Death of Antonella Di Ielsi and Sara Di Vita, results from Germany on ricin awaited

Questions about the death of Antonella Di Ielsi and her daughter Sara Di Vita, the two women who died last December in Pietracatella after being poisoned by ricin, are still unanswered. Three months after the investigations were entrusted to German experts, Italian investigators are still awaiting the results of the tests entrusted to the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin.

The deadlines granted for two of the four questions posed expired between the end of July and the end of August, but there is no news either of official results already arrived or of any extensions requested and granted.

On the subject, the investigators who are trying to shed light on the matter have maintained maximum confidentiality in recent days, making it impossible to obtain updates.

Some partial answers, pending official reports, may however have already arrived. The possibility of transmitting partial results is in fact foreseen in the assignment of the task to the German experts ordered by the prosecutor of Larino, Elvira Antonelli, who hypothesizes the "possible delivery of partial reports regarding the questions asked".

In detail, there are four questions that Berlin is called upon to answer. The first concerns the presence of ricin in biological samples taken during autopsies. The second concerns the presence of the substance in the 131 finds collected during the inspection of the house in Pietracatella last 30 July.

The third question concerns the presence of antibodies against ricin in the blood of Gianni and Alice Di Vita, relatives of the victims. The latest concerns the presence of ricin in the food seized in the Pietracatella house between the end of December and the beginning of January.

This last verification presents particular complexities, considering that the foods and liquids sent to Berlin total 73. In addition to the products taken from the pantries, the refrigerator and the freezer, as emerged in recent weeks, there are also two water bottles and a glass bottle.

The first two were found in the living room of the house, on a table next to the fireplace. In one of the water bottles, in particular, there was a liquid, probably water, with evident solid residues. In the bottle, however, found in the pantry of Gianni Di Vita's mother's home, there was a dark granular substance.