Overview

• The killing occurred on July 25 and went undetected until Mailyn Castro Monsalvo alerted police on July 31 and led them to Alessandro’s remains in a lime-filled barrel.
• Prosecutors have charged 61-year-old Lorena Venier with murder and concealing a body, while Monsalvo faces investigation for instigating the crime.
• Venier told magistrates she and Monsalvo sedated her 35-year-old son with a tranquilliser and insulin before smothering and strangling him, then dismembering his body with a hacksaw.
• Forensic teams are preparing a post-mortem examination of the remains and no trial date has been scheduled, as social services care for the women’s six-month-old child.
• Experts say filicide of an adult is extremely rare in Western countries, and residents of Gemona del Friuli have been stunned given Italy’s 'mammoni' culture of dependent sons.