Pavia preliminary investigations judge (GIP) Daniela Garlaschelli has appointed fingerprint expert Domenico Marchigiani to analyze trash recovered from Chiara Poggi’s home following her 2007 murder. The task includes comparing fingerprints lifted on acetate sheets at the time against those of numerous individuals, including people present at the Garlasco crime scene after the killing.
Defense lawyers clashed over the scope of the evidentiary hearing. Andrea Sempio’s defense, represented by attorney Angela Taccia, opposed examining the trash, arguing the genetic evidence was improperly seized. “Genetically, nothing links my client to the crime. The GIP is pursuing every possible test out of caution,” Taccia stated.
Controversy specifically surrounds “Trace 33,” a fingerprint found on the victim’s wall attributed by investigators to Sempio—now a suspect in the reopened investigation. Both the Pavia Prosecutor’s Office and Sempio’s defense blocked its inclusion in the current evidentiary hearing. Sempio’s defense insists the trace “does not belong to Andrea Sempio,” “contains no blood,” and lacks sufficient ridge detail for attribution. Gian Luigi Tizzoni, lawyer for the Poggi family, criticized the Prosecutor’s refusal to include Trace 33, alleging it extended investigative protections even to Alberto Stasi, Chiara’s ex-boyfriend, who is serving a definitive 16-year sentence for the murder. “The Code requires investigations also consider the suspect’s interest. Pavia’s Prosecutor extended this to the convicted man but rejected the victim’s family’s requests,” Tizzoni asserted.
Giada Bocellari, a defense lawyer for Stasi, countered Tizzoni: “I believe this Prosecutor acts in the interest of justice.” She confirmed Sempio’s defense “firmly opposed” expanding the fingerprint comparison to include other subjects during the hearing. The Poggi family defense also objected because their request to include Trace 33 was denied—a point Bocellari noted differs fundamentally as the acetate prints were already part of the genetic evidence review within the hearing, unlike Trace 33.
The fingerprint analysis, a key objective of the extended evidentiary hearing, will focus on identifying and comparing any latent prints discovered on 18-year-old trash items like tea, cereal, and yogurt packaging. This follows the Pavia Prosecutor’s request after initial checks suggested a possible fingerprint on an iced tea container. Previous examinations of these items found only DNA belonging to Stasi and Poggi, yielding nothing relevant to the new investigation into Sempio.
Concurrently, genetic testing overseen by expert Denise Albani is set to resume in early August. Current analysis identified a single male genetic trace (“Unknown 3”) on gauze used to collect biological material from Poggi’s mouth at the crime scene. Prosecutors are conducting comparisons with dozens of individuals—including those who handled the body and acquaintances of Sempio—to determine if it stems from contamination. Recent participants in the forensic examinations have already been excluded as sources. The core of the evidentiary hearing remains the analysis of two genetic profiles found under the victim’s fingernails, one of which prosecutors allege belongs to Sempio.