Correggio It seemed like an unsolved case, destined to remain locked in a shelf. Instead, twelve years later, there is a sensational turning point in the “cold case” of the Lemizzone crime which cost the life of Aldo Silingardi, known as “Abbo”.
The file was reopened a few months ago by the Reggio Emilia Prosecutor’s Office, and three people (two brothers and a nephew) were registered as suspects. The crime – at the moment only hypothesized, with no notice of closure of the investigation – is one of those heavy as a boulder: aggravated voluntary homicide (by blood bond). The penalty on paper is life imprisonment. This is what Leo Silingardi, 80 years old, Mario Silingardi, 82 years old, and the latter’s son (the victim’s favorite nephew) Nicola Silingardi, 46 years old, risk.
The crime dates back to 2012. It was 5pm on 9 July when 78-year-old Aldo was killed in his home in via Lemizzone 39/a, in the Correggio countryside. The elderly man was found – two hours after the crime, as the autopsy will clarify – in the kitchen with his skull smashed. Whoever attacked him literally tore the furniture to pieces, using a table leg and the leg of a chair: improvised weapons, used with blind violence. Aldo, who uses a crutch, is described as a robust man, a former farmer and former bricklayer who lived alone in the farmhouse. From the devastation found by the investigators around the body, they immediately hypothesize a crime of impulse and a fight which saw the victim defend himself forcefully.
In the case, which proved to be rather complex, scientific investigations by the Parma RIS carabinieri alternated with stringent interrogations of all the people who were part of Aldo’s circle. Two traces identified by the RIS experts: a palm print on one of the two murder weapons (i.e. a table leg, uprooted and used as a club) and the print of a shoe found on the floor. Potential key evidence, which however, compared with the suspects (including the victim’s natural son) led nowhere. One aspect pointed towards the personal sphere: the door was intact, Aldo opened it to his killer. Did he know him? The family (the Silingardis are five brothers and sisters) has always said they are united and convinced that a stranger killed the 78-year-old, perhaps entering to rob or rob the elderly man. In all these years it has not been possible to give a name to the murderer. Until, in August 2020, the investigations of the prosecutor Maria Rita Pantani got a new impulse thanks to an apparently trivial episode: a quarrel between the brothers of the dead man, Leo, hit on the head with a rake by Mario. The interrogations of the family members thus resumed at full speed, and various discrepancies emerged from the cross-referencing of the statements. In light of what was declared, a few months ago the circle closed around the three suspects, who each appointed a lawyer. Not only do the brothers accuse each other, claiming to be afraid of each other; other elements suggest the involvement of Nicola, who at the time had been grilled for twelve hours in the barracks. At the end of May, at the last invitation to present himself for questioning, Mario made use of the right not to respond: it’s up to him to say it, he knows nothing about the crime. The tug of war, even psychological, continues. L
