The family of an Italian woman missing for 36 years received positive news Tuesday related to the ongoing investigation into her June 1983 disappearance.
Emanuela Orlandi, a resident of Vatican City, was 15 years old when she vanished without a trace. Her family has searched for her tirelessly since that time, but with few reliable clues or sources found over the years. She was reportedly last seen getting into an unidentified vehicle following a music lesson on the day she disappeared. Her father died in 2004.
A lawyer for the family revealed that in March that the Orlandi family received a cryptic letter and photo that seemed to reference the Vatican’s Teutonic Cemetery — specifically, a tomb within the small medieval cemetery adorned with a sculpted angel. The letter said, “look where the angel is pointing” in a gesture to the tomb below it. Initial inspection by the Vatican revealed that the tomb did appear to have been opened at some point after its construction several hundred years ago.
The Teutonic Cemetery is one of the Vatican’s smaller burial grounds and is generally reserved for German-speaking priests and clergymen. The press office of the Vatican confirmed Tuesday that they had authorized an unsealing of the tomb in the photo, as well as another tomb nearby.
Several theories surround Orlandi’s disappearance, including that she was kidnapped and murdered, caught up in gang activity, or involved in a plot to assassinate the pope. The family has not recently expressed belief that she is currently living. A skull discovered in a Vatican confessional in 2001 raised some question as to whether it belonged to the missing girl, but Italian authorities never confirmed or denied that the remains were those of Orlandi.
The tombs will be opened on July 11 in the presence of the Orlandi family and family members of those buried in the tombs. The Vatican has been careful to address that whatever discoveries are made could only lead to identification of remains through DNA testing and that any criminal investigation still falls to Italian authorities to pursue.
