Video footage from the day an
eight-year-old boy was murdered suggested his mom's car was not
outside the school where Veronica Panarello said she had left
the boy before classes, sources said Friday.
As investigators continued to probe the murder of Loris
Stival near his home town in Sicily one week earlier, reports
suggested there were more holes in Panarello's account of the
last time she saw her son alive on November 29.
She had told investigators she had left her son at school,
but sources said there was a 15-minute gap in her account of
events that morning.
Sources on Thursday said police had found other
inconsistencies in her statements about the timing of her
activities that day, including when she went to a cooking class.
Loris did not make it to classes that day and was later
found strangled, his body dumped in a canal outside his hometown
of Santa Croce Camerina, near Ragusa.
The boy was said to have multiple scratches on his face and
neck, possibly because of the strip used in his murder.
Sources said he was found dressed but missing his
undershorts and backpack.
Hunter Orazio Fidone found the child's body and was
questioned extensively by police, who also searched his vehicle
and home.
In an interview Friday, Fidone said that he hoped an
autopsy on the child as well as DNA evidence "will provide many
answers".
Meanwhile, sources said that the type of plastic electrical
strip likely used to strangle the child appeared to be
compatible with the sort found in the boy's school supplies
which his mother gave to police.
Teachers from the Loris's school said they were surprised
the objects were among the dead child's school things because
they said these are considered too dangerous to use in class.
Teresa Iacona, a teacher at the school, said when she and
her colleagues visited Loris's parents to express condolences,
they were surprised that Panarello said her son had told her to
buy the electrical strips because they were required for school
work.
Iacona said the teachers told investigators about the
discussion for clarity.
On Thursday, investigators probing his murder found three
inconsistencies in the mother's account of the morning the boy
disappeared, sources said.
Those included Panarello's explanation of where she dropped
her son for school on Saturday morning before he disappeared,
and her actions afterwards, sources said.
After saying Saturday that she dropped the child about 500
metres from his school the next day, she said instead that she
dropped him just a few metres from school, sources said.
Panarello also told authorities that the little boy had
been "nervous" about going to school the week before his death,
sources said.
"Loris did not go to school very willingly because he said
they made fun of him," sources quoted the mother as saying
Saturday.
Police took Panarello, who is not under investigation, by
car on Thursday to carefully retrace the route she took the
morning her child disappeared, her lawyer said.
Lawyer Francesco Villardita defended Panarello, noting she
was not under investigation but is an injured party.
On Friday, Villardita said Panarello was feeling "very
ill".
The parents of the child told a Sicilian newspaper that
they have endured "lies" and in a published report Thursday
demanded "full respect for a family in need".
Panarello and Davide Stival, a 29-year-old truck driver who
was out of town when his son disappeared, were reported as
telling newspaper La Sicilia that they have "full confidence in
the judiciary".
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