Kriti Mehrotra
As a documentary series living up to its title in every way, Netflix’s ‘The Yara Gambirasio Case: Beyond Reasonable Doubt’ truly breaks all bouns while retracing the 2010 case of the titular teenager. After all, it incorporates not just archival audio-video footage but also exclusive interviews to really shine a light upon everything from this teen’s disappearance to the discovery of her remains to its ensuing investigations, as well as its aftermath. And that’s where prosecutor Letizia Ruggeri came into prominence – not only as the lead magistrate in this matter but also owing to the ultimate claims against her.
Letizia Ruggeri Has Had an Esteemed Career
Although it’s unclear precisely when Letizia was hired by the Italian government as a magistrate, she had already had an extinguished career by the time 2010 had rolled around. After all, the former policewoman who had earned her stripes fighting Cosa Nostra in Sicily knew time was of the essence as soon as she was assigned the Yara case. She hence didn’t wait for even a moment before despatching both state police officers and military police to Brembate di Sopra the minute she was reported missing in the hopes of finding her.
However, when that failed, Letizia immediately jumped to wiretapping the Gambirasio household to ensure there weren’t any personal troubles in her life that made her run away. So, when it was confirmed they hid no dark secrets, she ordered that there be a wiretap put on countless phones in the nearby areas to gather any possible information available on the finding of the teen, but to no avail. It was in February 2011, almost three months later, that her cold, decomposed remains were recovered from a field miles away from her home, making Letizia realize her work had just begun.
Letizia Ruggeri Did Her Best to Bring Yara’s Case to a Satisfactory Close
“It was a relief,” Letizia once told the Guardian about finding Yara’s body. “Yara’s disappearance had really disturbed me – I’m a mother too, and the only thing worse than the death of a child is the disappearance of a child.” However, when she learned that there was a significant amount of male DNA present on her undergarments and leggings, her heart shattered as she tried to make sense of it before getting to work on identifying the perpetrator. Yet, it was no easy feat considering they didn’t have a lot to go off on; they simply had a profile with no matches, driving them to begin collecting DNA samples from locals.
Letizia thus delegated the responsibilities – the police took DNA samples from people in the community, whereas the military officials focused on cell phone records and cell data from the time of Yara’s disappearance. However, because the process had some complications and obviously took some time since they didn’t have any initial leads to fall back on, she was under immense pressure. In fact, as the years passed by, some politicians and media outlets even made personal attacks on her while questioning whether she really was fit for the job, only for her to soon prove them wrong.
In 2014, Letizia and her team were able to positively identify Massimo Bossetti as the assailant through the DNA, all the while also finding out he wasn’t the son of the man who had raised him. The fact his phone was apparently in the Brembate on the evening of Yara’s disappearance and that his internet history was full of explicit videos, some of which “implied a compulsion for pubescent young girls,” didn’t help his case either. So, in the end, with the defense’s requests for the reexamination of evidence against him being consistently denied by the courts, he was found guilty of murder on July 1, 2016.
Letizia Ruggeri is Currently Under Investigation
With the defense having asked for access to the DNA investigations several times, only to have recieved a no from the courts, they ultimately asked for a revailation in itself, just to be told there was minimal adiitional DNA samples left. However, the truth is 54 residual DNA samples were left, but then they were transferred from the San Raffaele in Milan to the crime corps office in Bergamo after the three levels of judgement. But alas, the latter didn’t have the appropriate equipment to keep such samples safe, so they were destroyed, and since Letizia allegedly had a hand in this decision, she is now under investigation.
In fact, this single mother, who has a passion for playing classical guitar, is a blackbelt in karate, and loves traveling, has been ordered by a Venice judge to step away from her duties while she is being investigated for procedural fraud or misdirection. Letizia has since received a lot of support from her colleagues and community alike, but she remains in the hot seat until a final decision is made, so it’s likely she’s simply making the most of her time these days by focusing on her personal life. Her career was admittedly her priority for decades, so now, in her mid-50s, she’s likely prioritizing other aspects of her life well away from the limelight.
Read More: Ester Arzuffi: How Did Massimo Bossetti’s Mother Die?
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