World · Europe · 3 hrs ago
Investigators search school computers in Pietracatella ricin deaths case
Gianni Di Vita says he never thought he was the target of the ricin poisoning that killed his wife and daughter.
Antonella Di Ielsi, 50, and Sara Di Vita, 15, died after being poisoned in Pietracatella, in Italy’s Molise region, last December.
Police are checking school computers for online searches about ricin as part of their investigation.
Officers have searched computers at several schools connected to people interviewed in the case, including the high school attended by Sara and her sister Alice.
Investigators copied school server data and must still examine it for information that could help the inquiry.
No one has been named as a suspect in the investigation into the deaths, which is being treated as premeditated double murder.
A final laboratory report is still pending from experts at Berlin’s Robert Koch Institute, who are checking food and other evidence collected from the family home.
Investigators searched computers at a school in Casacalenda as part of an inquiry into two deaths caused by ricin.
The Larino prosecutor’s office ordered checks at four schools linked to people involved in the case.
Investigators are looking for online searches about ricin and examining when and by whom they may have been made.
Four or five computers were stolen from the Casacalenda school last March, limiting which devices can be checked.
The victims, Antonella Di Ielsi and her daughter Sara Di Vita, died in December 2025.
- Who
- Investigators from the police are conducting the searches under orders from the Larino prosecutor’s office.
- What
- They are checking school computer data for possible online searches about ricin.
- When
- The fourth school search took place on October 16, 2026. The deaths occurred in December 2025.
- Where
- Four schools in the Pietracatella area, including a school in Casacalenda and schools in Riccia and Campobasso.
- Why
- Investigators are seeking evidence relevant to the inquiry into the ricin deaths, including who may have searched for information about ricin.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Antonella Di Ielsi and her daughter Sara Di Vita died after being poisoned with ricin.
Four or five computers were stolen from the school in Casacalenda.
Investigators searched the Mario Pagano Classical High School in Campobasso, where the sisters had studied.
Investigators searched the school in Casacalenda, the fourth school included in the checks.
- Victims
- Antonella Di Ielsi and Sara Di Vita
- Cause of deaths
- Ricin poisoning
- Schools checked
- Four schools in the Pietracatella area
- Stolen computers
- Four or five, taken from the Casacalenda school last March
- Campobasso school computers
- 63 computers were checked for possible ricin-related web searches
5 sources
Morte avvelenate a Pietracatella, rubati alcuni computer nella scuola perquisita
Avvelenate con la ricina, Di Vita: "Non ho mai creduto che volessero uccidermi"
Ricina, parla l'ex sindaco Gianni Di Vita: «Io il bersaglio? Non l'ho mai pensato, e neppure Sara e Antonella. Chi indaga sa molto»
Morte avvelenate, terminata perquisizione al liceo Classico di Campobasso
What people are saying
I have never believed they wanted to kill me.
Let the investigators do their work; they know much more than we imagine.
It is possible to trace the author of the searches only if the user logged into the computers with their own ID.