Emanuela Orlandi - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

*Missing people*

Name	Emanuela Orlandi
Age at time of disappearance	15 years old
Missing since	June 22, 1983
Location	Rome, Italy
Height	160 cm
Hair	Black
Eyes	Brown

Emanuela Orlandi (born January 14, 1968) was a citizen of Vatican City

Vatican City

Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...

, who mysteriously disappeared on June 22, 1983.

Disappearance

Orlandi, then 15-year-old, vanished on June 22, 1983. She was in her second year at a liceo scientifico

Liceo Scientifico

Liceo Scientifico is a secondary school type in Italy. Along with Liceo Classico, it is considered the peak of the Italian upper secondary education. The access to this school is possible after the successful completion of the three year middle school and the corresponding final examination...

(a scientific high school) in Rome. Although the scholastic year had concluded, she continued to take flute lessons three times per week at the Tommaso Ludovico Da Victoria School, connected with the Pontificium Institutum Musicæ Sacræ (The Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music

Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music

The Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music or Pontificio Instituto de Música Sagrada is an institution of higher education of the Roman Catholic Church specifically dedicated to the study of sacred music. It is based in Rome, Italy.-History:...

). She was also part of the chorus of Saint Anna’s Church, inside Vatican City, where she had lived from birth. She was a citizen of the Vatican, the fourth of Ercole and Maria Orlandi’s five children.

In order to reach the music school, Orlandi usually rode the bus. She would exit the bus after a couple of stops and then walk six or seven hundred feet (180 to 210 meters). What is known for certain is that on Wednesday, June 22, 1983, she had been late to class. Later, around 19:00, she explained her lateness in a phone call to her sister, during which she said she had a job offer from a representative of the Avon Cosmetics Company

Avon Products

Avon Products, Inc. is a US cosmetics, perfume and toy seller with markets in over 140 countries across the world and sales of $9.9 billion worldwide as of 2007.-Business Model:...

to promote cosmetics on the occasion of a fashion show. Her sister suggested that she talk it over with her parents before making any decisions. Emanuela had allegedly met with the would-be representative shortly before her music lesson. At the end of the lesson, Emanuela spoke of the job offer with a girlfriend, who then left Emanuela at the bus stop, in company of another girl who has never been identified. Someone supposedly saw her get into a large, dark-colored BMW

BMW

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...

car. From that moment, Emanuela vanished.

Chronology

At 03:00 on Thursday, Orlandi’s parents called Sister Dolores, the director of the music school, in order to ask whether any of their daughter's classmates had information on Emanuela. The Police had suggested waiting, because ‘perhaps the girl was with friends’. On June 23, Emanuela was officially reported as a missing person

Missing person

A missing person is a person who has disappeared for usually unknown reasons.Missing persons' photographs may be posted on bulletin boards, milk cartons, postcards, and websites, along with a phone number to be contacted if a sighting has been made....

, and on Friday the 24th and Saturday the 25th an announcement of the disappearance was published with the telephone number of the Orlandi house in the newspapers Il Tempo, Paese Sera and Il Messaggero
Il Messaggero
Il Messaggero is an Italian newspaper based in Rome, Italy, founded in 1878.It is owned by the Italian publishing company Caltagirone Editore, and its leaders include Azzurra Caltagirone, the partner of the political leader Pierferdinando Casini, on its board...

.

At 18:00 on Saturday, June 25, a phone call was received from a youth who identified himself as a 16 year old named Pierluigi. The sound of his voice and manner of speech suggested that he was much younger, however. He reported that together with his fiancée, he had met Emanuela in Piazza Navona

Piazza Navona

Piazza Navona is a city square in Rome, Italy. It is built on the site of the Stadium of Domitian, built in 1st century AD, and follows the form of the open space of the stadium. The ancient Romans came there to watch the agones , and hence it was known as 'Circus Agonalis'...

that afternoon. The young man mentioned Emanuela’s flute, her hair, and the glasses that the girl did not like to wear, along with other details that fit the missing girl. According to Pierluigi, Emanuela had just had a haircut and had introduced herself as Barbarella. She went on to say that she had run away from home and that she was selling Avon products – all reliable details.

On June 28, a man who said his name was Mario called the family and claimed to own a bar near Ponte Vittorio, between the Vatican and the Music School. The man said that a girl named Barbara, a new customer, had confided to him about being a fugitive from home but said that she would return home for her sister’s wedding. On June 30, Rome was plastered with 3,000 posters showing Emanuela Orlandi's photograph.

On Sunday July 3, Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II

Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...

, during the Angelus

Angelus

The Angelus is a Christian devotion in memory of the Incarnation. The name Angelus is derived from the opening words: Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariæ The Angelus (Latin for "angel") is a Christian devotion in memory of the Incarnation. The name Angelus is derived from the opening words: Angelus...

