American man detained in Greece over suspected double killing of infant and woman in Rome

MILAN (AP) — Greek authorities detained an American man on Friday on the Greek island of Skiathos suspected of killing an infant found over the weekend in a Rome park and of having a role in the death of a woman believed to be the infant’s mother, whose body was found nearby.

The American, who wasn’t identified, was detained on a European arrest warrant issued in Italy, citing “strong evidence” of his suspected involvement in the death of the baby girl, chief Rome prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi told a news conference in Rome.

Italian investigators said that the cause of the woman’s death wasn’t known, “but there is a reasonable suspicion that it is a double murder,” deputy prosecutor Giuseppe Cascini said.

The bodies of the baby girl and mother, also believed to be American, were found in Rome’s Villa Pamphili park on Saturday. The mother’s body was under a black bag, having been killed several days before the infant, who was found several hundred meters away in undergrowth.

Both were naked, and without any identification, Lo Voi said.

The suspect, who witnesses had seen in the presence of a woman and infant, fled Italy for Skiathos on Wednesday, Lo Voi said.

He will be formally arrested when the warrant is forwarded to Greek officials, and will appear for an extradition hearing next week, Greek police told The Associated Press.

“It is not exactly understandable that someone who was with a woman and a baby girl, once the woman and the girl died, whom he carried in his arms, would then leave the country without calling for help, without seeking assistance,” Lo Voi said. “In itself, that doesn’t look good.”

The victims’ relationship with the suspect wasn’t immediately clear — but video surveillance and witness reports put them together on several occasions; witnesses heard them speaking in English. They had been traced to a shelter for the needy near the Vatican, where they appeared to be a nuclear family, Corriere della Sera reported.

At one point, the pair had fought in the street, leading police to take his identity, which helped lead to him, investigators said.

Authorities were able to track down the suspect thanks to fingerprints on the bag covering the woman and a scrap of a tent like ones provided to people without shelter, the newspaper said. He was located in Greece with cellphone data.

According to the newspaper, the woman, who was around 30 years old, had a tattoo of a skeleton on a surfboard.

___

Costas Kantouris reported from Thessaloniki, Greece.