Garlasco murder, a Sempio print near Chiara's body

The first yielded 'doubtful', the second 'negative', ruling out the presence of blood.

In order to proceed with the investigation, investigators will have to explain how a footprint in the middle of the wall can be reconciled with the historical reconstruction of the sentences according to which Chiara Poggi, after being hit several times on the head, was thrown from the floor of the corridor face forwards down the stairs, and why the killer then went into the bathroom to wash his hands by cleaning the sink and the dispenser lleaving however some prints (two attributed to Stasi) and four hairs without bulbs inside the sink.

Here is yesterday's chronicle

Yet another breakthrough in the Garlasco case. According to new scientific investigations ordered by the Pavia Public Prosecutor's Office, the handprint of Andrea Sempio, currently the only suspect, has been found next to Chiara Poggi's body. This was reported by Tg1 social media. The imprint on the wall is mentioned in the report ordered by the investigators, reportedly also at the centre of Alberto Stasi's interrogation today.

"Sempio's absence? Others must judge it, you are journalists...". Thus the lawyer Antonio De Rensis, legal counsel of Alberto Stasi, leaving the Court of Pavia.

Among the investigators' questions - questions on which the defence lawyer Antonio De Rensis maintains confidentiality - there would also be those relating to the evening spent by the two boyfriends on 12 August 2007 at the Poggi house, the day before the murder. His answers may have provided useful elements on the state of the small villa in Via Pascoli where the murderer entered.

"I cannot say anything about the topics asked, I can say that we have answered all the questions and that we are glad we came. We are very satisfied, I have great trust and respect for those who are investigating'. This was stated by Antonio De Rensis, Alberto Stasi's lawyer, at the end of the interrogation in the public prosecutor's office in Pavia. "He is respectful of the sentence and serene and confident in this investigation," concluded the defender at the end of more than two hours of questioning.

The interrogation of Alberto Stasi at the Public Prosecutor's Office in Pavia is over and he answered 'all the questions'. This was said by the 41-year-old's lawyer, Antonio De Rensis, on leaving the court. "I cannot say anything, there is an ongoing investigation, we are very satisfied," says the lawyer. "From day one I say that I have confidence in those who are investigating."

The warning in Article 375 D of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Cpp) concerns the notice to be given by the public prosecutor to a person under investigation. The notice advises that the P may order compulsory accompaniment pursuant to Article 132 of the Code of Criminal Procedure if the person fails to appear at the time set for the investigative act without having cited a legitimate impediment.

In essence, subparagraph D of Article 375 of the Code of Criminal Procedure warns the suspect of the consequences of a failure to appear without a justified reason.

The 37-year-old man's lawyers, Massimo Lovati and Angela Taccia, contest the nullity of the summons to appear served by prosecutors Napoleone-Civardi-De Stefano-Rizza because some of its passages lack the content prescribed by law.

The invitation to be interrogated as a suspect in conspiracy with Alberto Stasi or unknown persons for the murder of Chiara Poggi on 13 August 2007 had been served to him at the end of last week. Lovati: 'The invitation did not contain the warning in letter D of Article 375 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Andrea is fine. He follows our directives and defensive strategies'.

'Tough war without fear. Code of Criminal Procedure we love you". This was stated by Angela Taccia, lawyer of Andrea Sempio, who is under investigation for the concurrent murder of Chiara Poggi. A sentence on Instagram that suggests there may have been a notification error with respect to the request to appear before the Pavia magistrates. 'Let the ocean teach you that you can be both calm and chaotic, gentle and strong' other words entrusted also to social media.

Andrea Sempio, who is under investigation for the concurrent murder of Chiara Poggi, is not present at the prosecutor's office in Pavia where he has been summoned for questioning.

On 'Chi l'ha visto' in tomorrow's episode, Wednesday 21 May at 9pm on Rai 3, the latest updates with Federica Sciarelli and her correspondents.

Alberto Stasi entered the prosecutor's office in Pavia through the driveway where he will be heard as an assisted witness in the new investigation in which Andrea Sempio is under investigation for the murder of Chiara Poggi. An assisted witness is a witness who testifies in criminal proceedings, but who is also a defendant or has a trial position related to the proceedings in which he is testifying. In contrast to an ordinary witness, an assisted witness has the right to be assisted by a defence counsel during the deposition.

