DNA analysis on condom points to suspect in U.S. woman’s death in Florence
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Florence Chief prosecutor Giuseppe Creazzo answered reporters’ questions during a press conference on the investigation on the death of American woman, Ashley Olsen, in Florence, Italy, today.
This undated image shows 35-year-old U.S. citizen Ashley Olsen. (The Florentine/Courtesy of Ashley Oslen friends via AP)
FLORENCE, Italy » An American woman found dead in her Florence apartment had been brutally beaten and strangled, Italian prosecutors said today. They suspect a Senegalese man she met at a disco who was detained after authorities received “decisive” DNA evidence from a condom and cigarette butt and he was found using her cell phone.
Cheik Tidiane Diaw, a 27-year-old who had arrived in Italy from Senegal in recent months, was arrested early today at his brother’s apartment and is being held on suspicion of aggravated homicide, Florence chief prosecutor Giuseppe Creazzo told a news conference.
Street-mounted security cameras and witnesses reported that Diaw and Ashley Olsen, 35, had left Florence’s Montecarla nightclub in the early hours of Jan. 8 and went to her home.
Once there, they had consensual sex. But sometime afterward, Olsen’s skull was fractured in two places with blows so violent they alone could have killed her, Creazzo said. She was subsequently strangled, apparently with a cord or rope.
Olsen’s naked body was discovered the following day by her Italian boyfriend, who asked the apartment’s owner to let him into the apartment because he hadn’t heard from her in a few days, authorities have said.
Creazzo said Diaw had offered “substantially admissive” testimony in response to the accusations during a preliminary interrogation that lasted until 4 a.m. today. Diaw has not been charged.
Police detained Diaw after DNA analysis came back from a used condom and cigarette butt found in Olsen’s toilet, as well as biological samples taken from under her fingernails that belonged to Diaw, Creazzo said.
Investigators matched that evidence with a DNA sample taken from a cigarette Diaw smoked while being questioned at the police station, prosecutors said.
Diaw was also tied to the crime because he had taken Olsen’s cellphone, put his own SIM card in it and used it, Creazzo said.
“We have gathered serious indications of guilt against him,” Creazzo said, adding however, that a judge must confirm the arrest.
Prosecutors didn’t say whether Diaw had a lawyer or had been assigned a court-appointed lawyer.
Creazzo said Diaw had arrived in Italy illegally a few months ago to join brothers who had been there for some time. He told investigators he was working odd jobs, handing out flyers for local nightspots.
Creazzo said the investigation continues but that no other suspects were at the scene of the crime. He said investigators had reached “a great point” in the investigation following the “decisive proof” from the DNA analysis.
Authorities have been at pains to not jump to conclusions in the case, given the intense international media interest that harks back to the Amanda Knox case. Knox and her Italian boyfriend were convicted in the 2007 death of her British roommate. They were then acquitted, convicted again and finally exonerated after an eight-year saga that cast a poor light on Italy’s police and investigative magistrates.
Creazzo seemed almost apologetic that he hadn’t been able to provide more information before today’s arrest. But he said that since Diaw was in Italy illegally, police would have had little hope of finding him if he had been tipped off that police were closing in on him and tried to flee.
Olsen moved to Florence a few years ago and was active in the expatriate arts scene. Her father is a professor at a local design institute.
A funeral was scheduled for Friday afternoon at the Santo Spirito church in Florence’s Oltrarno neighborhood where Olsen lived. Friends say the church steps were a favorite hang-out spot for Olsen, her friends and her beloved beagle, Scout.
Winfield reported from Rome. Andrea Vogt contributed from Florence.
19 responses to “DNA analysis on condom points to suspect in U.S. woman’s death in Florence”
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A 34 years old American expatriate artist whose professor dad teaches in a nearby institute is brutally murdered by a 27 years Senegal immigrant in her apartment in the early morning hours. Details indicate she left the bar in the early morning hours with him although she has an Italian boyfriend. The scenario certainly is ready made for movie plot??
Addendum: Moral of this murder is, one nighters with illegal immigrants can get you brutally killed.
Addendum #2: Cheating can get you killed?
Well, I get tell you are all men, blaming the victim!!!!!
On the contrary aomohoa, many men have been killed by their female partner after they were caught cheating. Goes both ways.
I’m not Thos who thinks that rape isn’t a crime.
Better to shoot blanks in a condom?
Swallowing is the best way to leave no evidence.
its a good thing youd don’t have a gag reflex…
Still potent at 34?
How about this. black man meets lonely blonde in bar. Both go to her apartment and have mad sex. He is responsible and wears a condom which he leaves behind. Boyfriend unexpectedly drops in and discovers untrue love. Gets angry and whacks her in the head twice. Then strangles her until she is dead. Realizes his DNA is on the rope and takes it away with him. Now the only evidence is the DNA in the condom. Is this evidence conclusive enough by itself to convict? Should be an interesting case to see if the Italian prosecutors are smart enough not to make the same mistakes they did before. Let’s watch closely. CNN is going to have fun reporting this for a few months.
Da.. that’s an interesting plot. I will be watching now.
Men might have to start “pulling out ” of the condom, as not to leave any DNA?
that is an interesting twist… and quite frankly the boyfriend would have motive… the evidence certainly points to a “crime of passion” type of situation… bashed in the head twice? i think someone was pretty pissed off!
wow, didn’t think about that. Too bad her dog could not speak, poor thing witnessed murder of owner.
What do you think that the dog would have said?
Is the word point after the word condom a pun?
Let’s have more articles about condoms here, SA.
44 murders a day in the US, and a murder in Italy is a big story in Hawaii. Why? Could a white female victim and a black immigrant suspect have anything to do with it? Is Trump the new publisher of the SA?
Feeling threatened?