The Pavia prosecutor has launched new investigations on the crime that saw the murder of Chiara Poggi The August 13, 2007 and for which he was definitively sentenced for the ex -boyfriend, Alberto Stasi. However, new elements would justify according to the prosecutors towards the attention towards Andrea Sempliofriend of Chiara Poggi’s brother and investigated again from March 2025.
The most discussed element these days is the notorious imprint classified as number 33a portion of one of the Palmari footprints (or the palm of the hand), found in August 2007 by the technicians of the Ris of Parma just above the victim’s body, which no longer exists but which was photographed at the time of the crime. At the time it was not possible to attribute this imprint, but today, thanks to both hardware and software improvements In the technologies that allow the typewritten analysis, it was possible connect the imprint SEMPE: in the specific case, they have been identified 15 correspondence points In the comparison between the dictiloscopic meticia by Andrea Semplio and of the imprint 33. It will still be the task of the authority ascertain any responsibilities of the new suspect.
As a imprint is noted: the ink method and optical scanner
To collect the footprints there are two methods, of which the main ones are that ofink and the more modern and more precise one of the optical scanner. In the first case, the skin of the finger is covered with black ink and then place it on a Dactyloscopic cardboard where the imprint itself will remain impressed. The optical scanner method is that today also used for the passport release procedures: the finger is placed on the top of a prism (made of glass or plastic material) and the light that crosses it is reflected in a different way according to the crests and furrows on the imprint, thus going to create an ‘image of the imprint which is conveyed by a lens towards a digital sensor that collects it.
The optical scanner is able to provide greater precision and accuracy Compared to the ink: a scarce application or, on the contrary, excessive ink on the finger could negatively influence the analysis. In summary, a too inking imprint features several dark spots, while a little inks of the imprint is not very visible and, consequently, it could be less precise. The use of digital technique therefore allows to obtain amore precise image and consequently a more accurate characterization of the parameters of the minutiae, without the inconveniences that may derive from the offline method. The optical scanner technique has spread only in recent years, and this It may have contributed to the attribution of the 33 imprint to Andrea Semplio and therefore to the reopening of the investigations against Semve.
In the case of latent footprints (i.e. not visible immediately) law enforcement agencies can make use of substances such as the ninidrinewhich reacting with amino acids colors the footprints making them visible. The imprint 33, finding himself on a wall, was colored with a elderly.
What elements are analyzed in the comparison of fingerprints: ridges and minuzie
Before being able to enter into the merits of the matter, it is necessary to understand how they distinguish and classify the fingerprints according to their characteristics. Each imprint, in fact, is made up of a series of ridgesthat is, from those lines in relief visible on the fingertips, which can take shapes that can be traced back to an eye, a lake or even a hook. The minutiaeon the other hand, are the Points of discontinuity of these lines: for example they can bifurcate, join or interrupt themselves. It is precisely these micro-capitals of an imprint that makes it unique and personal for every human being.
In order to attribute a correspondence between two footprints, a sufficient number of identical minutiae according to 3 different parameters: same formsame position is himself orientation. Among the most common forms there are termination, bifurcation or crossing (crossover); The position refers to the exact place in which minutia is positioned within the imprint, while the orientation indicates the direction of the crest before discontinuity.
When you can attribute with certainty an imprint to a subject and it has been established that two footprints belong to the same person, it can automatically be said that an imprint – for example collected in a crime scene – belongs to that subject. This is what happened with the 33 imprint and the palmar imprints recently collected in Semve, even if as we will see the situation is not as simple as it might seem.
But where do the fingerprints end once detected? In Italy – as in the rest of Europe – scientific police and carabinieri have the database available Afis (Automated Fingerprint Identification System), a centralized hardware and software system, born with the aim of making the storage and research of the various typewritten finds faster and slender. Once an imprint has been collected and analyzed, it is loaded in this system to be found at any time and compared with other footprints.
In practice, therefore, it is the specialized operator, with the help of image analysis software, to control the characteristic points of an imprint, Minutia per minuzia, and then insert them inside the system which, within a few minutes, is able to compare the find with the material already present in the database.
So the imprint 33 Connect Semia to the crime of Garlasco?
In the case of Garlasco, therefore, they were found 15 corresponding dactyloscopic minutiae Between the imprint 33 and the imprint of Andrea Semplio. On the basis of previous procedural, the number of minuties necessary to attribute an imprint is generally 17but the value may vary depending on the quality of the find or peculiarities of the imprint itself. As a result, the 15 correspondence points of the imprint 33 can be considered a High enough number to justify the reopening of the investigation towards semium, even if they are not enough to constitute a proof of his presence in the place of the crime at the time of the murder.
This is for several reasons. First of all, it should be specified that the one available to the police is alone fragment of a palm imprint “To hypothent”, that is, corresponding to the whole region at the base of the little finger. If the imprint 33 were complete, the police may have found a greater number of correspondence points, thus strengthening the attribution, or they could also have found minuzie non -corresponding with the semium imprint, which would probably have been enough to drop the procedural interest of the imprint 33. The fact that the imprint is incomplete therefore creates an incomplete element of uncertainty in the context of investigations.
It should then be added that the relief can be consulted by the police only thanks to aImage taken at the scene of the crime 18 years ago and found in the Afis system. It is therefore not possible to directly compare the semium footprints with high quality images of the imprint 33, which indeed at the moment it cannot be found.
All this does not mean nor that the imprint 33 belongs to Andrea Semve, nor that he does not belong to him. Only means, for now and waiting for a possible process, that The question is particularly complex both from a scientific point of view and from a legal point of viewabove all in the light of the fact that we are talking about a murder investigation. We reiterate that I will be the task of the authorities to establish what happened and, possibly, to arrive at a new solution of the case, given the recent evidence. What is certain is that the mix between new technologies available to the police and updated analysis software have allowed the reopening of the investigations against Andrea Semovero.
