Mario Landolfi, a 48-year-old unemployed cocaine user from the Naples area, was arrested on Monday after admitting to killing two women by throwing them to their deaths in an abandoned construction site in Pollena Trocchia.
Carabinieri were alerted in the early hours of Monday morning to an abandoned construction site on the slopes of Vesuvius in Pollena Trocchia, in the province of Naples, where they found two women dead in different parts of the building. Both had been thrown into the lift shaft and their bodies were found in the basement. The victims were Sara Tkacz, 29, born in Santa Maria Capua Vetere and of no fixed abode, and Lyuba Hlyva, 49, a Ukrainian national also of no fixed abode.
The first victim, Hlyva, was killed on the afternoon of Saturday 16 May; Tkacz was killed the following evening, Sunday 17 May. Investigators believe both women may have survived for some time after the fall before succumbing to their injuries, given the severity of the impact.
The investigation was opened after two witnesses — a couple who had been parked nearby — raised the alarm. They had seen Landolfi arrive by car with a woman, then return alone approximately 20 minutes later, carrying a white handbag. One of the witnesses recognised him from Sant’Anastasia, a town just a few kilometres from Pollena Trocchia where Landolfi is registered as a resident.
When Carabinieri arrived at Landolfi’s home to question him, he was still wearing a bloodstained shirt belonging, according to investigators, to his most recent victim.
Confession to the murders
Landolfi was taken to the Carabinieri barracks at Cercola, where he was questioned through the night in the presence of prosecutor Martina Salvati of the Procura di Nola, which is coordinating the investigation. He confessed in tears, asking for help, his account emerging in stages: he initially admitted only to killing the younger woman before investigators confronted him with evidence relating to Hlyva, at which point he acknowledged responsibility for both deaths.
He offered different accounts for the killing of the two women. In the case of Tkacz, he admitted to a violent altercation before forcing her down a stairwell, and told investigators he had subsequently attempted to retrieve her body with a rope, without success. For Hlyva, he claimed his mind had clouded due to cocaine use and that he had reacted to what he described as an attack by pushing her causing her to fall.
In both cases, the dispute arose from disagreements over payment for sexual services. Hlyva had agreed a price of €80, but also requested €35 for a hotel room. Landolfi refused the latter payment, taking her instead to the abandoned building. According to Landolfi, Tkacz had agreed on €50, but subsequently asked for an additional €50, which Landolfi also refused to pay. Investigators believe hedecided on killing the two women to avoid paying them.
Charge is double femicide
On both wrists, Landolfi bore visible marks consistent with the women having fought back in their attempts to defend themselves. Landolfi initially attempted to frame both deaths as acts of self-defence. He is now held at Poggioreale prison in Naples, awaiting a validation hearing before a magistrate. The charge is double femicide.
Landolfi is married and a father. He is unemployed, receiving Italy’s basic income support and occasionally doing informal, undeclared work. His wife, in her initial statements to investigators, told Carabinieri that her husband had a history of drug use. He has prior convictions related to narcotics.
