01x01 - Part 1

[bunniefuu]

Since Emanuela disappeared
the house key was always on the door.

We will never stop looking for her.

It's all a game of power.

My name is Pietro Orlandi.

I was born and raised
in the Vatican with my four sisters.

Natalina is the eldest

then Federica

Emanuela, and Maria Cristina.

My sister Emanuela
has been missing for 37 years.

This was the living room

where Emanuela used to study.

And here is the kitchen.

Where my mother was making pizza that day.

This was Emanuela's bedroom.

It is still exactly the same.

This was Emanuela's bed.

And these were Emanuela's dolls.

She loved pop music.

She was a fan of Claudio Baglioni.

And I would make fun of her for it.

The day Emanuela went missing

was 22 June 1983.

I still remember

how hot it was on that day.

Welcome back, friends.

African high pressure
is affecting the Lazio region

causing scorching days across the area.

In central Rome

temperatures will reach
37 degrees Celsius with a humidity of...

Emanuela played the flute and the piano.
She also sang in a choir.

That day, she had to rehearse

for an end-of-year recital.

She was carrying her flute

and her leather bag over her shoulder.

And she asked me,
"Can you give me a lift?

Please, give me a lift. It's hot."

I couldn't, so I told her, "I can't."

But I could have
taken Emanuela if I wanted to.

Maybe at that moment,
I was just being lazy.

And...

And it still pains me to this day.

She looked at me,
I think she told me to piss off

maybe she said something else

slammed the door, and then she left.

My family served for many years

under seven Popes.

And we spent our whole childhood
inside those walls.

We lived in the Vatican
as if in a small village.

The only difference from a village
is that there were walls

and at midnight, the gate was closed.

Emanuela's school was outside the Vatican.

Before leaving school

Emanuela called home

and my sister Federica picked up.

I was studying at home.

Emanuela called home somewhere

between 5 and 7 p.m.

to tell me that a man approached her
just outside the school

saying he was a representative from Avon

and he offered her a small job.

Handing out leaflets
for the Avon cosmetic brand.

At 7 p.m., she was going
to meet Cristina and her friends.

We had arranged to meet

between the Castel Sant'Angelo Bridge
and the Palazzaccio Bridge.

Once we got there, we waited for a while

until 7:30, 7:35 p.m.

but Emanuela didn't show up.

When I got in, I went into the other room
and asked, "Is Emanuela back?"

Papà and Mamma told me, "Not yet, why?"

I said, "Because we were going
to meet but she didn't show up

I thought she was already home."

At 9:30 p.m., we started to actually panic

because it was a time outside the norm
for the Orlandi household.

So we decided to head out

along her normal route to search for her.

I tried phoning all the hospitals.

Then I met my mother and father.

The meeting point was the music school.

And immediately it looked like something...

there was something wrong.

Something was off.

My father decided to file a report.

They said that
it was too early to file a report.

And they sent us away.

At midnight.

My father was very worried, very upset.

I remember he called my Uncle Mario

who rushed round
to our house with his son, Pietro.

I knew Rome very well.

So I told Pietro, "Look, Pietro...

let's take a look around Rome."

The first thing we did
was to go around with Emanuela's picture

and show it to people.

It's as if I was living
in a weird reality.

A sort of nightmare.

God, what's happened to Emanuela?
Why isn't she here?

Then you start thinking horrible things.

To be honest,

my belief was that
Emanuela had been drugged.

That's what I thought.

I remember at one point
I fell asleep on the motorbike.

The following morning,
I went to file the report

about Emanuela, and this,
I think, was the photo we handed over.

Looking at the photo
and trying to comfort me

they told me

"I wouldn't worry. After all,
she is not even that beautiful."

They thought she wasn't pretty enough
to have been abducted.

They had no doubt she left voluntarily.

My name is Mauro Obinu.

In 1983,
I was a Captain of Carabinieri in Rome.

I remember that
during the initial inquiries

we got to know that two people

a traffic warden and a retired policeman

had noticed a girl
who looked like Emanuela

who had been approached by somebody.

Described as a man

about 35 to 40 years old

and 1,80 meters tall.

He had parked his car

described as a BMW, colored green

in Corso Rinascimento,
next to Palazzo Madama

home of the Senate.

This information led us
to believe that this person

could be the man from Avon.

But that year

dozens of teenagers
had disappeared from their homes

only to return soon after.

The impression at the time

that I had personally

was that the disappearance
of the young Emanuela

fell into that category.

Absolutely not,
she was not the kind to leave voluntarily.

We knew it.

My uncle called the newspaper Il Tempo

and had a short article
published on the 24th

with a small picture of Emanuela
and the description "15-year-old-girl

disappeared on the evening
of 22 June 1983."

We've included our home phone number.

That's when delirium ensued.

