Twist in hunt for 'Italy's Madeleine McCann' as woman spotted resembling girl
Angela Calentano went missing in August, 1996, during a family picnic in Naples, Italy, and now nearly three decades later a judge has called for a Turkish lead to be pursued
A judge has ruled for a woman to be DNA tested to see if she is a missing girl who was kidnapped nearly 30 years ago during a family picnic.
Catello Celentano was on holiday with his family in Naples, in August, 1996, when his daughter Angela, three, ran over to him to complain about friends not letting her use a hammock. It turned out to be the last time he ever saw her as after turning away momentarily while he got up, she had disappeared. Her devastated family have waited patiently for any clue that would show little Angela was still alive after all this time in a case which has been compared to Madeleine McCann's disappearance.
They clung to any hope they could, and it was more than a decade after she went missing that they got another shred of hope. An Italian woman Vincenza Trentinella, told police that Angela is living with a man who she believes is her father on the island of Buyukada, near Istanbul, Turkey.
She claimed the information was given to her by a dying priest, who allegedly said it was revealed to him during a confession. Ms Trentinella claimed she had travelled to Turkey and met with Angela, as well as her alleged abductor.
Italian police are now re-examining the case in co-operation with authorities in Turkey. The initial investigation had stalled after Turkish authorities chose to not look any further after they had reportedly been given a fake number of the man, Fahfi Bey, who was a self-styled vet.
Judge Federica Colucci has now ordered a new investigation to look into this Turkish lead with the photos of the girl, provided by Ms Trentinella, showing a strong resemblance to Angela.
Witnesses in Turkey are to be spoken with and an attempt will be made to identify the woman who could be Angela. Naples Prosecutor's Office had called for the case to be closed but Judge Colucci has given the go-ahead for a DNA test to be done on the woman when identified.
Ms Trentinella on the possibility the woman could be Angela now told Corriere del Mezzogiorno: "When I met her I saw a very strong resemblance to her mother and her sister. But the DNA will dispel any doubts."
Angela's parents have received numerous anonymous reports of sightings over the years, taking them to places as far flung as Mexico, South Africa, and Venezuela, and many DNA tests have been made but have not provided a match.
Her father previously said: "Until I am certain that my daughter is dead, until I have a body to cry on, I will continue to look for her alive. Even if I have to go to the end of the world."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
10 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Democrat challenges Pam Bondi on controversial ICE tactic
Pam Bondi claimed she did not know ICE agents were wearing masks to conceal their faces during raids while she was being grilled on Capitol Hill. Trump's Attorney General was put on the spot by Democrat Michigan Senator Gary Peters during a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee. 'Given the number of DOJ employees currently conducting immigration enforcement activities in support of DHS, how are you going to ensure that the safety of the public and the officers, if they continue to not follow required protocol to identify themselves as law enforcement?' Peters (pictured) pressed Bondi. 'Senator Peters, that's the first time that issue has come to me,' Bondi responded back, before pivoting to defend the actions of law enforcement officers. 'I can assure you that if they're covering their faces now, it's to protect themselves, but they also want to protect all citizens, and that's that's something we can work together on,' Bondi added. The Daily Mail reported back in February that photos, names and personal details of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were being posted on fliers in a bid to dox federal agents carrying out mass deportation raids. The notices resembling Wanted Posters appeared in Los Angeles and showed the agents' faces, ages, their phone numbers and what part of city they're in as part of a growing plot to interfere in immigration raids. O'Connell defended the public release of names of federal immigration officers involved in mass migrant round ups, claiming that the real concern isn't their safety, but that masked agents are 'whisking people' away. Names of agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were posted to online by the City of Nashville, as part of a public records request that mandates information about immigration be posted online to a city website. Back in March, Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish student who is currently studying at Tufts University in Massachusetts, was swarmed by a group of agents near her off-campus home. Footage of her being taken in showed a group of six people approaching her from angles, all of whom are masked and wearing gold identification badges. 'We're the police,' members of the group are heard saying in the video. A man is heard on camera saying, 'Why are you hiding your faces?'
