Marco Bergamo (serial killer)
Marco Bergamo (born August 6, 1966 in Bolzano - October 17, 2017 in Bollate), known as the Monster of Bolzano, was an Italian serial killer who murdered five women between 1985 and 1992.
Marco Bergamo | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | August 6, 1966 |
| Died | October 17, 2017 (aged 51) |
| Cause of death | Lung infection |
| Other names | "The Monster of Bolzano" |
| Conviction(s) | Murder |
| Criminal penalty | Life imprisonment |
| Details | |
| Victims | 5 |
Span of crimes | 1985–1992 |
| Country | Italy |
| State(s) | Bolzano |
Date apprehended | August 6, 1992 |
Biography
Ever since childhood, Bergamo lived with complications: at the age of 4 he stuttered, and later on was obese and suffering from a skin disease, turning him into a shy introvert. For the following 13 years he collected knives, among other things, so much so that he always had one on him.
After starting work as a welder and carpenter, at the young age of 26, in May 1992, he underwent a surgery to remove one of his testicles.[1]
Murders
Bergamo murdered five women between 1985 and 1992, including a 15-year-old student and four prostitutes, the eldest of whom was 41 years old.[2]
On January 3, 1985, the first victim, Marcella Casagrande, a 15-year-old first year student of the nearby Magistral Institute, was found dead in her home. Casagrande had been murdered using a knife with which the killer had good knowledge of using, as well as equally good knowledge of human anatomy, as the girl had suffered several stabs of which one reached the tenth vertebra of the vertebral column. She later held by the hair while the murderer performed the butchering.[1]
Just six months after, and precisely on June 26, 41-year-old Anna Maria Cipolletti, a junior high school teacher at "Ugo Foscolo" who was also involved in prostitution, was found near a studio on 149 Brennero Street. She had been stabbed 19 times, with her underwear stole. In addition, some cigarette butts and used condoms were found, but according to the investigators, there was no sexual violence.[1]
After 7 years, a further three prostitutes were murdered, all in 1992.
On January 7, 24-year-old Renate Rauch's body was found in a deserted parking lot in the service area of Via Benon in Bolzano. Some days later, some flowers were found on her tomb with a note attached: "I'm sorry but what I did, it had to be done and you knew it: bye Renate! Signed MM" The police raged the hypothesis that the double "M" was the name for Marco.
On March 21, Bergamo murdered 19-year-old Renate Troger, a blond girl from Millan who, during the night, accepted a lift along Piazza Verdi in Bolzano. Her body was found near Ritten, mutilated and with 14 stab wounds.[1]
On August 6, he murdered 20-year-old Marika Zorzi, another prostitute from Laives, found with 28 stab wounds at the second bend of the road that leads to Monte Pozza.[3]
Capture
Bergamo was stopped by two police officers after leaving Bolzano at about 6 AM, or shortly after the last murder, on August 6, 1992, the day of his 26th birthday. Inside his car, a red SEAT Ibiza, he claimed that he was coming from Volta. The authorities immediately suspected that he was a murderer: in fact, on the seat next to the driver's they found bloodstains and the lack of padding as well as the document of the last victim in the trunk of the car; finally, the lack of a rear-view mirror, which was later found at the crime scene.[4]
Trial
Bergamo initially only admitted to murdering three of the five victims; he then denied killing the second victim, Anna Maria Cipolletti and the fourt, Renate Troger. The court, however, on the basis of the evident affinity in which the crimes were executed, condemned him for the five murders, which were committed by a sadistic but fully aware of his actions person.[5] However, no connection could be made to the murder of prostitute Anne Maria Ropele on January 8, 1992 at her home in Trento, nor with that of Florentian tourist Adele Barsi, killed on July 20, 1984 near Bruneck; both murders remain unsolved.[4]
Various theories about Bergamo's personality began to spread on local newspapers: that of a fetishist, an exhibitionist and a consumer of pornographic material with impotence problems. The Court of Assizes of Bolzano entrusted the investigation to four different experts, who came to different conclusions. The president of the Court of Assizes, Dr. Martinolli, then proposed to rely on an assessment carried out by three professors: Ponti, Fornari and Bruno. They came to the conclusion that: "Bergamo has reached extreme perversion: murder for enjoyment. After the first murder he discovered that killing satisfied his pleasures, and at the same time the feared and hated object: the woman. [...] For Bergamo, to kill now represented the extreme sadistic perversion, the strongest way to possess the woman."[4]
On March 8, 1994, International Women's Day, Bergamo was convicted. A journalist of the local newspaper Alto Adige, Paolo Cagnan, decided to write to the murderer, who promptly replied: "I, Marco Bergamo, committed only three murders and confessed them, the murders of Troger and Cipolletti were committed by a second person potentially more dangerous than me."[4]
RAI announced on April 18 of the same year an episode of the television program Un giorno in pretura would be dedicated to Bergamo's trial. During the same day, 72-year-old Renato Bergamo, father of the murderer, went to the attic and hanged himself.[4]
Imprisonment
After spending 24 years in various institutions due to issues related to maximum security, from February 15 he was transferred to the prison of Bollate, the second prison house in Milan. Subsequently, that was during the month of May, the Department of Prison Administration (DAP) disposed of its move to a facility where each prisoner was given the possibility of recovery with the prisoner's objectives and expectations.[3]
In 2005, Bergamo obtained a prize permission to leave prison; this news shocked the whole of Italy.[3] As it was only hypothesized, during the summer of 2008 he could have asked for parole to the surveilling judge Guido Rispoli, but he did not receive it.[1]
The Court of Assizes of Bolzano in 2014, again through PM Rispoli, had returned to the case concerning Bergamo, but had to reject the request to obtain a judgment by means of an abbreviated rite. In fact, Bergamo could not enjoy this right because it was not intended for life imprisonment, moreover, for the penal code there can be no penalty discounts in cases such as these, or with final and irrevocable sentences.[5]
Death
At 51, while still serving his sentence at the Bollate prison near Milan, Bergamo asked the hospital's director to be urgently transferred, where he found that Marco had a serious lung infection. After 10 days he went into a coma without awaking, dying on October 17, 2017.[5]
The victims
Marco Bergamo murdered a total of 5 women between 1985 and 1992:[6]
- Marcella Casagrande, 15
- Anna Maria Cipolletti, 41
- Renate Rauch, 24
- Renate Troger, 18
- Marika Zorzi, 19
See also
References
- Murderpedia article written by Sara Di Marzio
- Marco Bergamo died - the serial killer of Bolzano on ladige.it
- The story of Marco Bergamo Archived 2017-10-18 at the Wayback Machine on trentinocorrierealpi.it
- Marco Bergamo on bolzano-scomparsa.it
- Marco Bergamo dead, the "Monster of Bolzano" who had killed 5 women on corriere.it
- Marco Bergamo, the serial killer of Bolzano, died Archived 2017-10-19 at the Wayback Machine on trentinocorriererealpi.it
Authority control  |
|
|---|