A delirium of calls.

We got calls from lunatics

from everybody.

Out of all the horrific phone calls
that we received

we also received

an important call.

From a guy
who introduced himself as Pierluigi.

He told us that he was
with his girlfriend at Campo de' Fiori.

Close to the music school
where Emanuela went missing.

Although he didn't mention Emanuela.

He called her Barbara.

He says, "We met a girl.

She had a flute

inside a bag

and she was selling products for Avon."

So, as soon as we heard the word "Avon"

we linked this to Emanuela's call.

After these calls

it was confirmed
that Emanuela hadn't just run away.

We didn't believe that.

Otherwise, that call
couldn't be explained.

Why else would someone involved call us?

On the evening of Sunday 26th

we had a most unusual visit.

They introduced themselves
as SISDE agents

the Secret Services.

Do you remember
the Secret Services in your home?

It seems strange to think,
"The Secret Services are in our home."

But in the beginning, we trusted everyone.

Everything and everyone.

They said we had
to install a tape recorder

so that we could record all the calls
from that moment on.

On Tuesday, 28 June

a week after Emanuela's disappearance

we got a second phone call.

Luckily, this time
we managed to record that call.

From a person who went by the name Mario.

My name is Mario.

Don't ask me anymore.

He said very similar things.

He talked about a girl called Barbarella.

This guy I know lives with his girlfriend.

He has two girls at his place

and together they sell clothes, perfumes.

She is called Barbarella

or Barbara, a good-looking girl

with dark hair.

And then he added an important detail.

Her only regret is that

she was meant to do something
for school or somewhere.

She had this concert
and this time she was going to sing.

Oh, she sings.

And it was true.

She was going to sing in the choir.
She wasn't going to play.

Obviously, I wish you the best.

Thank you, goodbye.

So, none of these details
had been released anywhere.

Somehow he was the only one to know.

I have often thought

about the desperation
that we all felt at home.

Each one of us different from the other.

I locked myself in my bedroom.

There were people coming and going

at home, in the following days

and that's it.

I mean, to hear...

my mother always calling out for Emanuela

it made me feel terrible

because she would call her loudly,
and then she would see me and say

"Did you find her? Go look for her

go out, look for her! Emanuela!"

With a voice...

It was heartbreaking.
It's hard to describe.

Even now, when I think about it, it makes
me feel so bad it still breaks me.

On the 29th, a few days later

we had the idea of making some posters.

Rome woke up to the face of Emanuela

to her smiling face.

I would like to express
the heartfelt feeling

with which I join the Orlandi family

who suffer
for their 15-year-old daughter Emanuela

who has not returned home
since Wednesday, 22 June.

There was the Pope.

The Pope was talking about Emanuela.

I share the anxieties

and the anguished trepidation
of the parents.

We will not lose hope
in the spirit of humanity

of those who are responsible in this case.

Two days after the Pope's appeal,
there was another call.

On the other end of the phone

there was someone speaking Italian,
but with a foreign accent.

I remember my uncle said

"It's a foreigner. He sounded American."

I remember that during this call

this character played a tape recording

a recording where a girl was saying

"National School Vittorio Emanuele II."

"National School Vittorio Emanuele II."

Repeating this sentence a few times.

And we can listen to it now.

National School Vittorio Emanuele II.

National School Vittorio Emanuele II.

I should be in the third year
of high school next year.

I should be in the third year
of high school next year.

Do you remember the moment
when you heard the voice on the tape?

Yes, we had no doubts.

When we heard the voice on the tape
we recognized that it was Emanuela.

It couldn't not be her voice.

"You've already been contacted
by two of ours.

Pierluigi and Mario."

So they were confirming

Pierluigi's and Mario's
involvement in this story.

Thinking back now, it seems absurd.

We didn't feel any hatred

toward this person saying
he had abducted Emanuela.

And we even treated him with respect.

Even my mother was happy about this,

about the fact that someone called
and said, "we have Emanuela."

That voice was our link to Emanuela.

Everyone.

Everyone. Not just in Italy.

The whole world knew him because...

Two g*nshots have been fired at the Pope.

Pope John Paul II...

In an instant, we were thrust into a world

that I never thought I would know.

Every day is more mysterious
in the case of Emanuela Orlandi...

The 15-year-old girl...

Daughter of a Vatican employee...

You see her in the picture behind me

who has been missing since 22 June.

Personally, I got scared.

I was brutal at that moment

I said, "If this is about Ali Agca,
we're never going to see Emanuela again."

Because this was much bigger than us.
And you feel completely powerless.

It was an important message

as it contained a photocopy
of Emanuela's music school ID...

a receipt of a school fee...

but most of all
there was a message from Emanuela.

"With much affection, your Emanuela."

Are you certain
that is Emanuela's handwriting?

