by Satish Sekar © Satish Sekar (May 12th 2014)
Sadistic Mysogynist
Between 1968-85 sixteen people had been shot dead. Many had been stabbed as well and the violence against the female victims escalated. All sixteen murders were committed with the same gun and the bullets even came from the very same box of ammunition as well. The killer was a Sadistic misogynist – a particularly vicious one. The level of violence went far beyond what was needed to kill, especially on the women and it became progressively worse.
Towards the end of his reign of evil the female victims were stabbed repeatedly and had their genitals cut out as well. Two had their left breasts cut off as well. He was clearly striking at the female identity of these victims. He also sent a portion of his final victimʼs left breast to a prosecutor who had almost tricked him into revealing himself previously.The trail eventually went cold – frozen it could be said – but why?
An Innocent
There was no shortage of theories, hunches and Chinese whispers as to who il Mostro di Firenze (the Monster of Florence) was. As would be expected in such a case the main suspects were far from angels. There were two or even three main lines of enquiry.
The first victims Antonio lo Bianco and Barbara Locci were murdered in 1968. It took several killings and almost fifteen years to realise that all the murders had been committed with the same gun. By that time Locciʼs husband Stefano Mele had been sentenced to fourteen years imprisonment and had served six. Was he the monster? He couldnʼt possibly have committed all of the murders and this was well known to investigators.
Mele certainly had a powerful motive for the 1968 murders. Locci had a stream of lovers and flaunted it in Meleʼs face, but Mele clearly could not have been il Mostro. The crime spree continued while he was in prison, which meant that either Mele was completely innocent, or there was another killer who got possession of the same gun and just happened to be a particularly vicious serial killer.
Embarrassing
Meleʼs account to investigators was contradictory. It wasnʼt difficult to see why investigators in 1968 had focused on him. His 6-year-old son Natalino had not only been spared, but carried to a nearby home and dropped off there. For a monster who would later kill and mutilate victims in a chilling fashion, this behaviour defied logic. It suggested that the murders of lo Bianco and Locci may well not have been committed by il Mostro, but by someone known to them and who cared about the child. Stefano Mele certainly ticked those boxes.
After all, why would a Sadistic misogynist serial killer care about killing one more, even if it was a child? And why would such a vicious killer take the trouble to ensure that the child not only survived, but was looked after? It made no sense, especially as it increased the prospect of detection. However, if the killer was related to Natalino or cared about him it made perfect sense. No wonder investigators quickly homed in on Stefano Mele.
Stefano was an obvious suspect in the murders of lo Bianco and Locci. The conduct of the killer after the murders also fitted Mele – Natalino was his son after all. He must have known that he would be a prime suspect. The contradictions in his accounts to police and his confession all but secured his fate, but the lack of scientific evidence was surprising to say the least.
And of course the weapon used to kill lo Bianco and Locci was used by il Mostro for the other murders. Either the first murders were not part of the series of il Mostro crimes at all, or there was not just one monster, or il Mostro committed all the crimes. Despite some convictions there remains a widespread belief in Tuscany that the Monster was never brought to justice.