Real-Life Crime Story

Bolzano Update: Benno’s Story

12 June 2021

The details of the case, as they were unfolding, can be found here:

The first update tells of how after the body of Benno’s mother is found, he confesses to killing both of his parents:

Now, we have Benno’s version of what happened:

As mentioned in the original article, Benno had some substance abuse issues and was at a low point in his life — troubles in his graduate school program, troubles at work, and back living with his parents at the age of thirty. Within the household, there are frequent arguments about money (Benno doesn’t contribute) and motivation — Benno does a lot of sitting around the house and watching Netflix. Comparisons to his sister, Madè, a surgeon at a hospital in Munich, are also often thrown in the mix.

According to his testimony in ongoing court proceedings, Benno argued with his father, Peter, early in the afternoon, while his mother was visiting his grandmother in the hospital. Benno went to his room to watch Netflix and fell asleep. At some point, Peter enters Benno’s room and jostles him awake — this time starting an argument over finances. Peter referred to Benno as being “on strike,” the complete opposite of his “brilliant sister.”

It was then, according to Benno, that he just snapped. According to his testimony, “I silenced him. I took the first climbing rope I found from the plastic bin, where I have the tools (weights and ropes, etc.). We were in the corridor, we fell to the ground together, but I don’t know if I choked him from behind or from the front. I just remember that I squeezed very tight. Then I remained seated, lying in the corridor.”

Benno’s thoughts then took two paths. One related to his father’s dead body — how to get rid of it; the other concerned his mother — what to do with her when she came home. He said he fell asleep next to his father’s body and was jarred awake by a message from his mother saying she’d be home soon. As he woke, he heard his mother unlocking their door. “I moved towards the door; my mother came in. I still had the climbing rope in my hands, and I felt like doing the same thing, without even saying goodbye.”

Inconsistencies

Benno’s description of his actions after killing his parents are a mix of confusion and clarity. His main goal was to get rid of the bodies. He told prosecutors that he went to a bridge over the Adige River and threw his parents’ phones into the icy cold water. Then, he said he returned home and saw his mother’s corpse in the hallway. “There were pants with my phone inside and I called my mother. I was happy that the phone rang because it could mean that I had dreamed of everything.” A strange thought, to be sure, given he was looking at his mother’s dead body at the time.

Prosecutors believe Benno premeditated the murders. Why? In the morning of January 4, while his parents were still alive, Benno texted a woman he had recently started seeing. His friend lives about 20 kilometres away in the nearby town of Ora. In the past, when he would visit, he would always take public transportation as he was not allowed to drive the parents’ Volvo V70 — this rule was set after he crashed his parents’ other car. In the text to his friend, he said he would come for dinner and arrive by car. They also discussed plans for him to spend the night — a first. So, it seems that on the morning of the day he killed his parents, he knew he would have no problem taking the car.

Also, related to the car, Benno and a different woman were stopped by police the day after he reported his parents as missing as they were about to take the V70 to a carwash — in fact, they were in line for the carwash when someone called the police to let them know what was about to happen. Seems that even though at the time, Benno was not an official “person of interest,” those who knew the family strongly suspected him. In any event, the police stopped him before the car was washed. Inside the car, the police found an empty bottle of hydrogen peroxide and a bottle of anaesthetic he seems to have stolen from the dentist while at his appointment on November 11. Tracing where he bought the hydrogen peroxide, the hardware store clerk who helped Benno said he asked if it worked to remove traces of blood.

His Brilliant Sister

Madè, Benno’s sister, has always said that she was convinced her brother was involved in the death of their parents. It was Madè who pressured Benno to report their parents as missing — Benno was content to see if they would just come home on their own. Benno told his sister “I promise you that I have no idea what may have happened to mom and dad, not even the slightest.” He then yells at her for suggesting he did have something to do with it. Madè replied, making her suspicions crystal clear, “You always sleep at home. And the night they disappeared you didn’t sleep at home…”

At that point Benno tries to put the blame the disappearance of their parents on others, first pointing to the money that his parents lent to a cleaning woman who had worked in their apartment. Benno mentioned a loan of “twenty thousand or thirty thousand euros” and asked Madè whether he should reveal the details to the prosecutors. His sister shoots back that she knew “it was only six thousand euros.” Benno then tried to implicate the woman’s husband: “Have you ever met him? Did [mom] tell you that he is a violent type?” “No, let’s say I don’t know him,” replied his sister. Benno’s final comment turned about the man out to be a bigoted jab, saying “You never know, these southern husbands.” More than a bit ironic — accusing someone from the south of being a violent stereotype — given he just murdered his parents.

What’s Next?

Three experts have been appointed by the judge overseeing the preliminary investigation to carry out a psychiatric and psychological assessment of the thirty-year-old who confessed to killing his parents and then concealing the corpses. The experts will be formally charged to assess whether Benno was capable of understanding and willing at the time of the murder, is a danger to society and is able to consciously participate in the legal process?