Yes, we definitely think
it's Emanuela's handwriting.

We didn't have any doubt

so little time had passed

and her handwriting was unmistakable.

I would add that
this handwritten phrase didn't include

any psychological variation

meaning it didn't appear
to have been written by Emanuela

in a state of agitation and fear.

I advised the family,
at the time, to ask for proof of life

which demonstrated
that the girl was still alive.

The uncle of the missing girl

Mario Meneguzzi, has launched
a new appeal to the kidnappers.

There is no point
in continually sending us letters

photocopied IDs and continuing
to tell us that Emanuela is alright.

They can't be considered proof of life.

I am against this criminal action.

I am with the innocent girl
and her ailing family.

I am with Italy.

I am with the Vatican.

It must have been surreal,
going from being a little family

to the center
of an international conspiracy.

Surreal is too simple a word.

You are just a pawn
in the hands of others.

A few days later, on 17 July

another call came into ANSA,
which is an Italian Press Agency.

The journalist obviously rushed
to the place indicated by the kidnapper,

where this package was left.

The journalist took it,
opened it, and found an audio tape.

This tape contained on one side

the usual message from the kidnappers

the request for an exchange
between Emanuela and Ali Agca.

On the other side,
there was a terrifying message.

Oh, God, it hurts.

Oh, God, why?

Oh, my God, yes.

Why?

Oh, God, why?

Oh, God.

Oh, God.

God, it hurts.

We were in agony.

The deadlines we were given

as an ultimatum
for Emanuela's life were terrifying.

I thought about people
on death row about to be ex*cuted.

I can't even describe it because...

it's something so crazy.

We all thought

what if on 20 July
they don't get what they want

and Emanuela's body turns up somewhere?

Father Ambrogio, what time was it
when they called you?

10:30 a.m. more or less.

And what did he tell you?

Nothing. "This is
the last statement for Orlandi."

At that moment,
I thought, "Orlandi? Who's that?

Oh, I was reading it in the papers!"

I think that even my parents,
even if there was that anguish

our optimism
was stronger to try, carry on

and see Emanuela
come back sooner or later.

Emanuela didn't turn up dead
as the kidnappers had said

so that optimism we had felt made sense.

The Secret Services
were always in our home.

One day, they arrived and told us

"The case is becoming
really important, really big

too big for a family to deal with.

We want to relieve you
of the weight of these telephone calls.

We think you should divert
all the calls to a law firm

to the office of a lawyer."

My father said

"There is absolutely no way
my family can afford this"

and was told it wasn't
for us to worry about it.

And we never paid the lawyer.

We, the Orlandi family,
won't be answering the phone anymore.

If any of you really have Emanuela

give some concrete proof
to our sole representative.

Our lawyer, Gennaro Egidio.

I always hope
that Emanuela is still alive.

What is the foundation for that?

That is what we all hope for,
and we must keep hoping.

This is a message from Ercole Orlandi
to the kidnappers of Emanuela.

I, the father of Emanuela,
do not want to argue with you.

If Emanuela is alive, then prove it.

If the dear and beloved Emanuela is dead,
then tell us where to find our Emanuela.

The lawyer Gennaro Egidio
got the last call on 14 December.

And then silence.

And silence is the most distressing thing
a family can suffer.

Because behind the silence,
there could be anything.

And then it was 24 December

someone called my father and told him

"Pope John Paul II
will come to your home shortly."

The Pope was coming!

We lived in the Vatican,
but we had no relations with the Pope.

At that moment

I felt they would help us
and resolve the situation.

I clearly remember the image
of the Pope at the front door

because it's not...

It's not exactly normal.

He came for Emanuela.

We were all very moved,
especially my mother.

I felt him very close,
very much involved in the family's sorrow.

A beautiful moment.

So we welcomed the Pope
into the living room.

What was the reason
behind Emanuela's disappearance?

He addressed everyone.

We were all in a circle and...

Casting his eyes downward

he said, "We are doing
all that is humanly possible.

Unfortunately, Emanuela's case

is a case of... international terrorism."

It couldn't end there.

We had to understand what happened.

Because our hope has never died,
that Emanuela might be alive.

I was called by a journalist one morning.

She asked, "Have you heard the news?"

I replied "What news?"

Sabrina Minardi, ex-lover
of crime boss Enrico De Pedis

has confessed that
she herself held Emanuela hostage

in an apartment in the center of Rome.

Emanuela, who has...

I'm Sabrina Minardi.

For ten days,
I was in a house with Emanuela Orlandi.

Was she locked up?

Yes, she was locked up.

I could hear her whine, poor thing.

I mean, it really hurts
when I think about it.

But she kept whining a lot.

I said to him, "What kind
of trouble have you got me into?"

And he said

"Sabri, it's all a game of power.

Do you understand this?"