Italian police on Thursday arrested the nephew of a pensioner shot and beheaded in a northern Italian wood earlier this month. Claudio Borgarelli is accused of the premeditated murder of Albano Crocco and hiding his body. Crocco's body was found on October 11 in the woods at Lumarzo near Chiavari in Liguria. Autopsy results showed the victim was still alive when his head was cut off. The autopsy also showed retired hospital nurse Crocco, 68, had defensive wounds to his right hand, whose fingers were shattered. Crocco's nephew Borgarelli was tested for gunshot residue because he owns a revolver that also takes shotgun pellets such as those used in the murder.
The killer showered the victim with shotgun pellets to the back, then cut his head off with what police say must have been a large knife, possibly a machete.
He then dragged the body 100 meters (just under 330 feet), and pushed it off a cliff.
The victim's wallet and cell phone were found on the way to the cliff, along with blood stains.
Crocco had left home to go mushroom hunting. His wife and grown daughter - also a nurse - raised the alarm when he failed to return.
The incident took place outside the village of Lumarzo in Liguria's scenic and sparsely populated Val Fontanabuona valley.
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