Man arrested in connection with Ashley Olsen's murder

[B00Mer]

Man arrested in connection with Ashley Olsen's murder

MILAN -- A Senegalese immigrant was detained Wednesday in the strangulation death of a 35-year-old American woman, just hours after crime scene investigators returned to her Florence apartment to search for clues identifying her killer, reports Italian media.

CBS News has not independently confirmed the report by the ANSA news agency.

The Italian news agency ANSA reported early Thursday that police detained the suspect in Ashley Olsen's murder on Wednesday based on DNA evidence taken from the scene. Investigators had narrowed in on the suspect using video surveillance cameras along the route from the nightclub that showed them together Friday morning, a day before Olsen's body was found. The man was known to authorities for being involved in the local drug scene.

Authorities released no other details. The lead prosecutor had declined to comment on the case earlier Wednesday, and police officials say they are not authorized to speak to media during the investigation.

Crime scene investigators returned Wednesday to the Florence apartment where the American woman was found strangled to death over the weekend, searching for clues to identify her killer.

Ashley Olsen was found nude on her bed in her rented apartment on Saturday after her boyfriend had the owner open the door, alarmed that the young woman had failed to respond to phone calls. The body had bruises and scratches on the neck, and an autopsy determined that she had been strangled with a cord or a rope.

Italian media reports on Wednesday had previously indicated that investigators were narrowing in on a suspect, using video surveillance cameras along the route from the nightclub where she was last seen early Friday to her home, while also searching for clues in the apartment.

The lead prosecutor declined to comment on the case Wednesday, and police officials say they are not authorized to speak to the press during the investigation.

Police have said Olsen's boyfriend, who found her body, has an alibi, and the landlady who entered the apartment with him said he tried to revive Olsen even though it was obvious she was dead.

Olsen, originally from Summer Haven, Florida, had been living in Florence for three years, an active member of the expatriate community and art scene. She had moved to Italy to join her father Walter Olsen, who teaches in the Renaissance art city.

Walter Olsen issued a statement late Tuesday expressing the family's grief and confidence that the killer would be found.

"We are devastated that our precious Ashley has passed away resulting from a horrible and senseless crime," he wrote.

He described his daughter as "a beautiful and creative young woman, with a happy, exuberant and generous soul," adding: "We are heartbroken she was taken from us."

He asked that the family be left to grieve in peace and expressed "faith that the perpetrator will be found and sentenced."

A friend, who would only give her name as Amy, told CBS News the murder was incomprehensible.

"I can't imagine a person who would hurt her, she is a gentle, a kind, a beautiful, friendly, lovely girl and it's an awful shock. We've got a great community here of people, and everyone loved her," Amy said.

Olsen's friends, in a letter appearing in an English-language biweekly in Florence, said they are hoping whoever killed her will be brought to justice.

"While we mourn her passing we place our trust fully in the Italian authorities to investigate this tragic episode," read some of the sentiments in the letter in The Florentine. "We wait to hear what they discover, and pray that justice will be swiftly served to whoever his responsible."

The friends described Olsen as a "rare and kindhearted spirit."

"We have seen the messages of love pour out from her hometown of Florida and we know that, across two countries, people who knew and loved her are in shock," they wrote.

Corriere della Sera newspaper quoted the boyfriend as saying the couple had quarreled over a minor matter three days before her corpse was found, and that he tried to call her but that Olsen didn't answer her phone.

It was unclear when the body might be released for burial, as prosecutors won't give the go-ahead until they are sure more forensic medical testing isn't needed for the coroner's report.

source: Report: Man arrested in connection with Ashley Olsen's murder - CBS News

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what a waste....

https://www.google.ca/search?q=Ashl...ch&q=Ashley+Olsen+italy&imgrc=YZRb0iC8t3isgM:

 

[spaminator]

