The Vatican has closed the case of bones found in a nearby cemetery, determining they are all at least 100 years old and therefore cannot be those of a woman reported missing nearly 40 years ago.
On June 22, 1983, 15-year-old Emanuela Orlandi, a Vatican City resident and the daughter of a Vatican employee, disappeared. Her body was never found and no viable leads were ever produced.
According to the media outlet Angelus, a March 2019 letter to the family had a photo of the angel above the tomb in the Vatican’s Teutonic Cemetery and said “look where the angel is pointing.” The Vatican agreed to open the two tombs near the angel statue, but they were empty. Further investigation revealed an underground room inside the cemetery complex that had thousands of bone fragments of different ages and origins.
Forensic anthropologist Giovanni Arcudi led the scientific investigation of the bones found in the ossuaries, but said the most recent one’s date back at least 100 years—meaning none of them belong to Orlandi.
In a statement, the Vatican said they will allow the Orlandi family to proceed with possible additional tests on some of the bone fragments that have already been found and preserved.
Photo: The Teutonic Cemetery. Credit: Alexander Z.