The State Police arrest the alleged perpetrators of the murder of Michele Cilli and the suppression of his body - the glasses worn by the victim were found
The State Police of Barletta, Andria and Trani, in the early hours of today, on the order of the Public Prosecutor of Trani and in execution of the precautionary custody measure in prison issued by the GIP of Trani, arrested SD, thirty-three from Barletta, considered the alleged author of the murder of Michele Cilli, and BCD, a contemporary of SD who, in competition with the latter, is believed to be the alleged author of the suppression of Michele Cilli's corpse.
These are the provisional charges challenged to the suspects by the GIP of Trani, at the request of the Public Prosecutor of Trani who directed and coordinated the investigations conducted by the Mobile Squad of the Police Headquarters of Barletta Andria Trani and by the Police Station of Barletta.
The complex and detailed investigations were triggered immediately after the relatives of Michele Cilli, a boy from Barletta who had just turned 24, on the morning of Monday 17 January 2022 had reported his disappearance to the Police Station of Barletta, reporting that they had not I had more news of the boy since the evening of the previous Saturday, when he had attended a friend's birthday party held in a lounge bar in Barletta.
From the first information acquired it emerged that Michele Cilli had been seen leaving the bar when the birthday party was still in progress, in the early hours of Sunday 16 January, in the company and on board of SD's car and that the latter had been seen go back to the bar with his own car alone and, after a very short stop aimed at taking his partner on board, without getting out of the car, he set off again at high speed.
This information, considered of extreme interest right from the start, was corroborated by further elements that were collected by the investigators with a meticulous investigative work that made it possible to provide what the GIP of Trani defined as "circumstantial elements as well as of a factual nature , by virtue of the emergencies indicated in detail, also of a logical nature, as a combined, precise and scrupulous reading of the many clues collected by the investigating body, in the face of an evident conspiratorial climate permeating the story under examination. Nonetheless, however, the clues collected, clearly univocal and concordant, are found to be of considerable number, but above all they prove to be convergent in focusing on the current suspects ".
The investigations followed the double track of the search for Michele Cilli's body, which also took place through specialized units of the State Police (dog lovers, divers, drones), and of the search for suitable elements to reconstruct the dynamics of the facts, which took place through a complex analysis of the images recorded by the numerous video surveillance systems present in the targeted area, as well as of the telephone and telematic records and of the GPS tracks of some cars of investigative interest, which made it possible to ascertain the progress of events and the conduct of some specific subjects.
In short, a painstaking reconstruction that can be summarized in the following terms: in the evening between 15 and 16 January, SD, after having dinner in the company of other people in a restaurant in Barletta, went to a bar where he met Michele Cilli, with whom he left at 01:38, driving his own car; along the direction of the Pietro Mennea seafront, the car driven by SD, with Michele Cilli on board, was resumed entering a garage located in a condominium complex in Barletta, where about half an hour remained 'Now; at approximately 01am, the same car left the garage to park near nearby houses where it remained for a few minutes, and then set off again with only the SD on board and arrive at 40:02 in the vicinity of the bar, where there was just enough time to get on board people who were already in the company of the S. when he had previously arrived at the bar.
The car driven by the suspect will then return to his home after about two hours.
The parking of SD's car in the garage and, after a few minutes, near some houses, did not escape the attention of the investigators who, deepening this new piece that was added to the others, were able to understand the reason for this short stop of the car following the longer one inside the garage.
In fact, in the vicinity of those houses, after a while a tall and slender man came out who, running, headed towards the condominium complex where the garage is located, entering it and staying a few minutes before going out and, still running, was taken back. head towards your home from where, after a while, a car came out.
By following the path of this car it was possible to ascertain that the car in question went to a nearby service station where the same tall and slender man mentioned above, who was driving the car, filled a petrol can for then go inside the garage where SD had been.
The man in question was identified by the investigators in the suspect BCD, who in carrying out the actions that are contested to him was wearing sweatpants and a pair of shoes which are believed to be those found by investigators in the Fiumara di Barletta area on the following 21. January, following the lead of another subject which will be discussed shortly.
Upon the discovery of these garments, in the following days, another fact will follow - also this not escaped by the policemen of the Flying Squad and the Barletta Commissariat -, that is, the report of the theft of the car used by the B. on the night of January 16.
It is precisely following the path of this car that the policemen arrived in one of the country districts of Barletta, where on the afternoon of January 31 they found the glasses that are believed to be with reasonable certainty those of Michele Cilli.
In the same district BCD will return on the morning of January 16, after a few hours from the events that occurred on the night of that same day.
These elements are challenged to BCD who, in addition to being investigated for aiding and abetting, was subjected to the measure of pre-trial detention in prison because, in collaboration with SD, he suppressed the body of Michele Cilli.
The discovery of the clothes in the Fiumara area - as well as that of the glasses - was a very important moment of the investigation, which was reached not by chance, but following a different car - compared to the one used on the night of January 16 - of SD, in the circumstance led by another man who has entered the sights of investigators since the early days.
In fact, since the beginning of the investigations it has been ascertained that SD left Barletta on the morning of January 16 to return there the following January 17, the day in which he gave one of the cars in his availability to a man who, driving it, led to the Fiumara area, stopping at a point near the reeds on the banks of the Ofanto, where an envelope was found stuck with clothes and shoes inside that are believed to be those worn by B.
The man in question is the same in whose availability the policemen of the Flying Squad and the Police Station of Barletta found the car driven by the S. on the night of the murder.
Subjected to seizure, scientific police activities were carried out on this car by the Interregional Cabinet of Scientific Police for Puglia and Basilicata which found inside hair formations, presumed vegetable and biological substances and, above all, blood substances on the horn and in other points of the passenger compartment.
On the day the investigation began, SD had injuries on both hands for which justifications were given, considered by the GIP as a "false alibi".
Therefore, on the basis of the elements resigned by the Public Prosecutor, the GIP accepted the request for pre-trial detention in prison against SD, under investigation for the murder of Michele Cilli.