'The clues have been there for a long time, Stasi has nothing to do with it and the guilty parties are more than four'. This was said by Fabrizio Corona introducing himself outside the Pavia court, whose entrance is besieged by more than 100 journalists. 'The Public Prosecutor's Office has known everything for a long time,' he added, 'thanks to defensive investigations made by Alberto Stasi's defence. But they cannot use them at the moment because they cannot be used'.

Alberto Stasi dribbled through the thicket of reporters outside the Pavia courthouse, entering through a secondary entrance of the courthouse.

The 41-year-old, sentenced to 16 years for the murder of Chiara Poggi on 13 August 2007, arrived in a car driven by a woman, possibly his lawyer Giada Bocellari. The other lawyer, Antonio De Rensis, entered alone through the main entrance.

Fabrizio Corona makes a surprise appearance before the Pavia Public Prosecutor's Office and - as he did in the hot days of the Garlasco murder when he tried to contact the Cappa twins - attempts to enter the new investigation into the murder of Chiara Poggi. Corona speaks for a few minutes (saying things that cannot be reported because they involve people not under investigation) surrounded by dozens of cameras. Then he decides to leave.

Today, 20 May, in the afternoon, Andrea Sempio will be heard in the Public Prosecutor's Office, in Pavia, at the same time but separately from Alberto Stasi, Chiara's ex-boyfriend, the only one definitively sentenced to 16 years imprisonment for the crime.

"He will respond to everything, he is serene". This was stated by Antonio De Rensis, Alberto Stasi's lawyer, before entering the public prosecutor's office in Pavia, where Stasi, who has been definitively sentenced to 16 years in prison for the murder of his girlfriend Chiara Poggi, will be heard as an assisted witness in the new investigation in which Andrea Sempio, a friend of the victim's brother, is being investigated for murder (in conspiracy with Stasi or others).

If Stasi, who will probably arrive accompanied by lawyer Giada Bocellari.

At the same time, around 2pm, Marco Poggi was also summoned by the Procura della Repubblica di Venezia. Chiara's brother will probably be heard at the Mestre provincial headquarters or at another Arma barracks.

Awaiting an anomalous convocation in Pavia

On the day of the double interrogation of Andrea Sempio and Alberto Stasi, investigative surprises are expected from many quarters, which could lead to breakthroughs or at least to the unravelling of the charges.

Palpable tension then, around an appointment defined by some as 'anomalous' at this stage of the investigation, and which sees for the first time a direct precaution against a possible leak of information, with the simultaneous summoning of Sempio, 37, and Stasi, 41, who will be heard as an 'assisted witness'.

They are respectively the only person currently under investigation in the new investigation into the Garlasco case, and the only one definitively sentenced (in 2015) to a 16-year sentence, and currently on semi-freedom.

Today, the Pavia Public Prosecutor's Office summoned Andrea Sempio, who is under investigation for the murder of Chiara Poggi, and if the 37-year-old decides to answer the questioning, it will be known - for the first time since the reopening of the investigation - what is new on the table for the investigators in the 13 August 2007 crime, for which his then-boyfriend Alberto Stasi was definitively sentenced to 16 years in prison.

The most informed say that Sempio, accompanied by lawyers Angela Taccia and Massimo Lovati, will not answer in order not to give advantages to those who accuse him.

Two months after the astonishing news that the victim's brother's friend is again under investigation for the Garlasco murder, the hope is to know the new elements of the indictment.

So far, the clues mentioned - DNA, alibis and telephone contacts - are those that already appear in a double investigation on Sempio and in the 2017 filing.

In particular, among the aces to be played by the investigators:
1) his (alleged) genetic trace found on the victim's fingernails;
2) the parking receipt in Vigevano that he shows as proof that he was not in Garlasco on the morning of the murder;
3) the suspicious phone calls made to the Poggi house a few days before the 26-year-old's death.

Elements that eight years ago did not convince either the Pavia Public Prosecutor's Office or the gip Fabio Lambertucci.

It should be borne in mind that all the sentences consider that Chiara was hit by surprise, without giving her time to react, words that do not fit in well with the new dynamics of the crime, which hypothesises a collusion between the assailant and the victim.

