London scientist dismembered in Colombia was lured into trap through Grindr
The mutilated remains of Alessandro Coatti, a 38-year-old Italian who worked in London, were discovered scattered across the coastal city of Santa Marta on April 6, two days after he was reported missing.
Investigators had originally suspected the molecular biologist may have been killed in a case of mistaken identity between warring drug clans.
Colombian police, however, now believe that Coatti, a tourist with no links to organised crime, was the victim of a gang targeting foreigners looking for dates online.
The Italian was reportedly lured to an abandoned house in the San José del Pando neighbourhood after messaging someone over Grindr, a popular dating app designed for LGBT people.
The gang's plan had been to incapacitate Coatti using a drug colloquially known as 'Devil's Breath' (scopolamine) and then rob him, according to sources first reported in El Tiempo, a Colombian newspaper.
Scopolamine is a drug that can be used to treat motion sickness but in larger doses, it can disorient and incapacitate users, and even paralyse victims.
What happened remains unclear but post-mortem examinations concluded that Coatti was killed by blunt-force trauma.
The gang is said to have dismembered his body after his death to trick investigators into believing it was a gangland-style hit as a warning message to rivals.
At least four people, including a woman, were allegedly involved in the scheme and had been identified by authorities, El Tiempo reported.
A group of children stumbled across a suitcase on the side of the road leading to the Sierra Nevada football stadium containing Coatti's severed head and arms.
His mutilated torso was discovered by police in a bag after locals in the Minuto de Dios neighbourhood reported a rotting smell coming from a stretch of the Manzanares river.
Other remains of Coatti are still missing.
Police have carried out a string of raids in Santa Marta and have seized three mobile phones in connection with the case.
The city authorities have offered a £10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of his killers.
Coatti, known as Ale to friends, had worked for the Royal Society of Biology (RSB) for eight years as a senior policy officer.
The Italian, originally from Ferrara in northern Emilia-Romagna, had emigrated to London and left the RSB at the end of last year to volunteer in Ecuador and travel through South America.
He arrived in Santa Marta on April 3 and disappeared the following day.
Col Jaime Ríos Puerto, the commander of the Santa Marta police, confirmed Coatti had no criminal record and was not the subject of any threats.
Sandra Lovato, Coatti's mother, shared that the last message she ever received from her son was on Mother's Day, five days before he went missing.
'Hi Mum, I want to come back. I love you, so much,' it read.
Ms Lovato has shared several tributes to her son on Facebook, including highlighting his work in teaching children English in Ecuador.
'I miss you so much, I can't breathe. I miss you, I miss you so much,' she wrote in another post.
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