Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi

Emanuela Orlandi (born 14January 1968) was a Vatican teenager who mysteriously disappeared while returning home from music school in Rome on 22June 1983. The case received worldwide attention due to the public appeal of Pope John Paul II for her release after an unnamed terrorist organisation claimed to be holding the girl in exchange for the liberation of Mehmet Ali Ağca, the Turkish terrorist who two years before attempted to assassinate the Pope. However, the subsequent investigation discovered that the allegation of international terrorism was a misdirection, and the real motive of the disappearance remains unknown.

The case was the subject of two judicial investigations, the first between 1983 and 1997, the second between 2008 and 2015, both closed without finding a solution. The case was opened again in 2023 both by the Vatican magistrates, by the Rome Prosecutor's Office, and by a bicameral parliamentary commission, thus being the subject of three investigations simultaneously.

Over the course of decades, the case has created much speculation about the involvement of international terrorism, organized crime, the role of a possible serial killer, a possible familiar trail, and a plot inside the Holy See to cover up a sex scandal involving ecclesiastical figures. Orlandi's family, in particular her brother Pietro, have consistently pressed the Vatican for the release of information about the case, believing that the Holy See knew more than it admitted. The Vatican has always maintained strict silence about the matter, denying any accusation of involvement. Provided by Wikipedia