A judge on Monday indicted
Stefano Binda for the January, 1987, rape and murder of Varese
student Lidia Macchi.
Macchi's body was found in a forest with 29 stab wounds after
she had gone missing following a visit to a friend in hospital
in the northern town of Cittiglio, near Varese, in January 1987.
Investigators believe Binda, who attended the same high
school as the victim, raped then killed Macchi in the belief she
deserved to die because she consented to the sex, which was
against his religious beliefs.
A preliminary investigations judge also said Macchi may have
wanted to save Binda from heroin.
Both the suspect and the victim were followers of Communion
and Liberation (CL), a conservative lay Catholic movement.
The cold case was reopened in 2013 based on handwriting
analysis on an anonymous letter sent to Macchi's family on the
day of her funeral, containing disturbing references to the
murder.
Police said at the time of Binda's arrest in January 2016
that they found a note in his diary saying "Stefano is a
barbaric murderer".
Trial begins April 12, 2017.
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