This mystery has remained unsolved for almost 40 years: What happened to 15-year-old Emanuela Ornaldi?

She was only 15 years old. One day, she left the house to go to her favorite flute lesson and was never heard from again. Her family fought with all their might to find her. The end of the allegations about her fate stretched from 1983 to the present. A flash development brought Emanuela Orlandi to the headlines again after 39 years...

Emanuela Orlandi was just 15 years old when she disappeared on June 22, 1983. She was last seen in front of the Basilica of Sant 'Apollinare in Navona Square in Rome.

Emanuela Orlandi (born 14 January 1968) is a Vatican teenager who mysteriously disappeared while returning home from a flute lesson in Vatican City on 22 June 1983. Sightings of Orlandi in various places have been reported over the years, including inside Vatican City, but all have been unreliable. The disappearance of Orlandi sparked an intense media frenzy in Italy that has resulted in the case being called “Italy’s most famous unsolved mystery”, as well as marking one of the few known disappearances of a Vatican citizen.

The church belonged to Opus Dei, considered one of the most mysterious sects of Catholic Christianity. Emanuela was known to regularly attend church three days a week to take flute lessons. She went to class on June 22 and even called her sister on the phone when she left. The last person to talk to her was her brother.

Some eyewitnesses said that Emanuela got on a public bus and chatted with a red-haired woman who was trying to persuade her to go door-to-door selling cosmetics. Others said they saw the girl getting into a green BMW.

After that day, Emanuela was never heard from again. Despite more than 39 years and hundreds of thousands of clues and denunciations, what happened to Emanuela could not be resolved. "Is he kidnapped or has he escaped?" question remained unanswered. It's also not clear whether She is still alive.

Italy's oldest and most controversial unsolved case has once again made headlines in the country's press. We'll get to the reason in a moment, but let's remember what happened before.

Emanuela Orlandi had one difference from her Italian peers: her father's job.

Father Ercole Orlandi held a senior position in the Papacy. In fact, the Orlandi family lived in a residence behind the walls of the Vatican.

Emanuela was officially declared missing on June 23, and with the support of the press, many clues were obtained in a short time. Two calls, which came on 25 and 28 June, were particularly striking.

The first caller introduced himself as "Pierluigi". The man said he had seen Emanuela in Rome that day and gave some details about the flute box in her hand and the clothes she was wearing. Therefore, the police believed that he was telling the truth. The man said the girl called herself "Barbarella" and ran away from home to sell cosmetics. As a matter of fact, Emanuela also told her sister about this cosmetic business before she disappeared.

The second caller told the authorities that he had met a young girl named "Barbara" who had run away from home. The man said he met the girl in a bar near the church where flute lessons were held. This made him believe that what he said was true.

MISSED FOR EXCHANGE?

Some of the allegations regarding Emanuela's disappearance extended to Mehmet Ali Ağca. Some sources suggested that Emanuela was kidnapped for exchange with Ağca.

As can be recalled, Ağca, who murdered Abdi İpekçi, a famous journalist in Turkey in 1979, claimed in a letter he wrote after escaping from the prison where he was captured and sent, and claimed that he would kill the Pope of the time, John Paul II, who was planning a visit to Turkey in November.

This plan was implemented on May 13, 1981. Ağca had assassinated the Pope in Rome, which did not result in death, and was caught. In other words, at the time of Emanuela's disappearance, Ağca was in prison in Italy. In many calls to both the Orlandi family and the police, attention was drawn to this very point, and it was claimed that Emanuela was kidnapped to be exchanged for Ağca.

What one whistleblower said was particularly striking. A person who was described as "Americano" because of his accent claimed that the people who made the reports on 25 and 28 June were also part of this plan. This person also said that Ağca and Emanuela would be exchanged within 20 days. However, the Vatican did not take these reports seriously, as such an exchange event never took place.

THE GAUGE OF THE ITALIAN MAFIA FATHER HAS BEEN OPENED BUT…

Another claim was that Emanuela was kidnapped by Banda della Magliana, an underground organization based in Rome.

