The “Rosario” piece of jewelry listed in the inventory compiled during the autopsy of Olimpia Drusin, the prostitute murdered in 1963 on Via Pontano. Her son: “I’ve never seen it.”
As attested by Document No. 1253 of 1963 from the then “Department of Civic Services” of the Municipality,before performing the autopsy on Olimpia Drusin—murdered on November 26 of that year andone of the eight women believed to be victims of a serial killer—the medical examiner removed twelve itemslisted under “clothing” and a thirteenth listed under “valuables”from the body, which had been ravaged by knife wounds. But while the first items listed were items actually worn by the 44-year-old prostitute killed on Via Pontano—a scarf, shawl, skirt, pullover, panties, petticoat, two stockings, two shoes, a corset, and a pack of tissues—the last item remains a mystery to this day. The mystery of a ring which, according to that document in theCorriere’s possession, was made of yellow metal and had a distinctive feature.
The person who filled out the report wrote the word “Rosario.” And this is where the questions arise.The son, who retains vivid memories and a clear mind, first of allrules out the possibility that his mother was wearing a ring on her finger. Furthermore, regarding the possibility that it was a first name, he has never heard of anyone named Rosario. Similarly, assuming that the author of the note meant a “Rosario” model ring—that is, a tool for reciting prayers—Olimpia Drusin never went to church and certainly did not engage in religious contemplation, as she and practiced Catholicism were worlds apart (and she did not guide her son toward this experience). Strange: according to her son, that ring never surfaced during the investigation, which was characterized from the outset by “a certain haste in underestimating important details.” First, the scene of the murder: Via Giovanni Pontano, next to the railroad embankment in the Turro neighborhood, a dead-end street where Olimpia, in her car, pulled over with the killer, even though one of her best friends lived just twenty meters away. In any case, the prostitute waited for men on Via Lazzaretto and never ventured beyond the area between Porta Venezia and the Central Station—an area where, incidentally, three murders took place (Adele Margherita Dossena, Salvina Rota, Valentina Masneri), whose autopsy reports, according to criminologist Franco Posa’s re-examination, revealed decisive connections. Starting with the killer’s modus operandi, which, according to the framework of the counter-investigation, would have begun precisely with Olimpia, back in 1963: a relationship of acquaintance or at least trust between him and the victims, taken by surprise by the first blows and struck by what could be a “signature,” the wound in a precise spot below the chin caused by the weapon, a blade between two and three centimeters wide, and between twelve and fifteen centimeters long.
In these cold cases, prostitution is by no means a rare occurrence: this is true of the neighborhood itself, which in those years was home to clandestine brothels and hotels that offered rooms for sexual encounters during the day; it is also true because, a year after Olimpia, the prostitute Elisa Casarotto was murdered—a woman who, despite the significant age difference, had a close relationship with the third victim in chronological order, namely Adele Margherita, who ran a boarding house on Via Copernico and who, as would happen in 1975 with Valentina, did not open the door to a stranger but instead invited him in, bringing two glasses and a bottle of liqueur to the table to chat; finally, it should be noted that Salvina, a supermarket clerk by day, as reconstructed by the police vice squad at the time, sold herself at night, receiving clients at her home on Via Tonale. Looking at the geography, one address—that of Via Vitruvio—might seem coincidental; it was where Simonetta Ferrero (the victim of the most high-profile murder, the one at the Catholic University) was often seen because she attended a film club there. Except that criminologist Posa himself,upon examining the autopsy reports and the nature and form of the wounds, established connections between Simonetta’s murder and those of the other women.
Returning to Olimpia,there is another anomaly: in the document, which includes a summary of the murder written by the head of the police headquarters’ medical office, Giovanni Carlo Tomassini,a line in a second inventory strikes through the entry “shoes” and replaces it with “slippers.” This serves to justify the prostitute’s hasty departure from home; as her son recalls, she had received a phone call from a man just a few hours earlier. Who he was and what he wanted was never known.