At the time of writing we still don’t know whether Annabella Martinelli, a 22-year-old whose body was found hanging in a farmhouse, took her own life or whether it was a homicide. The investigations are still ongoing and all leads remain open. Judging by the comments on social media, however, many people already seem convinced that this is yet another femicide. Various factors contribute to pushing towards this interpretation. The first, more banal but no less influential, is that cases of murdered women emerge more in the media than those of self-harm. This may lead one to think that the former are more frequent than the latter, but this is not the case.

There is little talk about suicides

Every year, in Italy, thousands of people take their own lives, including many young people, and suicides far outnumber homicides. Suicide is talked about less also because it is considered an intimate gesture, linked to individual suffering, and therefore to be treated with greater confidentiality. Furthermore, the media are generally more cautious in talking about it to avoid an imitation effect, which scientific literature has shown to be more marked in cases of suicide than in cases of murder. This caution, although understandable, however contributes to making suicide an event that is less socially visible and less thinkable.

The automatisms

The other reason why many people are convinced that it was a murder, even before knowing the outcome of the investigations or the autopsy, concerns some of the girl’s behavior shortly before her death. In particular the fact of having ordered two pizzas and that of having closed the bicycle with the padlock before the possible anti-conservative gesture. What would have been the point? On this point, in reality, there is an answer. From a scientific point of view, the apparently “inexplicable” behaviors that some people carry out shortly before taking their own lives are known. In a 2023 study by Hofmann and Wagner, for example, it emerged that, especially in men, in about a third of cases, actions such as sorting out documents, rearranging objects or cleaning the car were carried out before interrupting their existence. These are not rational behaviors in the strict sense, but automatisms, such as locking the bicycle, or actions that serve to postpone the moment of the act, to gain time. In some cases they may represent an implicit form of apology towards those who will remain, in others they respond to the need to feel that they have left “things in order”.

Nothing is linear and obvious

Even the fact that the girl had been seen apparently calm shortly before the possible gesture does not exclude the hypothesis of suicide. In fact, numerous studies show how some people, after a long phase of suffering, can suddenly appear calmer or more relaxed, giving the impression of feeling better. The truth is that human behaviors are never so linear and obvious, especially when they precede an extreme act. For this reason it is necessary to maintain caution, await the outcome of the investigations and autopsy, and resist the temptation to hasty conclusions, conspiracy theories or unfounded speculation.