, appealed to those responsible for Emanuela Orlandi’s disappearance, making the hypothesis of kidnapping official for the first time. On July 5, the Orlandi family received the first of a number of anonymous phone calls. Emanuela was supposedly the prisoner of a terrorist group demanding the release of Mehmet Ali Ağca

Mehmet Ali Agca

Mehmet Ali Ağca is a Turkish assassin who murdered left-wing journalist Abdi İpekçi on February 1, 1979 and later shot and wounded Pope John Paul II on May 13, 1981, after escaping from a Turkish prison. After serving 19 years of imprisonment in Italy, he was deported to Turkey, where he served a...

, the Turkish man who shot the Pope in Saint Peter's Square

Saint Peter's Square

Saint Peter's Square is located directly in front of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, the papal enclave within Rome .-History of St...

on May 13, 1981. No other information was given. In the following days, other calls were received, including one from a man identified as The American because of his voice’s strange and adulterated accent. He played a recording of Emanuela’s voice over the phone. A few hours later, in another phone call to the Vatican, the same man suggested an exchange between Orlandi and Alì Ağca. The anonymous interlocutor also mentioned the Mario and Pierluigi of the earlier telephone calls, defining them as members of the organization.

On July 6, a man with a young voice and an American accent informed ANSA news agency

ANSA

ANSA may refer to:* ANSA, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs , also sometimes abbreviated NSA*Armed non-state actors, a term used in political science*Ansa *Artists for a new South AfricaTechnology:...

of the demand for an Orlandi-Ağca exchange, asking for the Pope’s participation within 20 days and indicating that a basket in the public square near the Parliament would contain proof that Orlandi was indeed in his hands. These were to have been photocopies of her Music School I.D., a receipt, and a note hand-written by the kidnapped girl. However, the Magistrate who was overseeing Orlandi’s case did not believe that there was a credible connection between the Orlandi abduction and the Pope's assailant. She believed that Orlandi had probably been kidnapped and killed after a sexual assault.

On July 8, a man with Middle Eastern accent phoned one of Orlandi’s classmates saying that the girl was in his hands and that they had 20 days to make the exchange with Alì Ağca. The man also asked for a direct telephone line with the then Secretary of the Vatican State, Agostino Casaroli. The line was installed on July 18. A total of 16 telephone calls were made by The American, all from different public telephone booths. In spite of his variety of demands and the presumed evidence, the man (who may never be identified) did not provide any leads.

In mid-2000, Judge Ferdinando Imposimato, based on what he had learned about the Grey Wolves

Grey Wolves

The Idealist Youth , commonly known as Grey Wolves , is an ultra-nationalist neo-fascist youth organization. It is accused of terrorism. According to Turkish authorities, the organization carried out 694 murders between 1974–1980.-Name:...

, a far-right Turkish group, declared that Orlandi, by then an adult, was living a perfectly integrated life in the Muslim community and that she had probably lived for a long time in Paris. He remains the only supporter of this idea and of the Orlandi-Ağca connection.

On 9 November 2010 Mehmet Ali Agca was interviewed by the state television in Turkey-TRT " , Kozmik Oda Program- first time after his release in Juanuary 2010. In that interview as well as declaring that the Vatican organized the assassination attempt he also said that Orlandi was kept as a prisoner by the Vatican (for Agca) and is now living in a Central European country as a nun in a Catholic Monastery.He added that Orlandi's family was seeing their daughters whenever they like but she was not allowed to leave that monastery. (Reference, TRT 2, and Milliyet)

Sightings

Sightings of Emanuela in various places have been reported over the years, even inside Vatican City, but all have been unreliable. Ağca, who once declared that Orlandi had been kidnapped by Bulgarian Agents and the Grey Wolves of which Ağca was a member, spoke about Orlandi during a prison interview with Italy's RAI

RAI

RAI — Radiotelevisione italiana S.p.A. known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the Italian state owned public service broadcaster controlled by the Ministry of Economic Development. Rai is the biggest television company in Italy...

state television, telling the interviewer that the girl was alive, not in danger, and living in a cloistered convent. He denied any direct knowledge of the girl's fate, though, saying that he had made "some logical deductions". With no evidence to support these claims, the case was closed in July 1997.

A Memento Mori?

On the morning of May 14, 2001, the parish priest of the Gregory VII Church near the Vatican discovered a human skull of small dimensions and lacking a jaw in a bag with an image of Padre Pio in a confessional booth. The bag had likely been left the previous day, on May 13, the twentieth anniversary of the attack on the Pope and the eighty-fourth anniversary of the Fátima

Fátima, Portugal

Fátima is a city in Portugal famous for the Marian apparitions, recognized by the Catholic Church, that took place there in 1917. The town itself has a population of 7,756 and is located in the municipality of Ourém, in the Centro Region and Médio Tejo Subregion...

apparition

Marian apparitions

A Marian apparition is an event in which the Blessed Virgin Mary is believed to have supernaturally appeared to one or more people. They are often given names based on the town in which they were reported, or on the sobriquet which was given to Mary on the occasion of the apparition...

of 1917. It is not clear if this was Orlandi's skull, some kind of message, or, as the priest believes, just a joke in poor taste.