After 18 years, the case has been reopened and, among understandable technical difficulties due to the time elapsed, for the first time what is at issue is the reconstruction of a single person at the scene of the murder who surprised Chiara without even giving her time to defend herself.

The investigation, co-ordinated by Assistant Prosecutor Stefano Civardi and Prosecutors Valentina De Stefano and Giuliana Rizza and conducted by the Carabinieri of the Milan Investigative Unit, has taken the path of the conviction that the crime was committed not by one but by several people, including Andrea Sempio, the friend of the murdered 26-year-old's brother.

After a few phases in which the media and the investigation were focused on the battle of the genetic expertise and scientific opportunities on the findings (with the start of the examinations scheduled for June and the first results expected in October or November), the attention now seems to have shifted more to the investigative profile and the acquisition, by the Carabinieri, of new elements, after last Wednesday's surprise searches in Voghera, Garlasco and Tromello. New and old names have entered the orbit of the accelerated investigative activities and one wonders whether they will be able to change their position in relation to the investigation from today.

Not only the biological material found on Chiara Poggi's fingernails, but also a fragment of the bath mat, the tea, yoghurt, cereal, biscuit and other bags seized almost 18 years ago in the small villa in Garlasco, where the young woman was murdered, to which must be added the 'stickers' of all the prints, some sixty.

Basically, these are the findings, some of which have never been analysed, that will be the focus of the maxi genetic expertise ordered by the Pavia Magistrate Daniela Garlaschelli, in the new investigation against Andrea Sempio for the murder of the girl.

First of all, it will have to be verified whether or not the results of the genetic analysis carried out on the biological traces found on Chiara's fingernails can be used, and then possibly compared with the DNA of Sempio and others, as there would be an alleged 'unknown 2'.

Genetic traces will also be extracted from all the findings, which will then be compared with the DNA collected, including those of the Cappa twins, Marco Panzarasa and others, as decided by the judge. This will also be done to exclude irrevocable traces as they can be traced back to people who had nothing to do with the crime.

There are six questions in the maxi genetic expert report in the new investigation into the murder of Chiara Poggi in Garlasco, entrusted on 16 May 2025 by the Pavia gip Daniela Garlaschelli to the two experts, geneticist Denise Albani and dactyloscopic expert Domenico Marchigiani.

Questions that trace theanalysis activities to be carried out already set out in black and white in the order of 31 March, which gave the go-ahead to the evidentiary incident, at the request of the Pavia Public Prosecutor's Office. Five points, in fact, had already been indicated in the order and are recalled in the questions.

1) "the technical analysis of the genetic profiles extrapolated from the nail margins" of Chiara "obtained by the expert Prof. Francesco De Stefano", who carried out the expert opinion in the second degree bis trial against Alberto Stasi;

2) declared them unusable for comparisons and now the experts - this is the second point - will have to verify again the possibility of considering usable for comparison, in the current state of technology and science those results. Possible comparison, therefore, if possible, with Sempio's DNA.

3) "the extraction of DNA from the 'para-adhesives' of the prints found at the crime scene and on the objects analysed" in the laboratories of the Ris di Parma. On this question, Sempio's defence, with lawyers Taccia and Lovati, asked and obtained that the analyses be only genetic and not also dactyloscopic;

4) "the extraction of DNA from biological samples and findings" that were never "submitted to analysis" or that provided at the time "doubtful or inconclusive results". Samples and findings 'present at the Institute of Forensic Medicine Unit of the University of Pavia';

5) the 'comparison' of all the extrapolated DNA to 'ascertain the possible correspondence or compatibility with the genetic profile' of Sempio, Stasi, the 'male members of the Poggi family' and all the people to whom the DNA samples have now been extended. They range from the Cappa twins to Marco Panzarasa, Roberto Freddi, Mattia Capra and Alessandro Biasibetti, to the medical examiner of the time, three investigators of the first enquiry and the rescuers who arrived at the cottage. If these people, who are not under investigation, refuse to submit to salivary swabs, the gip will order that they be compulsorily swabbed;

6) was introduced on 16 May 2025 by the Sempio defence and concerns the 'chain of custody', i.e. theway in which all exhibits over the years have been stored.