U.S. woman, whose naked corpse found in Italy apartment, had skull fractured after sex: Prosecutor
DNA analysis on condom leads to arrest of Sengalese man in Florence
Trisha Thomas And Nicole Winfield, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First posted: Thursday, January 14, 2016 11:07 AM EST | Updated: Thursday, January 14, 2016 03:06 PM EST
FLORENCE, Italy -- Italian prosecutors on Thursday laid out evidence collected against a key suspect in the death of an American woman who was strangled and suffered deadly head trauma in her Florence apartment: They said a Senegalese man she met at a disco had left "decisive" DNA traces on a condom and cigarette butt at her home and was using her cellphone.
Cheik Tidiane Diaw, a 27-year-old who had arrived in Italy from Senegal in recent months, admitted under questioning that he and Ashley Olsen, 35, had fought violently after a night of drugs and sex but denied strangling her and never intended to kill her, his lawyer said.
Diaw was arrested early Thursday at his brother's apartment and is being held on suspicion of aggravated homicide, Florence chief prosecutor Giuseppe Creazzo told a news conference.
Street-mounted security cameras and witnesses reported that Diaw and Olsen had left Florence's Montecarla nightclub in the early hours of Jan. 8 and went to her home.
Once there, they had consensual sex. But sometime afterward, Olsen's skull was fractured in two places with blows so violent they alone could have killed her, Creazzo said. She was subsequently strangled, apparently with a cord or rope.
Olsen's naked body was discovered the following day by her Italian boyfriend, who asked the apartment's owner to let him in because he hadn't heard from her in a few days, authorities have said.
Diaw acknowledged under questioning that he and Olsen had had consensual sex, were drunk and had been high on cocaine, his lawyer Antonio Voce told The Associated Press. But Diaw denied strangling her, left her alive on her bed and never intended to kill her, Voce said.
Voce said Diaw told investigators that they had fought when she tried to push him out of the apartment fearing her boyfriend would be arriving. After being pushed against the door, Diaw responded by punching Olsen in the neck and then pushing her to the ground, where she hit her head, Voce said.
Diaw helped her to the bed and left.
"He felt taken advantage of," Voce said. "She was still alive when he left."
Creazzo said Diaw had offered "substantially admissive" testimony in response to the accusations during a preliminary interrogation that lasted until 4 a.m. Thursday. Diaw has not been charged.
Police detained Diaw after DNA analysis came back from a used condom and cigarette butt found in Olsen's toilet, as well as biological samples taken from under her fingernails that belonged to Diaw, Creazzo said.
Investigators matched that evidence with a DNA sample taken from a cigarette Diaw smoked while being questioned at the police station, prosecutors said. They said the tests were conducted in "record time."
Diaw had also taken Olsen's cellphone, put his own SIM card in it and used it, Creazzo said.
"We have gathered serious indications of guilt against him," Creazzo said, adding however, that a judge must confirm the arrest.
Creazzo said Diaw had arrived in Italy illegally a few months ago to join brothers who had been there for some time. He told investigators he was working odd jobs, handing out flyers for local nightspots.
Creazzo said the investigation continues but that no other suspects were at the scene of the crime. He said investigators had reached "a great point" in the investigation following the "decisive proof" from the DNA analysis.
Authorities have been at pains to not jump to conclusions in the case, given the intense international media interest that harks back to the Amanda Knox case. Knox and her Italian boyfriend were convicted in the 2007 death of her British roommate. They were then acquitted, convicted again and finally exonerated after an eight-year saga that cast a poor light on Italy's police and investigative magistrates.
Creazzo seemed almost apologetic that he hadn't been able to provide more information before Thursday's arrest. But he said that since Diaw was in Italy illegally, police would have had little hope of finding him if he had been tipped off that police were closing in on him and tried to flee.
Olsen moved to Florence a few years ago and was active in the expatriate arts scene. Her father is a professor at a local design institute. Late Thursday, family members gathered at the chapel of the morgue where her body was being held.
A funeral was scheduled for Friday afternoon at the Santo Spirito church in Florence's Oltrarno neighbourhood where Olsen lived. Friends say the church steps were a favourite hang-out spot for Olsen, her friends and her beloved beagle, Scout.
U.S. woman, whose naked corpse found in Italy apartment, had skull fractured aft