Lipari police say killer of 62-year-old woman found with her throat slashed may be among island's small population
The tiny island of Lipari, an idyllic jewel off the north coast of Sicily usually free of serious crime, has been rocked by a brutal stabbing – its first murder in 56 years.
Part of the volcanic Aeolian chain of islands, which includes Salina, where the Oscar-winning film Il Postino was shot, Lipari draws boatloads of tourists to its beaches during the summer, but the population falls to 11,000 during winter as storms blow up.
On Christmas Eve, a cousin calling for Eufemia Biviano, 62, a cleaning lady who lived alone in an isolated whitewashed house on the island, found her lying in a pool of blood in her garage with her throat slashed. Giacomo Alessi said his cousin was expected to spend Christmas eve with him and his family, and he went to her house after she did not answer repeated phone calls.
Lipari's last murder was in 1955, when a woman was killed by two men and dumped in a well. "Here people leave their car keys in the ignition and many leave their front doors open," said the mayor, Mariano Bruno.
A recent number of small thefts has triggered speculation that Biviano disturbed thieves. But nothing was stolen from the house. "It is possible someone was waiting for her and we are looking at her past," said one police officer, who declined to be named.
He said the island's size, and the possibility that the killer was among residents, made the investigation "very delicate".
The officer added: "This was a knife attack, meaning there is a chance the murderer also suffered a wound during the attack and we are scouring the scene for DNA. If we find out, we may test the DNA of suspects among locals."