Crime of Novi Ligure, the prosecutor who followed the case 20 years ago: “Erika and Omar have never repented”

“My only gripe is that Erika and Omar, despite having served their sentences, have never really recovered”. To speak is Livia Locci, Deputy Attorney of the Republic of Turin, woman and mother, who exactly twenty years ago coordinated the investigations into the Novi Ligure crime, one of the most terrible family tragedies ever to occur in Italy. It was February 21, 2001 when, in a villa in the province of Alessandria, Erika De Nardo, 16, and her boyfriend Mauro “Omar” Favaro, 17, stabbed the girl’s mother, Susy cassini, and his little brother, Gianluca, aged eleven. A chilling double crime: the two boys waited for Signora Cassini to return home and attacked her in the kitchen. Little Gianluca saw everything: the killers chased him upstairs, blocked him in the bathroom. He fought with all his strength to defend himself, to no avail. The two evil minds had then planned to kill the girl’s father too, Francesco De Nardo, but at the last minute Omar pulled back and walked away. Later, Erika walked out into the bloodstained street, screaming that some Albanians had entered the house and killed her mother and brother. At first it was believed, and the manhunt began. But the fiction did not last long. “A day and a half later I was called to take care of the case”, says the prosecutor Locci, “I asked Erika. We were all shocked. For me it was like immersing myself in Evil».

What do you remember of those days?

“All of Italy was in shock. I was not just a magistrate, but a mother with a child. Humanly I could not identify with that woman killed with her son, professionally I had to remain detached and try to understand what had led to that tragedy. What has always struck me a lot is the fact that there hasn’t been a moment of défaillance, the two guys have completed their work with incredible determination. The only hesitation came when they decided to give up on killing their father too, because they were tired, they couldn’t take it anymore. But everything that happened in that house is really something that hit and hurt a lot. Reconstruct step by step what had happened, what the victims had said, done, and to think that there had not been a moment, not of pity, but of minimal empathy, was terrible».

It was said that the two boys were on drugs.

«Alcohol and drugs have nothing to do with it, unfortunately. In dealing with minors, I had a privileged view on the perpetrators. There were so many complexities to deal with, the most important was being able to somehow understand not only what the judicial motive is, but also what had moved them from a more personal point of view. There was a media siege and there was a need to protect the two minors from cameras, but at the same time there was a need to understand what the real reason for their actions was. Three experts were appointed, who tried to go very deeply and managed to return a very articulate, detailed, cautious report, without espousing a thesis. After all, these are those cases in which everyone would be comfortable with a thesis, because it protects us from what are our fears: saying that a person has acted because he is mentally ill makes it easier for us to accept something so tragic . As well as saying that he acted under the influence of substances. But that’s not true, and we didn’t have to look for reassuring answers, but the truth. Personally, for me a path has begun that I believe is still moving forward, a work of reflection. What could have been experienced by me as a big burden, a wound, because one cannot enter into a story like this without being touched in some way, turned out to be a possibility of professional and above all personal enrichment ».

If drugs have nothing to do with it, why did Erika kill her mother and brother with the help of Omar?

«The stated motive was that the two boys wanted to experience a dimension of absolute freedom in that house, where they would be alone since the project was to kill their father too. However, both already enjoyed a great deal of freedom. The deeper reasons are to be found in the relationship that Erika had with her parents and especially with her mother, there were already warning signs that were not collected because the reports were very horizontal. There was no authentic communication. There were attempts on the part of this mother to open a dialogue, but they were inadequate for the purpose. For example, in Erika’s school diary we found phrases that her mother had written for her daughter. They were taken from the Bible. But it was difficult for these two worlds to touch each other ».

So, was there an inability to communicate between mother and daughter?

«There was no exchange of emotions, but everything took place on a level of formal adequacy. In one theme, Erika described her family as magical and immense. And actually it was a socially very respectable family and where a lot of attention was paid to formal aspects, to appearance. On a deep level, however, there was a lack of communication. The appraisal on the two boys tried to return these deep motivations. Erika’s genuine distance from others emerged. Even the boy, who was later declared a person dependent on her, put his part in it: he played an important role in the execution ».

Does the crime, therefore, mature in this distance between parents and daughter?

“Beyond the legal aspects, I believe that the thrust was precisely in this type of relationship and invisibility of one to the other, in this not knowing each other within. The description made by people close to Erika, and therefore should have known her very well, was very formal and superficial. I believe that the relationship of great conflict with the mother was also born from this. Even if, then, Susy Cassini spent a lot for this daughter. I will never forget that, at the time of the murder, Erika was wearing a pair of jeans embroidered by her mother. This thing struck me a lot: the mother had embroidered them for him. She was far from a mom not present, but there was no authentic communication».

Erika and Omar were sentenced to 16 and 14 years in prison. Have they ever repented?

“They never did anything to let him think. During the process, Erika was very focused on herself. The boy was polite. But there has never been a moment of rethinking, of giving in. It was, however, difficult to see in these two people that the perpetrators of two such heinous murders were faced. However, in a few moments I had the feeling of being able to glimpse more of the person who was there at that moment than a person in some way upset. It is also true that I was not in jail with them and only saw them during the trial. However, faced with certain descriptions, I have seen more upset people who are strangers to the fact than them. There could be apparent awareness, but I have never seen a gesture of suffering, of pain, a wonder “but why did I do something of this kind?“. The only time I was told anything was this sentence: “I realize that these people hadn’t done anything to me“. But it is little, even if it could be a beginning ».

Erika’s father decided to forgive her and has always been close to her. What memories do you have of him?

“I have great respect for a man who faced this tragedy with such courage. I remember that he said to me: “There are people who get sick, maybe they have a brain tumor. My daughter got sick like this“. That father did what he felt he was doing, being close to his little girl. But he was also a very busy man, in a way distant too. When he told me who his daughter was, I got the impression that we were talking about two different people. Then he helped her a lot. But who knows if it was the right way. Who knows if Erika has developed a true awareness of what has been done, if she has felt pain, suffering. I don’t know if she was helped to look towards others, but I would be sorry if it hadn’t been so. ‘

Today Erika is married, and so is Omar. They rebuilt their lives.

«I heard from the newspapers, I also read some of their interviews. My hope was that the time in prison could be a great opportunity for them to reflect on what happened, and in some way of change. But I don’t know if this happened. Just talking about their current life, as I saw some newspaper articles did, unhooked from a deep path that passes through enormous suffering – because if you are unable to face the suffering that should give you what you have done, I do not think that you will come out different – it gives me the idea that this has not happened. The idea that those two guys may not have gone through that kind of emotional anesthesia and therefore have not fully recovered leaves me a little bitter in my mouth. If they got married, I don’t care. But we cannot stop thinking about Erika’s mother and her little brother who are dead and no longer there, they no longer have a future, they cannot share their joys with others ».