In 2004, one month after giving his last interview, Orlandi’s father, Ercole, died.

In a letter published in 2006, Ağca claimed that Emanuela Orlandi and another girl, Mirella Gregori

Mirella Gregori

Mirella Gregori disappeared from Rome during the Spring of 1983, about 40 days before Emanuela Orlandi's mysterious disappearance. According to one of many of Mehmet Ali Ağca's accounts, the two girls' disappearances, and the disappearance of Soviet journalist, Oleg G. Bitov, on September 9 that...

, both of whom vanished in 1983, were abducted as part of plan to secure his release from prison. He claimed that the girls were whisked away to a royal palace in Liechtenstein

Liechtenstein

The Principality of Liechtenstein is a doubly landlocked alpine country in Central Europe, bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and by Austria to the east. Its area is just over , and it has an estimated population of 35,000. Its capital is Vaduz. The biggest town is Schaan...

. Ağca was temporarily released from an Istanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

prison after serving 25 years in Italy and Turkey for the murder of Abdi İpekçi

Abdi Ipekçi

Abdi İpekçi was a Turkish journalist, intellectual and an activist for human rights. He was murdered while editor-in-chief of the Turkish daily newspaper Milliyet.-Biography:...

, a prominent Turkish journalist. However, he was quickly imprisoned again, the release seemingly a "mistake." Ağca was permanently released from a Turkish prison in January 2010.
The Orlandi case is still unsolved.

Ties with the Banda della Magliana

In 2005, an anonymous phone call http://www.chilhavisto.rai.it/Clv/img/d/DePedisEnrico/OrlandiTel.wav attested that in order to find a resolution on the Orlandi case, it was necessary to be aware of who is buried in the crypt of the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare and about the favour that Renatino, one of the leader of the Banda della Magliana

Banda della Magliana

The Banda della Magliana was an Italian criminal organization based in Rome, particularly active throughout the late 1970s until the early 1990s. Given by the media, the name refers to the original neighborhood, the Magliana, of most of its members....

(Magliana Gang) made to Cardinal Ugo Poletti, at the time.

The basilica of Sant'Apollinare, in the center of Rome, houses a crypt in which Popes, Cardinals and Christian martyrs are buried. Among these is the grave of Enrico De Pedis

Enrico De Pedis

Enrico De Pedis was an Italian criminal and one of the bosses of the Banda della Magliana, an Italian criminal organization based in the city of Rome, particularly active throughout the late 1970s until the early 1990s. His nickname was "'Renatino". Unlike other members of his gang, De Pedis...

, also known as Renatino, one of the most powerful heads of the Magliana gang, assassinated on February 2, 1990. The Basilica is part of the same building of the The Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music that Orlandi attended, and where she was last seen. De Pedis’ interment at the Church is an unusual procedure for a common citizen, and even more because he was a gangster. Authorizing the interment at the time was Cardinal Poletti, now deceased, though recently it has been underlined that, structurally, in 1990, Ugo Poletti as Vicar General of Rome was administering the diocese of Rome in Polish Pope John Paul II's name when Poletti "gave the okay" to the entombment of Enrico De Pedis in the Sant'Apollinare crypt: see "ROME: GANGSTER ENTOMBED IN A PAPAL CRYPT. The Vatican, the Central Intelligence Agency, Emanuela Orlandi and the Entombment of Enrico De Pedis", at Lulu.

In February 2006, an ex-member of the Magliana Gang recognized behind the voice of Mario one of the killers working for Enrico De Pedishttp://www.rifondazione-cinecitta.org/banda-magliana3.html

Ties with the IOR scandal and Roberto Calvi

A journalist who wrote a book on Roberto Calvi

Roberto Calvi

Roberto Calvi was an Italian banker dubbed "God's Banker" by the press because of his close association with the Holy See. A native of Milan, Calvi was Chairman of Banco Ambrosiano, which collapsed in one of modern Italy's biggest political scandals...

’s case where the banker was found dead under Blackfriars Bridge

Blackfriars Bridge

Blackfriars Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, between Waterloo Bridge and Blackfriars Railway Bridge, carrying the A201 road. The north end is near the Inns of Court and Temple Church, along with Blackfriars station...

in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, has recently reported an interview with the banker's son who declared that the kidnapping of Orlandi was closely connected to his father’s case. According to him, it would have been an attempt to put pressure on the Vatican so that nobody would investigate facts involving the Vatican with the Banco Ambrosiano
Banco Ambrosiano
Banco Ambrosiano was an Italian bank which collapsed in 1982. At the centre of the bank's failure was its chairman, Roberto Calvi and his membership in the illegal Masonic Lodge Propaganda Due...

and the mafia

Mafia

The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...