When Donatella Miccoli, a 38-year-old mother of two from Southern Italy, posted the last photo of herself getting what appeared on the surface to be a sweet kiss on the cheek from her husband to her Instagram account, we’re almost certain that she had no idea that photo would actually, truly be the very last she would ever post.
According to absolutely gut-wrenching new reporting from The Sun, just hours after Donatella posted the seemingly sweet photo, she was stabbed to death by her 38-year-old husband, Matteo Verdesca, at their Southern Italy home.
The publication reports that Donatella’s caption on the image was eery in hindsight, featuring the song lyric “And together we are the end of the world” from “La parte piu bella di me” (“The Most Beautiful Part of Me”) by Anto Paga.
Donatella’s Facebook profile picture was a photo of the whole family, with a comment from her husband reading, “I love you,” to which Donatella responded, “We love you too.”
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According to The Sun, Donatella and Verdesca and shared a 7-year-old daughter and a 2-year-old son. The husband was the father to an 18-year-old son from a previous relationship.
Reporting indicates that on the night of the murder, the family had gone out for a walk in their village of Novoli before the husband took the children to their grandparents’ home for a sleepover. The couple then returned home together.
The Sun reports:
Neighbours then reported hearing a violent argument, which is said to have ended when Verdesca grabbed a knife and killed his wife just before 2am on Saturday, June 18.
When first responders arrived on the scene, they pronounced Donatella dead.”
The publication notes that Verdesca’s own mother reported her son to the police after he called her and reportedly said, “I screwed up.”
News Italy 24 reports that Verdesca’s charred body was discovered inside his burnt-out Renault Clio on the outskirts of Novoli hours after he killed his wife, in what authorities now believe was a murder-suicide.
While a motive for the brutal murder has not yet been officially determined, people who knew the couple described the husband as “very jealous, sometimes pathologically.”
Novoli Mayor Marco De Luca said: “I am a mayor, but I am above all a man, a father of a family, and this morning I am literally shocked by the news of this tragedy.”
Read the full report from The Sun here.
Featured image via screen capture
