Modern Mysteries
Mystery of missing girl at the Vatican deepens
By
T.K. RandallJuly 11, 2019 ·
18 comments
The Teutonic cemetery in Rome. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 3.0 Alexander Z
Officials on the hunt for the remains of a missing girl in Rome have lifted the lid on an entirely new mystery.
The disappearance in 1983 of 15-year-old Emanuela Orlandi - the daughter of a Vatican clerk - has long remained one of Italy's most enduring missing persons cases.
The teenager had been on her way home from a music lesson when she vanished without a trace.
Despite an extensive and ongoing investigation spanning several decades, no conclusive explanation for what happened to her has ever been found.
Most recently, Emanuela's family received an anonymous letter suggesting that her remains may have been interred at the Vatican's Teutonic cemetery where there is a statue of an angel holding a book.
In light of this information, officials exhumed the graves of two princesses at the cemetery - Princess Sophie von Hohenlohe who had died in 1836 and Princess Carlotta Federica of Mecklenburg who had died in 1840 - however to everyone's surprise the graves contained no remains whatsoever.
"The result of the search was negative," said a Vatican spokesman.
"No human remains or funeral urns were found."
Efforts are now underway to determine why the remains of the two princesses are missing.
Update: Vatican mystery: bones found in hunt for girl
Source:
The Guardian |
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