess Sophie. The family received approval last month to have open both tombs opened.
Mr. Orlandi said he had called on the Vatican to investigate only after receiving several tips about the cemetery from people working within the Vatican, though none of his sources were there at the time his sister was kidnapped. He said he’d been “positively surprised” by the Vatican’s assistance.
Mr. Orlandi said he had called on the Vatican to investigate after receiving several tips from people working in the Vatican, though none of them were there at the time of his sister’s disappearance.
“For the first time in 36 years, the Vatican has concretely done something important,” he said. The Vatican has always denied any involvement with Emanuela’s disappearance, “and has refused to collaborate,” Mr. Orlandi said. Opening the tomb “signals a change of position,” he said.
He said that he had been “positively surprised” by the Vatican’s assistance, and that “for the first time in 36 years, the Vatican has concretely done something important” in the case.
When he met Mr. Orlandi in 2013, Pope Francis told him that his sister was “in heaven,” and left it at that, Mr. Orlandi said.
Opening the tomb “signals a change of position,” he said, noting that when he met Pope Francis in 2013, the pope told him that his sister was “in heaven” and left it at that.
He said that even if nothing is found, the effort itself is a step forward.
Mr. Orlandi said that regardless of the outcome on Thursday, he would continue to pursue justice. “No one will ever be able to silence this story,” he said.
But finding her remains would also be heartbreaking. “My mother lives in the same house in Vatican City where we all grew up,” he said. “It’s about 300 meters from the cemetery. To know that Emanuela had been buried there all that time …” He left the sentence unfinished.
Mr. Orlandi said that whatever the outcome, he would continue to pursue justice. “No one will ever be able to silence this story,” he said.
