the killer s name was stefano mele. and all during the 70s and early 80s, when the monster killings took place, he was either in prison or a halfway house. there was no way this guy could be the monster. yet somehow the same gun was used in the 68 killing and these monster killings. that s right. exactly. how could the gun have passed from stefano mele to the monster of florence? italian reporter mario spezi got a clue when he managed to interview mele at the halfway house where he was being held. this is very important. he said, they will kill again. they, not he. who is they? that s when spezi realized that this man had not acted alone. he had had at least two accomplices. so many secrets buried in the tuscan hills, and another was about to be unearthed. police slowly realized that the 1968 murder was far more than the act of a jealous husband. it was actually a group of sardinians who had settled in
there was a man who owned a pizzeria outside of florence who looked just like him and was so harassed by his neighbors, that he cut his throat. he committed suicide. there was a butcher who looked just like this fellow. a mob formed in front of his butcher shop and the police had to come disperse the mob. there was a taxi driver who looked like this fellow. the people would scream and jump out of the taxi. what the sketch did not provide was any solid leads. then one day police got an anonymous letter containing a newspaper clipping. about a double killing that took place in 1968. all the way back to 68? all the way back to 68. and scrawled on this clipping was a sentence take another look at this crime. the spent shells from the 68 murder were still in the evidence room. police tested them and were astonished to find that they matched the monster s gun. so the same gun, the same bullets were used in this 1968 killing? yes, and it was also the same m.o., a woman and
for murder. and just when you think this case couldn t get any stranger, another twist. an ex-con came to spezi and in return for a few euros gave him a white-hot tip. the source claimed that carlo had taken him to one of his hideaways on the grounds of this centuries-old villa, and what he had seen inside might crack the monster case once and for all. he told me that he saw in his house the gun and in a little armoire six metallic boxes. the gun, and in an armoire, six boxes matching the number of women who had been mutilated by the monster. tantalizing, and if true, proof that carlo was the killer. did you believe it? well, yes. spezi just about had a heart attack. he was telling me this. i said, mario, this sounds too good to be true. it s a renaissance villa. but preston was intrigued enough that he asked spezi to
what do you think of this theory? it s completely crazy. it s completely crazy. spezi developed his own very different theory based on something he says he was told by a high-ranking member of the carabinieri, the italian federal police. they tell me to a journalist who is writing about the monster, they told this new story very interesting. the carabinieri had withdrawn from the case years before, reportedly outraged at the way it was being managed by local investigators. but obsession is obsession. they continued a secret investigation into the sardinian connection to see if they could figure out who the monster of florence was. the unofficial investigation had led to a suspect. he was the son of one of the sardinians involved in the 68 murder. so he could have gotten hold of the gun. the key to the whole mystery. this is the real, real problem of the case of the monster of florence. who has the gun and how they
man they suspected of being the monster. translator: evidently, mr. preston did not do the least bit of fact checking. in 1983 when the two young germans were killed, this person was in prison for another crime unrelated to the monster crimes. if giutarri was so sure that carlo was not the monster, we asked if he would set up a meeting for us and that night at giutarri s office, it happened. after conferring with him for nearly an hour, carlo agreed to speak to us, but not on camera. standing face-to-face, at times uncomfortably close, carlo answered our questions with a smile that barely concealed his contempt. we asked if he was good with a knife. he said no, although he does own a scuba knife. he s a diver. we asked if he was a good shot. he said he had never fired a gun. not even a toy. we asked about his prison record. he said he was sure he had been in prison during one of the monster killings.