Fatal 'food poisoning' case actually double murder by ricin say tests

Fatal 'food poisoning' case actually double murder by ricin say tests

(ANSA) - ROME, 17 SET - Tests carried out in Italy and Germany have established that a mother and daughter who were thought to have died of food poisoning at Christmas in Molise were in fact deliberately poisoned with ricin, possibly by their husband/father, sources said Thursday. Sources at Italian labs and the Robert Koch Institute in Germany say there are now "certain" indications that Sara Di Vita, 15, and her mother, 50-year-old homemaker Antonella Di Ielsi, were poisoned, possibly by Gianni Di Vita, a 50-year-old former local mayor and noted accountant. There are thus grounds for investigating for double homicide, even if Di Vita is not the culprit, the sources said. The woman and her daughter were initially thought to have eaten food that had gone bad on Christmas Eve in their home in the small town of Pietracatella near Campobasso. They and Di Vita were in and out of hospital after the poisoning and five doctors are currently under investigation for possible negligence in not giving them life-saving treatment. Unlike his wife and daughter, Gianni Di Vita recovered from the poisoning. Police said they were also looking at possible suspects among the family's circle of friends and acquaintances. They are also reportedly weighing the possibility that Di Vita himself poisoned his wife and daughter and took a much smaller dose of ricin to cover his tracks. The ricin could only have been bought on the Dark Web, police said. They have posited charges of premeditated murder and, in the case of Gianni Di Vita, possible attempted murder by a third party. The plant from which the poison comes is not easy to find but is believed to be found in Lower Molise. In fact, agents have also conducted informal checks in several shops in the region. Ricin is frequently mentioned in several TV series, especially American ones, such as Breaking Bad, and was also used by the KGB to assassinate a Bulgarian journalist in the late 1970s. The 007s modified the tip of an umbrella and injected a tiny dose into his leg. Oil is also extracted from the plant's seeds, used primarily by the cosmetics industry. Once the oil is extracted, the solid residue of the seeds, called castor oil cakes, is used in organic farming as a nitrogenous fertilizer and, secondarily, as a natural mole repellent. Some ricin-derived products are readily available, but only the seeds, through a special treatment, are transformed into a deadly toxin, whose effects are lethal even in minimal doses. (ANSA). Read article...