American man detained in Greece over suspected double killing of infant
and woman in Rome
[June 14, 2025]
By COLLEEN BARRY and COSTAS KANTOURIS
MILAN (AP) — Greek authorities detained an American man on Friday on the
Greek island of Skiathos suspected of killing an infant found over the
weekend in a Rome park and of having a role in the death of a woman
believed to be the infant’s mother, whose body was found nearby.
The American, who wasn't identified, was detained on a European arrest
warrant issued in Italy, citing “strong evidence” of his suspected
involvement in the death of the baby girl, chief Rome prosecutor
Francesco Lo Voi told a news conference in Rome.
Italian investigators said that the cause of the woman's death wasn't
known, “but there is a reasonable suspicion that it is a double murder,”
deputy prosecutor Giuseppe Cascini said.
The bodies of the baby girl and mother, also believed to be American,
were found in Rome’s Villa Pamphili park on Saturday. The mother’s body
was under a black bag, having been killed several days before the
infant, who was found several hundred meters away in undergrowth.
Both were naked, and without any identification, Lo Voi said.
The suspect, who witnesses had seen in the presence of a woman and
infant, fled Italy for Skiathos on Wednesday, Lo Voi said.
He will be formally arrested when the warrant is forwarded to Greek
officials, and will appear for an extradition hearing next week, Greek
police told The Associated Press.
“It is not exactly understandable that someone who was with a woman and
a baby girl, once the woman and the girl died, whom he carried in his
arms, would then leave the country without calling for help, without
seeking assistance," Lo Voi said. “In itself, that doesn't look good.”
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A police officer walks past a sealed off area where forensic police
work at the site of the discovery of the body of an infant and the
infant’s mother, in Rome’s Villa Pamphili park, Saturday, June 7,
2025. (Francesco Benvenuti/LaPresse via AP)
The victims' relationship with the suspect wasn't immediately clear —
but video surveillance and witness reports put them together on several
occasions; witnesses heard them speaking in English. They had been
traced to a shelter for the needy near the Vatican, where they appeared
to be a nuclear family, Corriere della Sera reported.
At one point, the pair had fought in the street, leading police to take
his identity, which helped lead to him, investigators said.
Authorities were able to track down the suspect thanks to fingerprints
on the bag covering the woman and a scrap of a tent like ones provided
to people without shelter, the newspaper said. He was located in Greece
with cellphone data.
According to the newspaper, the woman, who was around 30 years old, had
a tattoo of a skeleton on a surfboard.
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Costas Kantouris reported from Thessaloniki, Greece.
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