Vatican City: The Vatican is reopening its most infamous cold case which is 40 years old. Emanuela Orlandi, the 15-year-old daughter of a Vatican employee, went missing in 1983.
The disappearance of the girl has sparked countless conspiracy theories. After decades of speculation, it even led to a hit Netflix series 'Vatican Girl: The Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi'. Some of the popular theories involved mobsters, secret services, and the Freemasons.
One of the popular theories claimed that the girl was kidnapped by mobsters to put pressure on the Vatican to recover a loan. Enrico De Pedis, head of the Magliana gang, was suspected. Some said that the teen and the mobster were buried under a church. Italian authorities even opened up his tomb in 2012 and found two sets of bones. However, a DNA test did not find a match with Orlandi.
In the Netflix show, Orlandi's brother Pietro claimed that Pope Francis told him his sister was "in the sky". The family considers this a hint that the Vatican knows what happened to her. One of the people interviewed in the show claimed that the girl said she was harassed in the Vatican gardens by someone close to the Pope.
Emanuela was last seen leaving a music class in Rome on June 22, 1983. Her family has been campaigning for the truth since then and it is their efforts that forced authorities to initiate a new inquiry. A spokesperson that The Vatican's chief prosecutor, Alessandro Diddi has opened a file based in part on the basis of requests made by the family.
Family lawyer Laura Sgro told AFP that they are still waiting for any information on what will be the focus of the investigation. She added that the family doesn't know what the Vatican will do and which papers they want to review. She claimed that the Vatican has never done anything until now and she has been asking to be heard by top figures in the Vatican for years.