Elisa Claps' body was found hidden in the roof of the church 17 years where she was last seen alive. The discovery of her body has international implication.
One September Sunday in 1993, the pretty, dark haired and brown eyed 16 year old school girl, Elisa Claps, wearing a jumper knitted for her by her mother, went to the Most Holy Trinity church in Potenza, in the Basilicata region of Southern Italy, to meet a man. She was never seen again until nearly 17 years later when her mummified remains were found in the roof space of that church.
Elisa Claps’ Body Discovered After 17 Years in Church Roof
In March 2010, workmen made their way up to the roof of the church in Potenza, where Elisa Claps was last seen, to investigate the source of a water leak about which the congregation had been complaining. However, their search for a leak led to the discovery of a more gruesome find. Concealed in a small alcove in the roof space of the 15th century church were the mummified remains of a young woman.
Clothing and other items found with her, such as her shoes, glasses and jewellery were positively identified by her family. Although DNA and other forensic tests hadn’t actually officially confirm the identification, the family was so confident it is Elisa that a memorial service attended by some 7000 people was held at the church towards the end of March, about a week after the discovery of the missing teenager’s body.
Suspect in Elisa Claps Disappearance Charged with Perjury
The young man that Elisa met on the day of her untimely death, according to several newspaper reports, was arrested and quizzed not long after her disappearance about his movements on that day. Not least because about an hour or so after his meeting with Elisa, he turned up at a local hospital for treatment to a wound to his hand which he said had been caused by an accident on a partially constructed escalator.
In 1996, three years after Elisa’s disappearance, he was judged guilty of perjury by an Italian court because his explanation of how he injured his hand was found to be false. He appealed against the court’s findings in 2000 but his appeal was overturned and he was given a two year prison sentence. It wasn’t long after this that he moved to Bournemouth and became a neighbour of Heather Barnett.
Research By Arsalan Jilani
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