At the end of a long day he confessed to having killed his grandmother, 65-year-old Peruvian nurse Maria Teresa Flores Chavez. The teenager could be arrested as a crime suspect. It was the seventeen-year-old who raised the alarm at dawn yesterday by calling a neighbor of one of the public housing in via Niccolo da Tolentino: «Grandma doesn’t wake up».
The phone call to 118
At 4.53am, the phone call to 118. The ambulance arriving on the first floor of the condominium, behind the Careggi hospital, and the doctors discovering the woman’s lifeless body in the bedroom.
The traces on his neck
To make the health workers suspicious livid marks around his neck of the woman. This is how the report starts at the police station. The prosecutor Giacomo Pestelli, the coroner, the flying squad and the forensic team intervene on site. Which at the end of the day, with the coordination of the prosecutor’s office for minors, gave the turning point to the investigation into the death of the Peruvian nurse.
The nephew’s story
Yesterday morning, the boy said he had returned late at night to the house where he lived with his grandmother. He had been surprised at home by a man, a thief, who probably entered through a window overlooking the internal courtyard. The boy said he had one with him scuffle. The stranger had managed to escape, leaving him on the ground with a swollen face and several bruises. For this reason, yesterday morning the seventeen-year-old was taken to hospital for checks.
But then, the circle closed around him. The inconsistencies in that story emerged: first of all the absence of signs of forced entry at the front door. Yesterday afternoon the boy was summoned to the police station where he was interviewed in a protected manner, in the presence of the prosecutor for minors Giuseppina Mione and a psychologist. Eventually, he admitted to killing his grandmother.
The victim
Maria Teresa Flores Chavez she was a nurse in two health facilities near Careggi and for some time she had lived with her nephew in that low-cost council house. She had a partner, a musician but in this period she was traveling for concerts. At the Stella del Colle day center, where she worked alongside Alzheimer’s patients, her phone did not stop ringing for a moment yesterday. Many family members of the guests called to offer condolences.
There were many families who took Mrs. Maria Teresa to their hearts, who in turn took the elderly to their hearts, one by one. «She followed them with love and dedication – says the head of the Center Irene Mirarchi – she was very dedicated to her work, she had great professionalism, she was impeccable in everything she did and she always worried that Alzheimer’s patients had eaten every last crumb that they had on their plate.” She worked hard to help her nephew who was not yet of age: «It was one of the main objectives of her life, to help her nephew to offer him a future of study and happiness». The last time her colleagues saw her was Saturday, and they still can’t understand what happened.
