VATICAN CITY — In a new twist to one of Italy’s most persistent mysteries, a pair of tombs in a cemetery in Vatican City will be opened next week to determine if they contain the remains of a 15-year-old girl who vanished in Rome in 1983.
Relatives of Emanuela Orlandi, the daughter of a Vatican employee who never returned after heading to a music lesson in Rome, have long demanded that the Vatican look into her disappearance.
The cold case gained fresh attention after an anonymous tip about where Orlandi might be buried. Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said Tuesday that Orlandi’s family “signaled the possible burial of her body in the tiny cemetery located inside Vatican State territory,” prompting the Holy See to open an investigation.
Gisotti said Orlandi’s relatives and lawyers for the family and the Holy See will be present when the two graves are opened on July 11 in the Teutonic Cemetery in the Vatican.
The exhumed remains will be analyzed to see if any of them might be Orlandi’s.
Over the years many rumors have swirled about what happened to her — including conspiracies tied to the Mafia and the plot to assassinate Pope John Paul II.