Vatican to investigate unsolved mystery of teen who went missing 4 decades ago
One of Italy's most infamous unsolved mysteries has been officially opened as an investigation by the Vatican.
15-year-old Emanuela Orlandi disappeared in 1983 after leaving her home in the separate State for a flute lesson in central Rome.
Her father Ercole was an employee of the Vatican and in the almost-40 years since, her vanishing has been repeatedly linked back to the Church.
Detectives suspect Emanuela was abduct ed, with various leads followed fruitlessly over the years which included theorised links to the Italian mafia and KGB.
Emanuela's disappearance was brought back to light last year following the release of Netflix docuseries, 'Vatican Girl'.
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It remains the only open missing persons case in the Vatican City, with prosecutors announcing last week they were officially re-examining the evidence.
Missing posters for Emanuela (Vandeville Eric/ABACA/REX/Shutterstock)Top Vatican prosecutor Alessandro Diddi announced he would be re-opening an investigation into the cold case, according to Italian media reports.
Until now, the Vatican has previously left the investigation to Italian police as the teen was thought to be on their soil when she vanished.
It's resulted in numerous unsubstantiated theories circling that senior Church officials were somehow involved in her disappearance.
Hundreds of people take part in a sit in near the Vatican in the memory of Emanuela (Vandeville Eric/ABACA/REX/Shutterstock)Emanuela was last seen on June 22, 1983, when she was returning to her family's flat from a flute lesson at a Rome music school.
Various sightings of the teen were reported in the following weeks, including a witness who claimed to have seen her playing flute in nearby tourist hotspot Piazza Navona.
Detectives also looked into reports Emanuela had been stopped by someone claiming to be an Avon representative after she rang home while out that day telling her family she'd been offered a job by them.
Emanuela's brother Pietro Orlandi - pictured with attorney Laura Sgro - has campaigned tirelessly for answers to her sister's disappearance (Alessandra Tarantino/AP/REX/Shutterstock)The family received several anonymous phone calls from people claiming to have known what happened to their daughter, some of which claimed she had been kidnapped by a member of the Turkish terrorist group to bargain the release of a prisoner accused of trying to assassinate the Pope.
Italian gang boss Enrico De Pedis was also implicated in the mystery following an anonymous tip-off in 2005 that his grave in a basilica reserved for the burials of Church officials would contain answers.
A former girlfriend of the gangster later claimed he had once confessed to the murder, however, a search of his grave in 2012 proved unsuccessful.
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Basilica of St Apollinaris in Rome, where Enrico De Pedis was buried before his grave was later searched in connection with Emanuela's disappearance (Guido Montani/EPA/REX/Shutterstock)Emanuela's father, Ercole Orlandi, died in 2004, though her older brother Pietro has made repeated media appearances over the years demanding justice for his sister.
Following news of the latest development, Pietro told Italian media he would not quit "until the remains [were] found", adding it was "a duty" to continue looking for her.
Laura Sgro, the Orlandi's family attorney, told Italian news agency Il Fatto Quotidiano that there were at least a dozen people of interest to the investigation who were "immediately available" for questioning.
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