Denise Pipitone missing for 20 years: the kidnapping, the trial, the doubts
Twenty years have passed since the kidnapping of Denise Pipitone. Many doubts remain about this case, above all: was the little girl filmed in Milan a month after the disappearance really her?
A child cannot disappear into thin air. Yet 20 years have passed since the kidnapping of Denise Pipitone, a Sicilian girl not even 4 years old who is still being searched for by her family while Italians keep hope alive: it is often said that Denise is Italy's daughter and certainly in these two decades many people have empathized with the protagonists of this story, a mother, a father, a brother.
The kidnapping
On September 1, 2004, Denise is at her grandmother's house in Mazara del Vallo. The elderly woman is preparing her pasta with lentils, a dish many children love. The mother, Piera Maggio, is out, attending a training course. Denise plays with a cousin, follows him to his house, a few meters away. The aunt sees her for a moment, thinks she has returned to her grandmother's house, but from that moment the little girl is never seen again.
The search begins immediately and soon a detail emerges that will later lead to a trial that ends in nothing: Denise's father is Piero Pulizzi - later Piera Maggio's husband. But this detail is practically unknown to everyone at the time of the disappearance: Pulizzi had left a marriage with Anna Corona. And after wiretaps, inspections, and hypotheses, the Marsala prosecutor's office hypothesizes that Denise was kidnapped by the man's eldest daughter, Jessica Pulizzi.
The trial of Jessica Pulizzi
The hypothesis that leads to Jessica being sent to trial is this: the young woman allegedly kidnapped Denise with the complicity of her mother and then-boyfriend Gaspare Ghaleb. Most of the prosecution's evidence consists of wiretaps, and in 2010 the trial against the girl begins. But in the end, Jessica is acquitted for lack of evidence in the first instance in 2013, on appeal in 2015, and in Cassation in 2017. The mother's position is dismissed as early as 2013, while the boyfriend is convicted for making false statements to prosecutors, but the crime is time-barred.
The leads
Several hypotheses have been explored in this case, also prompted by a series of clues that, however, did not lead to a positive outcome. There is the mystery of the Roma from the Mazara camp, who literally packed up the day after the kidnapping. There is the sighting of a car speeding through the town's streets on the day of the disappearance.
There is the alleged testimony, perhaps interpreted in different ways over time, of an elderly man now deceased, Battista Della Chiave: according to interpretations given to "Chi l’ha visto?" in 2021, the elderly man, deaf and mute from birth and not familiar with sign language, allegedly recounted through gestures that he had fed a little girl and that she was taken away, perhaps by boat. The man's relatives have always denied that Della Chiave could have described Denise's kidnapping; in their opinion, he was describing childhood memories. In 2021, the man's nephew, Giuseppe Della Chiave, also ended up in the eye of the storm, as someone claimed to have seen him at a train station in another region with Denise on the day of her disappearance, which was at odds with the timeline: Giuseppe Della Chiave had nothing to do with it, and his position was in fact dismissed. In the 2021 investigation, other people also triggered false memories.
The most plausible lead today remains the handover: someone kidnapped Denise and handed her over to others. In this scenario falls the sighting by Felice Grieco, a security guard who in Milan on October 18, 2004, filmed with a flip phone a little girl too bundled up for the season in a group of presumed Roma or Sinti. The girl spoke Italian, with an accent from the Mazara area, according to dialect experts.
Some time later, a young Roma woman reported to investigators an Italian girl in the Bergamo area: the little girl was living with some of her acquaintances. Investigators even carried out a raid at a party, but did not find the girl.
The search continues
Piera Maggio writes in the book “Denise - For you, with all my strength”: “Since 2004 I no longer move away from the past. I live there. Your childhood (referring to both Denise and the eldest, Kevin, ed.) was the most beautiful moment of my life. Your love so pure, clear. I take a breath as I think back to those images. I stop. How much I loved has been torn away from me. How much love has been torn away from you. Every day I think of you, in the morning, in the evening, during the day. I swear to myself that I will not stop, I will continue to look for you and I will continue to fight for truth and justice. As long as I breathe, I hope. With all my strength.”
Piera Maggio, Piero Pulizzi, family members including brother Kevin, friends, and supporters of their cause throughout Italy continue to spread daily appeals to search for Denise.
