In recent days the story of Elisa Claps has become one of the most indignant cases in our country. Elisa, 16 years old, a promising student with the dream of becoming a doctor, disappeared from her city, Potenza, on 12 September 1993. She had an appointment with her murderer, Danilo Restivo, a strange, sociopathic boy who bothered women by cutting them of strands of hair. They were supposed to meet in the church of the Holy Trinity on September 12, the place that became Elisa’s grave for 17 years.

The Claps case, as narrated in the three-episode Rai 1 drama “Per Elisa”, could have been solved in 48 hours. And, instead, 17 years passed and the young woman’s body was found accidentally by some workers who were repairing the attic only on March 17, 2010. After the horrible discovery, the church remained closed for all these years. But last Sunday, November 5, 2023, the first mass was celebrated: in recent years there has been no admission of responsibility on the part of those who denied the right to truth for the Claps family. There is a lot of indignation and anger over this reopening, especially now that Elisa’s story has been made known to all of Italy. A case that seems like the fruit of the imagination of a good mystery writer is instead as true as the pain that the girl’s family had to endure. Yet, I said at the beginning, the murderer was identified immediately.

Elisa had an appointment in church with Restivo and the girl never left that church again, until 17 years later, in a coffin. Elisa’s family immediately revealed to the investigators Restivo’s morbid attention towards Elisa, he had pointed out his contradictions, his hand injuries, the strange things he had done. But nothing. Don Mimì, the parish priest of that church, said he didn’t know Restivo or Elisa at all. Yet, he had been photographed smiling at Restivo’s birthday party, who knew his way around that place of worship. Indeed, the investigators hypothesized a voluntary removal at the beginning. Case closed.

Remaining like this, as a free man, he moved to England and killed Heather Barnert again, a 48-year-old seamstress and mother of two children, the same ones who found her in a pool of blood inside the bathroom of their apartment. Her hand belonged to the same killer as Elisa, her locks of hair had also been cut off. Yet, the conviction came late for Restivo: first in England, in 2011 and then in Italy, in 2014. The discovery of Elisa’s body was fundamental in bringing a turning point to both cases.

This story, like many other cases of crime news, reminds us, to paraphrase the book by journalist Albina Perri, published by Mursia, entitled Delitti Imperfetti, that perfect crimes do not exist. There are lucky murderers and lucky coincidences, there are mistakes, delays in investigations but in the end the villain of the story, even the most cunning one who believes he has gotten away with it, gets caught at the moment, just when he doesn’t expect it almost more. It was like this for Restivo, a very skilled but banal killer. Evil, sometimes, is so banal… And to return to the book, which I read in recent days, how can we forget Massimo Bossetti, the murderer of Yara Gambirasio, the most difficult story to solve and yet that trace of DNA left on the little girl’s panties allowed investigators to get to him, the illegitimate son of a father he has never seen.

Albina Perri’s book gives us the measure of how difficult the life of murderers is, especially today, with new investigative tools. It’s almost impossible not to leave a mark. Giuseppe Piccolomo, the killer of the severed hands, left it; Manuel Winston, the murderer of Countess Alberico Filo Della Torre, left him, Father Graziano left him when he killed Guerrina Piscaglia, all of whom stumbled upon banal errors in each of the eleven stories told in this book, full of details for each case narrated and which warns the murderers and brings them down to earth a bit. Eventually, they will get caught. Even if they continue to proclaim themselves innocent.

But those who remain, to return to the Claps case, need answers and are not satisfied with half-truths. The story of Elisa Claps will not be over until Restivo’s accomplices are exposed. And the church certainly cannot be turned the other way and pretend that it is a place of prayer like the others. The grave of a 16 year old girl for 17 years, with even longer silences and omissions.