There is a mystery about the death of the Palermo entrepreneur Angelo Onorato, 54 years old, husband ofMEP and deputy secretary of the Christian Democrats Francesca Donatofound body in the afternoon inside his car, a Range Rover parked along Viale Regione Siciliana Nord Ovest, an artery parallel to the Palermo-Mazara del Vallo motorway where there are warehouses, businesses and a few homes.
The man had a plastic band around his neck, blood stains were found on his shirt while there were no traces of a struggle inside the car. According to the first body inspection carried out by the medical examiner, the entrepreneur died of suffocation. Did someone strangle him? The autopsy, ordered by the deputy prosecutor Ennio Petrigni who coordinates the investigation, will provide more details.
There are currently two hypotheses: murder and suicide. However, the latter is not taken into consideration by the entrepreneur’s friends. And much less by his wife: “they killed my husband Angelo” she immediately told some friends who called her to find out if the victim was really her husband. Those same people who were with him on Friday evening at the start of summer party organized by the tennis club: they speak of a serene and happy person. The flying squad investigators are therefore collecting a series of elements to try to dispel the doubts.
Based on initial reports, the body was found by his MEP wife and daughter Carolina. The two women hadn’t heard from their family member for a few hours and, alarmed, they traced the location of the car via their cell phone’s GPS. They would have been the first to arrive at the site of the discovery and discover the body, as reported by a witness who said he saw two women screaming next to the car with the door open, and that he recognized the MEP, who was very active in Palermo, where she ran unsuccessfully for mayor two years ago.
Elements that are being examined by the investigators who are listening to relatives and friends to put the pieces of the puzzle one after the other and find confirmations, such as for example the rumor according to which the victim had warned his wife that he would have to meet some people for a matter of business. Who are these people? The entrepreneur, who was an architect by profession, is the owner of the ‘Casa’ shop in viale Strasburgo and had managed the ‘Rimadesio show room’, a shop in via Principe di Villafranca, the central area of the city, until 5 years ago. To expand his business, friends of the family report that the entrepreneur had recently made investments with the aim of acquiring further market shares. Is it possible that his death is connected to this? Or would the motive be of another nature? But which?
The friends are in shock: they talk about a happy family and a jovial man with many friends and acquaintances between work, gym and club. Francesca Donato married the entrepreneur in 1999 and on April 24th they celebrated their silver wedding. The MEP, originally from Ancona in the Marche, had moved to Palermo after her marriage, which gave birth to Salvatore, 25, and Carolina, 21.
Both spouses were involved in politics with the DC, a party where Donato had arrived a year ago after abandoning the League with which she had been elected in Brussels five years ago. Two years ago her husband also attempted a political adventure by running on the DC list in Palermo for the regional elections, obtaining 846 votes but not enough to be elected. Despite this, the entrepreneur was very active alongside his wife and participated in party meetings. Does this activity have anything to do with his death? Assumptions that some in the party put forward, thinking about the European elections on 8 and 9 June.
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Who is Francesca Donato
Late in the evening, Francesca Donato and her daughter Carolina were in the offices of the flying squad waiting to be heard by the detectives who are investigating the death of Angelo Onorato, husband of the MEP, found dead with a band around his neck and bloodstains on his shirt in the early afternoon inside his car pulled up to the pavement of the road parallel to the Palermo-Mazara del Vallo motorway. It would have been the two women who discovered the entrepreneur’s body using the GPS.
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