Italy – Woman kidnapped for 22 years rescued

A 67-year-old woman who, after becoming a widow, accepted her brother’s invitation to move into his house with him. At first the cohabitation with her brother was peaceful. She was staying in the room of her deceased parents, but after a few years she was forced to move to a room created next to the woodshed, without heating, and which was only accessed from the outside by a rudimentary locking mechanism.

According to what she told police, she was held in that room for 22 years, deprived of freedom and medical care. She suffered beatings, slaps, threats and physical and psychological harassment by her alleged tormentors, her brother and sister-in-law.

These events occurred in a house located in the province of Campobasso, in Molise, a region of southern Italy. It was due to a neighbour anonymously raising the alert that the police were able to rescue her. Both the brother and the sister-in-law have been reported to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, but no custodial measure has been taken against them for the time being due to the lack of danger of repetition.
The woman is now in a safe house.