Spectator
21 hours ago
- Spectator
My daring escape from the Italian police
Dante's Beach, Ravenna I often feel as if I know what it was like to be a member of La Résistance in Nazi–occupied France because I have three disco-age daughters. Last week, the call-to-action stations flashed up on WhatsApp at 03.06, just as the cockerels were beginning to crow and the enemy was setting up his road blocks. 'Papà, can you come and get me?' It was Rita, aged 16. 'Where are you?' 'Marina.' Cristo bloody Santo! A 25-minute drive away. 'I can walk towards you,' suggested Rita, the little sweetie. 'No! Not if you're wearing a miniskirt,' I messaged back. 'Or hot pants.' She had gone with a girlfriend to Marina di Ravenna, where all the fashionable summer discos are to be found on a dead-straight, three-mile stretch of road that tracks the beach. I felt not anger, but foreboding. To drive along such a road at such a time means running the gauntlet of the numerous types of Italian police, who include the polizia stradale, the vigili urbani and the carabinieri – the military police. The Italian police spend most of their time, it seems, flagging down cars at random to test not just for drink and drug use, but whatever tickles their fancy. It is the difference between a country like Britain where you are free to do anything as long as the state has not stopped you from doing it, and a country like Italy, where you are not free to do anything unless the state has granted you the right to do it. Police roadblocks, along with compulsory identity cards, are the most obvious manifestation of this. You must prove your innocence. So even during my periods of not drinking, as at present, to tackle such a road at disco closing time is asking for trouble. 'Papers!' they will bark, just like the fascist blackshirts used to. And off they will go to the squad car to check you out on the computer. Potential issues in my case include the possibility that our old black seven-seater Land Rover Defender is under an impoundment order for unpaid debt. If so, and the police stop it, they will seize it on the spot. There may, too, be one or two residual problems relating to my drink-driving record which is – dare I say? – pretty impressive. Six bans in all; three in Britain, and three in Italy. Yet I have never had a road accident in all my decades at the wheel. That night, for better or worse, as I set off to retrieve Rita, I was stone-cold sober. I know more or less where the police set up their roadblocks round here and how to avoid them, but on that long straight road through the distant land of disco the police can see you a mile off and there are virtually no side roads to disappear down. My fate was largely in the hands of God. I reached the danger zone without seeing a single police car, but then, ovviamente, there they were: two of them – a patrol car and van, vigili urbani, glorified traffic wardens with weapons, the worst of the lot because the most petty-minded. They were parked up behind a couple of pine trees with their blue lights switched off, the sneaky swine. Luckily, they were on the other side of the road and dealing with another car as I drove on towards Rita. I'd have to think of something on the way back. Lovely Rita! Oddly enough, the previous day I had found a document on the stone floor of the room they call my 'study'. I picked it up and opened it in case it was something important like a threat to seize money, but no, it was an old school report of mine from when I was Rita's age, at the start of the academic year in which I took my A-levels one year early – something I have always felt was wrong. The young should not be forced to give up their youth too soon. Who would have thought that report would end up on the floor of a farmhouse in Italy half a century later? It felt like an omen. Eventually, there was Rita, a shimmering apparition in white, picking her way along the road next to the pine forest separating it from the beach. She had disobeyed my orders, of course, and had started walking. We set off. She seemed as sober as a judge, so I asked her to keep her gimlet eyes fixed on the road and tell me as soon as she saw the enemy roadblock. On we drove, towards dawn and destiny, and then she said in a hushed voice: 'There it is, I think.' She was right. There was nothing for it: U-turn, or else we were dogmeat. We were still about 100 yards away from them on the dimly lit road, so there was a chance they would not abandon their roadblock and give chase. Fate was with us and they did not come after us. The alternative route home meant a longer journey, but such was the euphoria of escaping safe and sound, who cared? At long last we arrived at the dirt track where we live. The blood-red sun was coming up over the sea as I stopped the Defender and opened the windows wide. The wonderful sound of nightingales filled the air. 'Give me a five!' I said to Rita. She did.
Daily Record
a day ago
- Daily Record
Mum stuck in Turkey for seven weeks after trashing hotel room offers £10k to get home
Georgia Harrison was given a travel ban after she was arrested while trying to leave the Lexia Hotel in Antalya after damaging the room. A mum says she has been stranded in Turkey for nearly two months after being hit with a travel ban following a hotel room incident — and now she's offered £10,000 in a desperate bid to return home to her daughter. Georgia Harrison, 32, from Whitworth, near Rochdale, was arrested alongside her partner on May 7 while trying to leave the Lexia Hotel in Antalya. The couple had been celebrating her boyfriend's new dental work when, according to Georgia, she blacked out and accidentally smashed a shower screen during a drunken episode. Georgia admits she tried to leave the hotel without declaring the damage, but was later arrested, thrown in a cell, and hauled before a court. She claims officials ordered her to pay £15,000 for the damage and for 'resisting arrest' — a charge she strongly denies — before any travel restrictions would be lifted. Seven weeks on, Georgia remains stuck in Turkey without her 12-year-old daughter, who is back home in the UK. Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, she said: 'I got drunk and somehow smashed the shower screen. Worst mistake of my life. I know I did wrong and I regret being so stupid, but I need to get home to my daughter. 'I was scared and not thinking straight. Yes, I tried to get away, and it was the wrong thing to do. But maybe if I hadn't, I wouldn't be in this mess. I know only I'm to blame, but I'm trying everything I can to get back.' Georgia claims she was initially denied a lawyer, signed a court document she didn't fully understand, and has been unable to access her prescribed medication — which she only had a five-day supply of for what was meant to be a short break. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Despite making multiple offers to settle the matter — most recently offering £10,000, which she says is all she has — Georgia says Turkish authorities have not accepted any deal. She's attempted to flee the country on a plane, by ferry, and even during a day trip to Greece, but each time has been blocked due to the travel ban. Posting on Facebook, Georgia said: 'I've offered them £10,000 because it's all I've got, but still no closer. I just don't understand how a court prosecutor can admit the ban was wrongly placed and still nothing changes.' She added: 'All I want is to get home to my child. People ask why I didn't just pay the money at the start — it's because my lawyer kept saying, 'hold on, we'll sort it'. But nothing is working. I'm exhausted, I'm scared, and I don't know what else to do.' A GoFundMe page has now been launched to help cover Georgia's legal and living costs while she remains stuck abroad. The Foreign Office has been contacted for comment.