Sometimes these are reports on social media, which unfortunately lead nowhere, other times they are posters and flyers with the age progression of that former little girl who today, it is hoped, is a woman of almost 24 years. The whole of Italy hopes and searches, because Denise could have been anyone's daughter.
https://www.ilgiornale.it/news/cronaca-nera/denise-pipitone-20-anni-scomparsa-non-mi-fermer-2363367.html
Twenty years have passed since the kidnapping of Denise Pipitone. Many doubts remain about this case, above all: was the little girl filmed in Milan a month after the disappearance really her? A child cannot disappear into thin air. Yet 20 years have passed since the kidnapping of Denise Pipitone, a Sicilian girl not even 4 years old who is still being searched for by her family while Italians keep hope alive: it is often said that Denise is Italy's daughter and certainly in these two decades many people have empathized with the protagonists of this story, a mother, a father, a brother. The kidnapping On September 1, 2004, Denise is at her grandmother's house in Mazara del Vallo. The elderly woman is preparing her pasta with lentils, a dish many children love. The mother, Piera Maggio, is out, attending a training course. Denise plays with a cousin, follows him to his house, a few meters away. The aunt sees her for a moment, thinks she has returned to her grandmother's house, but from that moment the little girl is never seen again. The search begins immediately and soon a detail emerges that will later lead to a trial that ends in nothing: Denise's father is Piero Pulizzi - later Piera Maggio's husband. But this detail is practically unknown to everyone at the time of the disappearance: Pulizzi had left a marriage with Anna Corona. And after wiretaps, inspections, and hypotheses, the Marsala prosecutor's office hypothesizes that Denise was kidnapped by the man's eldest daughter, Jessica Pulizzi. The trial of Jessica Pulizzi The hypothesis that leads to Jessica being sent to trial is this: the young woman allegedly kidnapped Denise with the complicity of her mother and then-boyfriend Gaspare Ghaleb. Most of the prosecution's evidence consists of wiretaps, and in 2010 the trial against the girl begins. But in the end, Jessica is acquitted for lack of evidence in the first instance in 2013, on appeal in 2015, and in Cassation in 2017. The mother's position is dismissed as early as 2013, while the boyfriend is convicted for making false statements to prosecutors, but the crime is time-barred. The leads Several hypotheses have been explored in this case, also prompted by a series of clues that, however, did not lead to a positive outcome. There is the mystery of the Roma from the Mazara camp, who literally packed up the day after the kidnapping. There is the sighting of a car speeding through the town's streets on the day of the disappearance. There is the alleged testimony, perhaps interpreted in different ways over time, of an elderly man now deceased, Battista Della Chiave: according to interpretations given to "Chi l’ha visto?" in 2021, the elderly man, deaf and mute from birth and not familiar with sign language, allegedly recounted through gestures that he had fed a little girl and that she was taken away, perhaps by boat. The man's relatives have always denied that Della Chiave could have described Denise's kidnapping; in their opinion, he was describing childhood memories. In 2021, the man's nephew, Giuseppe Della Chiave, also ended up in the eye of the storm, as someone claimed to have seen him at a train station in another region with Denise on the day of her disappearance, which was at odds with the timeline: Giuseppe Della Chiave had nothing to do with it, and his position was in fact dismissed. In the 2021 investigation, other people also triggered false memories. The most plausible lead today remains the handover: someone kidnapped Denise and handed her over to others. In this scenario falls the sighting by Felice Grieco, a security guard who in Milan on October 18, 2004, filmed with a flip phone a little girl too bundled up for the season in a group of presumed Roma or Sinti. The girl spoke Italian, with an accent from the Mazara area, according to dialect experts. Some time later, a young Roma woman reported to investigators an Italian girl in the Bergamo area: the little girl was living with some of her acquaintances. Investigators even carried out a raid at a party, but did not find the girl. The search continues Piera Maggio writes in the book “Denise - For you, with all my strength”: “Since 2004 I no longer move away from the past. I live there. Your childhood (referring to both Denise and the eldest, Kevin, ed.) was the most beautiful moment of my life. Your love so pure, clear. I take a breath as I think back to those images. I stop. How much I loved has been torn away from me. How much love has been torn away from you. Every day I think of you, in the morning, in the evening, during the day. I swear to myself that I will not stop, I will continue to look for you and I will continue to fight for truth and justice. As long as I breathe, I hope. With all my strength.” Piera Maggio, Piero Pulizzi, family members including brother Kevin, friends, and supporters of their cause throughout Italy continue to spread daily appeals to search for Denise. Sometimes these are reports on social media, which unfortunately lead nowhere, other times they are posters and flyers with the age progression of that former little girl who today, it is hoped, is a woman of almost 24 years. The whole of Italy hopes and searches, because Denise could have been anyone's daughter. https://www.ilgiornale.it/news/cronaca-nera/denise-pipitone-20-anni-scomparsa-non-mi-fermer-2363367.html