ROME – On Tuesday, the alleged murderer of Sara Campanella, the 22-year-old university student stabbed to death Monday in Messina, near the old stadium, in front of dozens of people, has been found and arrested by the military. 

 Stefano Argentino, a 27-year-old from Avola, was a university classmate of Campanella, while they were both attending a degree course in Biomedical Laboratory Sciences and contrary to earlier hypotheses, was never the partner of Sara. The arrest warrant issued by the Prosecutor's Office was executed during the night by the Carabinieri of the Messina Provincial Command, led by Commander Lucio Arcidiacono, who happens to be the same man who captured Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro. The boy was found during the night outside Messina, at a relative's house in Avola, after the military had combed the city for hours in search of him. 

 The scene when Sara’s mother, Maria Concetta Zaccaria, arrived was heart-breaking according to witnesses. After hearing the news of her daughter's murder, Zaccaria left Villabate, which is in the outskirts of Palermo, and arrived in Messina shortly after 10 p.m. on Monday evening. Over an hour later, her husband, Alessandro Campanella, arrived. He was out of Palermo because he works for a diesel trucking company. Both then had to enter the morgue where their 22-year-old daughter lay dead, having been violently stabbed to death.  They were escorted by the Carabinieri who had to hold the mother in their arms. 

  “Amore della mamma, amore mio, non è vero, non è vero”

 “Mummy’s love, my love, it’s not true, it’s not true.”

 Sara Campanella’s mother was reportedly screamed at the morgue at the Policlinico in Messina. 

“Bastard, bastard: did they catch him?” followed Nino Romano, a close family friend, while hugging the father, who had just arrived at the Policlinico. His son Lorenzo Romano is Sara’s brother’s best friend, who commented that “Claudio is 4 years older than Sara and studies Economics in Naples. I can’t believe it, I tried to call Sara all afternoon, I couldn’t believe it was her, we grew up together. We are too shocked. We don’t know anything about this boy, we didn’t know about this story.”

 “They had never been together, don’t spread false news,” Sara’s uncle, her father’s brother, emphasizes. “He was the one who wanted her, but she rejected him,” the victim’s university classmates had also confirmed. They added “he was a very quiet guy. He had been sending her messages, phone calls, stalking her for months.” 

 Stefano Argentino, who was only found late at night, is the only suspect. He could be the one who followed Sara all day until he grabbed her from behind and stabbed her in the neck. A deep, vertical cut. It happened in broad daylight, near the old football field in Messina, the Celeste. On the street, shortly after leaving the hospital where the girl studied nursing, in front of about twenty people passing by, even an entire bus that was stopped in the area. “We were all there, one of us tried to help her but the cut was too deep. Another one chased him but weren’t able to catch him,” said one of Sara’s classmates. They all went to the A&E, where the girl was rushed, but unfortunately there was nothing that could be done.

 The murder occurred by coincidence on the very day in 2020 that Lorena Quaranta, from Favara, another medical student in Messina, was murdered by her boyfriend Antonio De Pace, in the house where they lived in Furci Siculo, 5 years ago. The murder also comes in the same month that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni introduced a new bill on femicide, making it punishable by life imprisonment, the evening before International Women’s Day. 

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