Lucrezia Ciotti A new chapter in the case of the newborns buried in Traversetolo: the Parma Prosecutor's Office has challenged Chiara Petrolini 's acquittal for the murder of her first child, also challenging the reclassification of the crime relating to the second newborn.
The sentencing for the second newborn and the issue of the suppression of the corpses
For her second child, Angelo Federico Granelli , born on August 7, 2024 and who bled to death after the umbilical cord was cut, Petrolini would have been sentenced to 24 years and three months in prison.
The Court had recognized the murder with the aggravating circumstances of premeditation , also linked to searches carried out on the web, and the relationship of descent.
The young woman was also deemed capable of understanding and willing . However, the judges downgraded the charge regarding the body of the second newborn from suppression to concealment of a corpse , a decision that the Prosecutor's Office will contest again on appeal.
According to the prosecution, the fact that Angelo Federico's body was accidentally brought to light by one of the dogs present in the house does not change the intention attributed to the girl, which was to make him disappear permanently , as already happened with the first newborn.
In their reasons for the sentence, the judges described Petrolini as " immature and fragile " , but underlined that she acted " with lucidity and determination " and "always maintaining her will not to reveal anything for as long as she could, that is, until the investigators confronted her with incontrovertible factual evidence".
Chiara Petrolini, the Prosecutor's Office challenges the acquittal for the first newborn found buried.
A new judicial chapter has opened in the case of Chiara Petrolini , the young woman from Traversetolo accused of giving birth to two babies, on May 12, 2023 , and August 7, 2024 , respectively, and then burying their bodies in the garden of the family home. As reported by Adnkronos , the Parma Prosecutor's Office has filed an appeal against the sentence handed down on April 24, 2026, by the Assize Court, challenging in particular the girl's acquittal of the murder of her first child, Domenico Matteo Granelli . In the first instance, the judges had found it insufficiently proven that the child was born alive, thus acquitting Petrolini of the charge of premeditated aggravated homicide with the formula "because the fact does not exist ," while acknowledging her responsibility for the disposal of the body.
The Prosecutor's Office, led by Prosecutor Alfonso D'Avino and Prosecutor Francesca Arienti, allegedly argued that the expert witnesses' assessments could provide evidence of the infant's vitality at birth and, consequently, the mother's responsibility for his death. The investigators therefore chose to appeal part of the Assize Court's decision, which failed to adequately address certain elements that emerged during the proceedings. The Bologna Court of Assizes of Appeal will now hear the Prosecutor's appeal .