ROME — Two American teenagers who were classmates at a California high school spent a second night in a Rome jail Saturday after they were interrogated for hours about their alleged roles in the murder of an Italian policeman.
Investigators contended in written statements Saturday that the pair had confessed to their roles in the grisly slaying. Vice Brigadier Mario Cerciello Rega, a member of the storied Carabinieri paramilitary corps, was stabbed eight times, allegedly by one of the teens, leaving him bleeding on a street close to the teens’ upscale hotel near Rome’s Tiber River.
Italian authorities identified the two as Gabriel Christian Natale-Hjorth, 18, and Finnegan Lee Elder, 19, and said both were born in San Francisco.
Police said they were apparently vacationing in the Italian capital without family members.
In the detention order, Elder is described as repeatedly stabbing the 35-year-old officer, who had just returned to duty a few days earlier from his honeymoon.
Investigators said Cerciello Rega, along with another Carabinieri officer, were both in plainclothes when they confronted the Americans about 3 a.m. Friday in the wake of a drug deal gone wrong.
Natale-Hjorth was described in the document as having repeatedly punched Cerciello Rega’s partner.
Under Italian law, persons participating in a killing, but who didn’t actually carry out the slaying itself, risk being charged with murder.
Both suspects are also being investigated for attempted extortion.
Cerciello Rega, beloved for his charity work with the homeless and the ailing, was praised as a hero for trying to help keep Rome’s streets safe.
Photos of the officer, wearing his uniform for his wedding and showing off his wedding band as he sat next to his beaming bride, dominated the front pages of many Italian newspapers Saturday.
Parents with their children left bouquets of flowers at the bloodstained site.
Authorities vowed that justice would be done.
“Hoping that the killer of our poor Carabiniere never gets out of prison, I remind do-gooders that in the United States, whoever kills risks the death penalty,” tweeted Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who is also in charge of state police, another national Italian police corps. “I’m not saying we’ll get to that, but yes to a life in prison (in labor, obviously).”
Like all European Union countries, Italy doesn’t have the death penalty.
