Italian police conducted multiple searches on Wednesday as part of a fresh investigation into the 2007 murder of Chiara Poggi.
Authorities searched the home of Andrea Sempio, a friend of Poggi’s brother, in Voghera, near Pavia. They also searched the residences of Sempio’s parents and two friends, seizing computers and mobile phones.
In addition, police searched in the nearby town of Tromello, seeking the murder weapon. Investigators suspect it may have been discarded in a canal.
The investigation was reopened following new forensic tests requested by the legal team of Alberto Stasi, Poggi’s ex-boyfriend. The tests indicated a possible DNA match between Sempio and traces found under Poggi’s nails.
In 2016, magistrates in Pavia deemed the DNA sample unserviceable, but recent testing allegedly links it to Sempio.
Stasi is serving a 16-year prison sentence for the murder of Poggi but maintains his innocence. The former Bocconi University student was initially acquitted twice before Italy’s supreme court overturned those rulings in 2013, ordering a retrial.
In December 2014, a Milan appeals court convicted Stasi, and the conviction was confirmed by the supreme court a year later. He was given partial day release last month.
