In a tragic case from Gravina in Puglia, a town in the province of Bari, a 65-year-old man named Giuseppe Lacarpia has been arrested and charged with the murder of his wife, Maria Arcangela Turturo. The horrifying details surrounding this femicide emerged through the testimony of one of the couple’s daughters, who witnessed the incident and spoke with her mother shortly before her death. Additional insights were provided by statements made by Turturo to police officers at the scene and a chilling 15-second video recorded by passersby.
On the night of October 7-8, around 1:30 AM, Lacarpia and Turturo were returning home in their Fiat Punto. Before reaching their destination, Lacarpia allegedly locked his wife inside the vehicle and set it on fire. Despite being severely burned, Turturo managed to escape the car. Lacarpia then reportedly restrained her on the ground, using his weight to crush her chest with his knees and arms, causing multiple fractures to her ribs and sternum.
When the police and firefighters arrived at the scene, Turturo was still alive. She told one of the officers that her husband intended to kill her. Though she later succumbed to her injuries in the hospital, she reiterated to her daughter that Lacarpia had tried to kill her and that the car fire was intentional. In stark contrast, Lacarpia claimed to the police that he had lost control of the vehicle, crashed into a wall, and that the car had caught fire as a result. He insisted he was the one who rescued his wife from the burning vehicle.
Evidence collected by the police contradicts Lacarpia’s account. The video footage recorded by witnesses shows him straddling Turturo on the ground next to the burning car, pressing down on her chest as she struggled to break free. The screams of a girl recording the scene can be heard in the background, imploring Lacarpia to stop. She later told police that Turturo was “screaming for help, moving her arms and hands as if trying to push him away.”
Documents obtained by La Presse reveal the arrest warrant for Lacarpia, which states, “The video, despite its short duration, provides an objective and indisputable element against the man in causing the intentional death of his wife.” The footage shows him hovering over Turturo, approximately seven meters away from the completely engulfed vehicle. In the video, Turturo is seen attempting to resist as Lacarpia presses his hands against her chest. Following the arrival of others to assist Turturo, Lacarpia reportedly approached the burning car to retrieve his wife’s bag, then sat on the side of the road.
Lacarpia has a history of violence; he was previously arrested and convicted for attempting to kill his son, who had intervened to stop his father from assaulting his mother. One of the daughters testified that their father was abusive, stating that their mother had been hospitalized three times due to his assaults and often sought refuge at her daughters’ homes. The arrest warrant confirms that the “personal relationship between the victim and her husband” was marked by numerous acts of physical violence and mistreatment throughout their cohabitation.
The phenomenon of femicide is frequently the tragic culmination of a long history of abuse. The term does not refer to a specific type of crime but encompasses those murders rooted in dynamics of oppression, control, or possession associated with traditional gender roles that subordinate women in society and families.
In Italy, there are no official statistics specifically categorizing femicides under that term, yet the Ministry of the Interior collects homicide data weekly, allowing for analysis based on the relationship between the perpetrator and the victim. The latest report, covering the period from January 1 to October 6, 2024, recorded 235 homicides, with 82 female victims, 72 of whom were killed in familial or affectionate contexts. Among these, 44 were murdered by their partners or ex-partners, while others were killed by family members or acquaintances.
According to the National Observatory of the feminist movement Non Una Di Meno, which monitors media reports since 2020, the youngest victim of homicide in 2024 was 17, and the oldest was 89. At least ten of these cases had previous reports of violence, stalking, or persecution. Most victims died from stabbing or gunshot wounds, and the observatory also reported at least 40 attempted femicides since the beginning of the year.
