Earlier this month, the Vatican opened two 19th century graves in the cemetery to let forensic experts look for the remains of Emanuela Orlandi. She was the 15 year-old-daughter of a Vatican bank employee whose family lived inside Vatican City. Orlandi was last seen at a bus stop in central Rome after leaving a flute lesson on June 22, 1983.
Two tombs were opened; the “Tomb of the Angel,” of Princess Sophie von Hohenlohe who died in 1836, and the tomb of Princess Carlotta Federica of Mecklemburg, who died in 1840. Members of their families, Orlandi’s, and forensics scientists and Vatican police were all present as the tombs were unsealed.
In a statement released after just a couple hours of work, Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said the operation had “produced negative results: no human findings or funerary urns were found” in either of the tombs – neither any remains appearing to belong to a teenager from the 1980s, nor any belonging to the 19th century princesses.
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“The last thing I expected was to find empty tombs,” said Orlandi’s brother, Pietro Orlandi, 60.
Emanuela, the daughter of a Holy See employee whose family lived within the Vatican walls, was last seen leaving a music class at age 15 in 1983
MORE ON THE MYSTERY GRIPPING ITALY..
And now this today:
Thousands of bones have been unearthed by forensic experts from two ossuaries within the Vatican as part of an ongoing search for the remains of a missing Italian teen who disappeared in 1983.
Forensic workers extracted thousands of bones from the burial chambers that are believed to belong to dozens of people on Saturday. The Vatican did not speculate about who the bones may belong to, but a representative for the family of Emanuela Orlandi was present when the extraction took place.
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The bones will now undergo DNA testing to establish their identities, and a Vatican representative said it’s impossible to predict how long the analysis will take. However, as Emanuela Orlandi’s brother pointed out, if there are any “recent bones” among the find, “it will be a problem for the Vatican.”
