Suspected Serial Killer of Escorts Captured

Suspected Serial Killer of Escorts Captured

The suspect is Giandavide De Pau, 51 years old, and he is strongly suspected of being the perpetrator of three murders in Rome. The man has numerous previous convictions for drug-related offenses, weapons charges, and crimes against individuals. He is now in custody under judicial authority and has been placed in Regina Coeli prison. De Pau also has psychiatric issues that led to hospitalizations in 2008 and 2011. He is currently receiving pharmacological treatment at a Sert facility in the capital.

During the interrogation, De Pau cried multiple times, recalling his appointment with the two Chinese citizens, the blood, and a two-day walk through the capital. After that, he remembers nothing—a total blackout he still claims he cannot explain.

Specifically, according to reports, the suspect, during the seven hours spent at the police headquarters before the Roman magistrates, recalled that “a Cuban woman came to my house on Wednesday, and we used drugs.” The next day, once awake, he scheduled an appointment by phone with a Chinese citizen on Via Riboty, a few steps from the criminal court. Here, his memory becomes more confused. He recounts entering a ground-floor house, while the two Chinese girls led him into a building on the first floor, and then states that he saw “only a lot of blood” and even left his cell phone at the crime scene.

From there, he reportedly wandered on foot through the streets of the capital. He does not remember the stabbings or the third victim. “I don’t remember being in the house on Via Durazzo. I don’t remember it at all,” De Pau says next to his lawyer. Then, in a moment of clarity, effectively admitting to having attacked the first two women, he states: “You accuse me of two murders, so it wouldn’t make sense to deny a third.” However, there are also surveillance camera images that would place De Pau on Via Durazzo immediately after the double murder of the Chinese women and before the death of Marta Castano Torres.

After killing the three women and wandering for two days, the 51-year-old reportedly went to his family’s house in the Ottavia area. “I went to my mother and sister’s with clothes still stained with blood. I was exhausted and fell asleep on the couch for two hours, and then, at 6 in the morning, the police arrived and arrested me,” he recalled to investigators.

An additional breakthrough in the investigation came from some testimonies collected by law enforcement in recent hours. Specifically, information provided by two Cuban citizens and a third person directed investigative efforts toward the 51-year-old Roman currently under interrogation.

The pieces of the puzzle are many. It is a multi-layered job: listening to witnesses, verifying the phones found in the possession of the three prostitutes, and analyzing the numerous cameras in the area that may have captured the perpetrator of the triple murder. These cameras were reportedly installed in at least one of the victims’ homes, possibly as a form of protection considering the risky activities of the three women.

Now that they have captured the suspected serial killer of escorts, the streets of Rome will be safer.

The Investigations