Murder of Marta Russo

Who is Murder of Marta Russo?

Marta Russo was a 22 year old student at the Faculty of Law at the Sapienza University of Rome, was killed within the University grounds; her death was the centre of a complex court case that garnered huge media attention owing to the lack of substantial evidence and motive.

On 9 May 1997, at 11.35 a 0.22 calibre bullet hit Marta Russo while she walked with a friend on the university's grounds, in a driveway located between the faculties of Statistical Sciences, Law and Political Science. The girl was transported to the nearby Policlinico Umberto I, but she died on May 14 without regaining consciousness.

Forensic tests showed traces of gunpowder on the sill of a window on the second floor, a reading room in the legal philosophy department. The circle tightened around the 25 or so people who often used the room to consult textbooks or use computers. Telephone records identified one person, Gabriella Alletto, in the room, and that person after conflicting testimony, implicated Giovanni Scattone age 31, and Salvatore Ferraro, age 32, who were junior lecturers in the legal philosophy department of Rome's La Sapienza University. Neither had a criminal record nor a reason to murder Ms Russo.