The organization, led by Enrico "Renatino" de Pedis, allegedly lent a large amount of money to Banco Ambrosiano, who was known to be linked to the Vatican Bank. It is said that as a result of the sudden bankruptcy of the bank, the organization could not get its money back, so it decided to kidnap the daughter of a Vatican official and demand a ransom.

(The finding of Roberto Calvi, the Vault of God, chairman of Banco Ambrosiano, dead in London in 1982 was just as mysterious as Emanuela's disappearance.)

Many reports supporting this theory also reached the police. In fact, a former lover of Pedis stated that he told her that the mafia boss, who was killed by another organization in 1990, had kidnapped Emanuela. However, it was not possible to support these claims with concrete evidence.

The tomb in Sant' Apollinare was opened in early May 2012 after an anonymous source, searching for a crime documentary broadcast on Italian television in 2005, claimed that Emanuela was also buried in Pedis's sarcophagus. Indeed, many bones that did not belong to Pedis were found in the tomb, but as a result of the examinations, it was understood that they were not related to Emanuela.

"We thought we lived in the safest place in the world," Emanuela's brother Pietro would tell years later about being a child in the Vatican.

TERRIBLE CLAIMS COME FROM THE VATICAN'S HIGHEST STAGE

But the most chilling theory about Emanuela's disappearance was none of this. Allegedly, Emanuela and many young girls like her were victims of a gang consisting of the Vatican, local police, and some deputies from that region. It was reported that Emanuela was abducted to be used as a sex slave, abused, later killed and her lifeless body disposed of.

Moreover, he was not an ordinary person who suggested it. Father Gabriele Amorth, a close confidant of Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope John Paul II personally commissioned him to exorcise the evil spirits in the Vatican, made this claim in an interview with La Stampa newspaper in May 2012.

Amorth, who was 85 at the time and died in 2016, said in a statement, "This was a crime committed for sexual purposes. Parties were organized, and the Vatican gendarme was in charge of finding the girls."

"The network in question stretched from the diplomatic staff of an embassy to Papal staff. I believe Emanuela was also a victim of this network."

Although it may seem very unbelievable at first glance, some facts that have emerged in recent years about what happened in the Vatican support Father Amorth's claims. For example, in early 2019, the Pope had to admit that many young women and nuns were sexually abused. It was officially announced after some reports in the media that the Vatican was conducting an investigation into the possession of content qualified as child pornography by some of its employees.

THE BONES FOUND CREATED EXCITEMENT

Later in 2016, Monsignor Simeone Duca, who worked in the Vatican's archives, supported Amorth's claims and stated that there was "credible information" that certain groups working in the Vatican's diplomacy unit were using young adolescent girls as sex slaves.

In 2017, Italian journalist Emiliano Fittipaldi published a Vatican document that was leaked to him. In the document, expenses such as accommodation, food, and beverage, and gynecological examination made abroad for Orlandi were listed item by item. The Vatican vehemently denied the authenticity of the document, describing it as "false and ridiculous fiction".

In October 2018, bones were found buried under the pavement during renovation work in a Papal building in Rome. Of course, immediately comes to mind "Emanuela?" The question came, but it soon became clear that the bones were 200 years old.

Just as the subject was buried in silence, there was a development that excited everyone at the beginning of 2019. A letter to the Orlandi family's lawyer, Laura Sgro, hinted at the location of Emanuela's grave. The sender of the letter was unknown, but it was certain that the sender was from within the Vatican.

The text of the letter included the phrase "Look where the angel is pointing". This sentence made sense when combined with the photograph that came out of the envelope.

The photo shows a sarcophagus from the Teutonic Cemetery, which is located within the Vatican but is not open to the public. There was a stone angel statue at the head of the sarcophagus built in 1836, which later turned out to belong to the German Princess Sophie von Hohenlohe. The parchment held by the angel was inscribed with the phrase "Requiescat in Pace" (Latin for "rest in peace"). The most interesting thing was that a red candle was always lit at the head of the sarcophagus and the flowers in the vase were always fresh. The same was not true for the other sarcophagi in the cemetery.

Moreover, the Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera wrote at the time that the tomb had been opened "at least once" in the past 50 years and that there were traces of resealing in the cement under the lid.

