Who was Thomas Christopher Luciani, the seventeen-year-old killed in Pescara

His short life was marked by abandonment, problems and difficulties. Thomas Christopher Luciani, the 17 year old killed in Pescarain Baden Powell park, was not a boy “from a good family” like the two peers who stabbed him.

If the two alleged murderers are the sons of a well-known lawyer in the city and of a police commander, Thomas Christopher Luciani was instead abandoned by his parents and, since he was three years old, he lived with his grandmother. He had ended up in a community in Isernia for small crimes, and three days before being killed he had escaped.

It would have been killed for a drug debt, no more than 250 euros. Lured into the little park, it was hit 25 times with a diving knife which, according to reconstructions, the two murderers would have freed themselves from while swimming in the sea after the crime (the fire brigade divers are looking for him). His thin body was found in the brush, curled up, face down.

The police investigations, which cross-referenced the testimonies with the images collected by the cameras present in front of the park and the bathing establishment, were very rapid. The testimony of a friend of the alleged murderers was also decisive who, a few hours after the crime, having understood the gravity of what had happened, raised the alarm. In a few hours, the alleged perpetrators were identified: two high school students, now in custody in a first reception centre. The validation hearing will take place within four days. The investigation is now in the hands of the L’Aquila Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office.

During the first interrogation, the two apparently showed a lack of empathy and repentance. In a note, the Pescara Police Headquarters speaks of a “dramatic event”, which showed “incredible youth distress, a surprising lack of emotional empathy and a clear inability to understand the extreme negative value of the actions committed». And again: «These dysfunctional attitudes deserve extensive study».

After the stabbing, the two high school students allegedly attempted to intimidate their friends to keep it a secret (luckily, one of them didn’t).

To the Courier, the lawyer mother of one of the two arrested says: «They’re all good to talk now. I can’t say much, there is the secrecy of the investigation. But I can say what concerns me: I pray for those who are here and for those who are no longer here». And again: «The responsibilities must be clarified, it takes time. I know I have to wait”, concludes the woman. “I have my job that gives me confidence in justice and my faith, I don’t want to say more.”