Imagine my horror when I walked out of my palestra (Energym) and discovered the hideous remains of a murdered male.

It’s horrible enough to find a corpse, but to find one dismembered – I’m amazed I didn’t faint dead away.

I called the police of course and they immediately arrived, put crime-scene tape all around the… crime scene, dusted the remains for fingerprints, and then summoned an ambulance to remove the pathetic body.  They put the time of death at about 8 hours before I called them as rigor was still present.

Minor crimes in Italy are frequently not solved, major ones frequently are, one way or another (we won’t mention Amanda Knox here).  But this crime will be difficult to resolve – there are obviously no fingerprints or dental work that might aid in identification.

Who was the victim?  Why was he so cruelly chopped in half in the prime of life?  And why was he left near the palestra?  There are a few clues, anyway, which will give the detectives a start.  Obviously he’s black. His fine physique suggests he cared about his appearance – perhaps he was an athlete or a model.  Clearly the disposal of his body was done in haste – the perpetrators didn’t even bother to cover him with a few leaves to delay discovery.

It is all a great mystery.  You may not read about it in the papers, but depend on it, I’ll be following developments here in Rapallo.