THE FAMILY REQUESTED THE OPENING OF THE GRAVE

This caused the Orlandi family to re-question the Vatican's role in Emanuela's disappearance. Because if Emanuela was buried in the Teutonic Cemetery, the sex trafficking network allegations put forward by Father Amorth would be strengthened. Emanuela's brother, Pietro Orlandi, told The Daily Beast in March 2019 that he was 100 percent sure the Vatican knew about Emanuela's disappearance.

"I wish this whole story was a hoax. I sincerely wish Emanuela not to be here," said Orlandi, adding that he spent 35 years chasing false clues and was tired.

"I do this for my mother, for my sisters, for my late father. Of course, I do it for myself too. Even if I end up suffering, even if doors are shut in my face, even if I'm disappointed..."

Following this development, the Orlandi family asked the Pope for permission to open the sarcophagus. In his letter to the Vatican, Sgro stated that he had managed to confirm that some independent sources knew that Emanuela's dead body could be inside the sarcophagus in question. Papal Spokesperson Alessandro Gisotti, in his statement on the subject, confirmed that such a letter was sent to the Orlandi family, and said that "the demands in its content will be considered".

AN EMPTY UNDERGROUND ROOM

The evaluations yielded positive results and the sarcophagus was opened in July 2019. However, nothing came of it. Gisotti said in a statement at the time: "Neither human remains were found inside the sarcophagus, nor was it an ash storage jar. The sarcophagus opens into a vast and completely empty underground chamber. No human remains were found inside."

Along with the sarcophagus of Princess Sophie, the sarcophagus of Princess Charlotte Federica di Mecklenburg, which was next to it, dated 1840, was also examined. No human remains were found here either. (At this point, a new mystery was born: where are the princesses supposed to have slept there since the 1800s?)

Speaking after Gisotti, Sgro said, "Today we were ready for anything, but not for empty sarcophagi. We want to know why we were sent there and why it was empty inside." Orlandi, on the other hand, said, "Part of me took a sigh of relief when I learned that Emanuela was not there," adding that his family was used to being constantly deceived, adding: "Still, I was surprised that the sarcophagus was empty."

Another point Orlandi drew attention to was that the Vatican, which preferred not to get involved in the investigation for more than 30 years, suddenly started to support them. "For the first time in 36 years, the Vatican has done something important," Orlandi described it as a "change of attitude". Orlandi also says that when he asked Pope Francis for help in 2013, he got the answer "Your brother is in heaven", and he claimed that this may be due to the fact that the Vatican had a role in Emanuela's disappearance.

WAS EMANUELA ABDUCTED FOR A MOTORCYCLE?

And we have come to the present day... La Repubblica newspaper carried very interesting news about Emanuela's disappearance to its headlines last week. According to the report, Salvatore Sarnataro, once a member of the Banda della Magliana, admitted that it was his son Marco who kidnapped Emanuela.

It was stated in the news that Sarnataro, who was convicted of gang membership, made this confession in 2008. However, no explanation was given as to why this information was kept secret for 14 years. Following Sarnataro's statement, the police examined the few photographs taken in the area on June 22, 1983. It was concluded that one of the young men in the footage could be Marco Sarnataro.

So why did Marco do this?

According to Sarnataro's testimony, Banda della Magliana was furious with the Vatican after Banco Ambrosiano went bankrupt. De Pedis ordered his men to abduct Emanuela to avenge his loss.

Marco and two gang members kidnap Emanuela and take her to the shore of an artificial lake in the tree-lined neighborhood of Rome, EUR. Here the girl was entrusted to one of the top names of the gang.

The transcripts published by the newspaper included Sarnataro's words, "I later learned that a Suzuki 1100 motorcycle was gifted to my son for his kindness."

Sarnataro also described how his son followed Emanuela for days, even getting close enough to touch at one point. As a matter of fact, a friend of Emanuela's statement years ago said that a "pervert" had followed the girl for days.

Sarnataro's statement is an important detail to shed light on the event. Moreover, it also clarifies conspiracy theories on topics such as Pedis's sarcophagus, green BMW, and Emanuela's last seen. However, there are still many unanswered questions. These questions seem unlikely to be answered without Emanuela herself or her tomb being found.