Christian Persico, a 37-year-old builder, has been arrested and jailed on charges of suffocating his former partner, 47-year-old Tina Sgarbini, with whom he had a long-term relationship. According to the victim’s father, she had “kicked him out of the house because he did as he pleased and didn’t work.”
On Saturday evening, around 8:00 PM, Carabinieri located Persico not far from the crime scene in Montecorvino Rovella, a town of just over ten thousand inhabitants near Salerno. He was taken to the Carabinieri barracks in Battipaglia but refused to speak to the public prosecutor, who issued an arrest warrant for murder. His lawyer, Michele Gallo, described him as “calm and lucid,” adding that he “availed himself of the right to remain silent. Beyond providing his personal details, he made no further statements.”
This is likely a defensive strategy ahead of a custody confirmation hearing before a judge, expected within the next few hours. The lawyer explained he has had only “a brief contact” with his new client.
Meanwhile, investigators are working—gathering testimonies and conducting surveys—to reconstruct in detail what happened on the night between Friday and Saturday in the apartment on Via Mons. Michelangelo Franchini, where Tina was killed.
The cause of death is currently known—the woman was suffocated, confirmed forensic pathologist Marina D’Aniello to ANSA—but the exact method remains unknown. Hypotheses so far, including strangulation or asphyxiation with a plastic bag or food wrap, await the outcome of an autopsy. “Yesterday,” explained Dr. D’Aniello, “we carried out a preliminary examination of the body and the scene together with the Carabinieri. The judicial authorities will now order the autopsy, which will take place in the coming days. Only then can we perform certain unrepeatable tests that we couldn’t do yesterday on site. And only after the autopsy will we know with certainty how the victim died. At the moment, I can only confirm that death occurred by ‘external mechanical asphyxia.’ She could have been strangled, or something could have been placed in her mouth, but these are still hypotheses. Certainty will come after the autopsy.”
The detained man will undoubtedly be pressed again to respond. A preliminary admission of guilt is contained in a note he allegedly left for his parents: “I made a mistake,” he reportedly scribbled, also expressing an intention to kill himself. Alarmed, Persico’s family alerted the Carabinieri, who went to Tina’s home and discovered her body. Persico, however, had not taken his own life but had fled, though not far. When Carabinieri, alerted by someone who recognized him, tracked him down, the man surrendered without resistance. Scratches on his face are potentially signs of his ex-partner’s desperate struggle.
Yet, as explained by the mayor of Montecorvino Rovella, Martino D’Onofrio, and many others who knew the couple, nothing suggested such a tragic outcome. “Our community is still shocked and stunned,” he stated. “There were no prior reports or even signs of danger. This makes it all more complicated because it is difficult to intervene when there are no obvious signs of trouble. Our community stands by the family and Tina’s three children (from a previous relationship), and if necessary, we will arrange for maximum psychological support with the local health authority. We must think of these three young people who have been left, from one moment to the next, without their mother.”