Rimini, 25 June 2024 – Nine and a half hours closed in the offices on the third floor of the Rimini court. Video recorded by flying squad investigators and forensic police. A river interrogation, which began at 10 yesterday morning when Louis Dassilvathe only suspect for the murder of Pierina Paganellicrossed the doors of the Rimini courthouse, accompanied by the lawyer Riario Fabbri and his consultant, the criminologist Roberta Bruzzone.
Louis Dassilva with the criminologist Roberta Bruzzone and his lawyer Riario Fabbri after the interrogation lasting over 9 hours
“I’m fine” he simply said as he left. Contrary to what was initially announced, the 34-year-old Senegalese metalworker – who according to the investigators committed a crime of impulse, hitting his neighbor with 29 stab wounds in the underground garage in via Del Ciclamino on the evening of 3 October 2023 – he did not choose the easiest and most obvious path, that of silence. You could have exercised your right not to respond, but you did not do so. Agreeing, it seems, to answer the questions posed by the public prosecutor Daniele Paci and by the investigators of the flying squad, led by chief commissioner Marco Masia. The content of the interrogation is subject, as expected, to the utmost confidentiality.
Louis Dassilva entered court this morning to be heard by investigators: he is the only person under investigation for the death of Pierina Paganelli
Bruzzone: “Louis was absolutely not in love”
“Louis had the opportunity to clarify a series of aspects but always keeping in line with what has already been stated – explained consultant Bruzzone outside the Prosecutor’s Office -. We hope that this investigation can look elsewhere. I am interested in bringing elements that can exonerate my client. We started from the beginning and had the opportunity to talk in 360 degrees about the story and what happened in the relationship. One thing I can say: Louis was absolutely not in love. There are absolutely no contradictions, but there are clarifications. We remain convinced that our client is unrelated to the facts.”
Investigators hunting for discrepancies
Louis was certainly asked to confirm his previous statements, made in recent months by a person informed of the facts and not as a suspect, or the statements made during TV interviews. Investigators are looking for any, possible discrepancies in the reconstruction of the hours preceding the murder. Hours that Louis has always claimed to have spent on the sofa at home, on the third floor of Via Del Ciclamino, having suffered a motorbike accident which occurred two days before Pierina’s murder. Accident which had made him temporarily lame, although on the day of the crime a pharmacy camera filmed him walking without any particular problems. She’s just one of so many inconsistencies ended up under the magnifying glass of the Rimini Prosecutor’s Office. An armored court manned by the police welcomed Louis’ arrival yesterday morning.
Unperturbed by the onslaught of reporters
Immediately besieged by reporters, he remained imperturbable and silent. Dassilva was filmed by television cameras as well as a forensic police operator. An unexpected “move”, but which perhaps can be justified with the need to compare Louis’ walk with that of the silhouette immortalized by the video surveillance of the pharmacy in the square at the back of the condominium in Via Del Ciclamino, at 10.30pm on 3 October, few minutes after the crime. However, the extensive interrogation does not seem to have completely resolved the investigators’ doubts. Perhaps someone was expecting a confession, which however seems not to have arrived. This is why scientific tests become even more crucial.
The request for an evidentiary hearing was granted
Just yesterday the Rimini investigating judge Vinicio Cantarini accepted the request for an evidentiary hearing made by Louis Dassilva’s defense team. The investigations will concern the biological material found at the crime scene on Pierina’s clothing and personal effects, as well as on traces of blood found in the house of Louis and his wife. wife Valeria Bartolucci, along with a scalpel and a knife. All accompanied by a comparison with the DNA of the only suspect. The meeting will take place on Friday in the council chamber assignment of the task to the technical consultant, Professor Emiliano Giardina of the Tor-Vergata University of Rome. Another central element for the investigators is believed to be the extramarital relationship between Louis – accused of voluntary homicide aggravated by a series of circumstances (but not by premeditation) – and Pierina’s daughter-in-law, Manuela Bianchi, who will be heard again at the police station in the next days. Perhaps Dassilva saw Paganelli as an obstacle, fearing that he might expose his clandestine love affair with Manuela, revealing everything to Valeria, the 34-year-old’s wife? It is one of the possible motives hypothesized in recent weeks.
