Murder at the pension La Santa

They had already come to blows twice in the days prior to the murder. However, the manager of the La Santa boarding house in Viganello called the police, who stepped in to separate them. The two promised not to do it again, and to make peace. But on the evening of December 17, an ambulance was called to La Santa and the emergency workers found the lifeless body of a man in one of the rooms. He is Matteo Cantoreggi, 35 years old, and it is evident that he was beaten. It was with him that Cantoreggi had been confronted in the previous days. And he is the one in court today, accused of murder. The only accused, because the other person present - arrested the same night - died during the investigation.

This morning, the trial for these tragic events started. And significant questions emerge again. How is it that three people in care, suffering from serious drug and alcohol problems (or both), were all placed in the same unsupervised facility with a risk - as precisely happened - that all three would drag each other down. «We were eating, drinking (alcohol) and smoking (marijuana) together,« Austrian confirmed.

But why those fights? Why did one person lose his life on December 17? « In reality,« the defendant explained, «we were friends. Or almost friends.» Then why were they kicking and punching each other on three occasions in a few days? The responses explained by the defendant were somewhat vague. « He would initiate. I would respond. Then we would make up.»

On that day, December 17, the three of them spent some time together. The Austrian guy actually helped the person who would later become his victim to clean her room. And they went shopping together. At about 19.30 the three men went up to the defendant’s room. A new altercation arises. «He started kicking me in the shins,« explained the Austrian, «and I responded with punches.» Lots of punches. Six or seven at least. Cantoreggi lost consciousness, and lost a lot of blood. The Austrian then grabbed him by a scarf and - as shown by a video projected in the courtroom - dragged him down the hallway while he was unconscious, kicking him in the belly, and moved him to his room, leaving him on the floor, on his back.

The Austrian and the other person returned to the room, drank a beer, and started cleaning with a mop. Then, after several minutes, they go to check on Cantoreggi. They put him on the bed, turning him on his side «to prevent him from suffocating in his own blood». A reconstruction that does not convince the prosecution (public prosecutor Valentina Tuoni), who is convinced that the victim was moved only when they realized he had no pulse.