Woman found dead in Rome park was a US citizen, media reports.
A 46-year-old US man was arrested in Greece on Friday in relation to the deaths of a woman and baby girl whose bodies were found in Rome’s largest park last weekend, Italian media reports.
The man was detained by police on the Greek island of Skiathos where he is believed to have travelled in recent days, after being tracked down by his mobile phone signals, according to LaPresse.
The man is accused of killing the newborn found in Villa Pamphilj on Saturday afternoon and is suspected of having played a role in the death of the woman, who was reportedly an American citizen aged about 30.
DNA tests carried out by police earlier this week confirmed that the woman was the mother of the baby girl who was aged about six months.
The breakthrough in the investigation came after several witnesses came forward to say they had seen the man in the park with a baby in his arms the night before the bodies were found, just a few hours apart and a couple of hundred metres away from each other.
Police also took the unusual step of publishing images of tattoos on the body of the woman, who was found in a rubbish bag under bushes in an advanced state of decomposition, in a bid to identify her.
Other clues came from a park worker and from the cameras of soup kitchens, where the man had left his personal details on one occasion, according to the Corriere della Sera newspaper.
Other evidence came from a police report on the night of 20 May when officers intervened in the Campo de’ Fiori area following reports of a drunk man beating a woman, the Corriere reports.
There was also the testimony of traders in the nearby food market on Via San Silverio, near St Peter’s, who also said they had seen the trio, speaking English.
They said they noticed the man in particular because he had an aggressive manner towards the woman who in turn appeared to stiffen when he got near the baby.
