Teen 'killed' woman, 42, on first date because he 'wanted to know what it felt like'

The 17-year-old boy was arrested after cops reviewed hours of CCTV footage and spoke to key witnesses - which led to them finding the body of Maria Campai, 42, in an abandoned home

A teenager is accused of murdering his 42-year-old date because he allegedly "wanted to know what it feels like to kill a person".

Cops tracked down the 17-year-old boy after reviewing hours of CCTV footage and speaking to several key witnesses. Maria Campai, 42, who was reportedly on a first date with the teen, suddenly vanished near Palma, Italy, on September 19, after telling loved-ones she was going for a job interview.

The following day, officers launched a search operation, sparked by her sister filing a missing persons report. When their enquiries led them to the teenager, he was arrested, and immediately led police to the body - which lay under some leaves in the garden of an abandoned house in Viadana, northeast of Parma, Italy. The corpse showed signs of strangulation and blows to the face and head.

Officers believe Ms Campai and the 17-year-old had sex, followed by a row after she refused to comply with his requests. It is believed he then knocked her out with several dumbbell blows to the face before strangling her. His family's garage, which the teenager had turned into his personal gym, was marked with traces of blood in a scene that the Italian press dubbed the "garage of horrors".

Italian police suspect the teenager killed Ms Campai in the garage, before dragging her body to the spot where it was found. He also told officers he wanted to "know what it feels like to kill a person".

Ms Campai, who is thought to have met the boy through a paid dating site, showed up to their first meeting with a friend, but went with the teenager to the garage after her friend left. The 42-year-old was originally from Romania but moved to Italy in 2000, where she lived with her husband in Tuscany. After her divorce in 2022, she moved in with her sister Roxana in Parma.

The suspect lives in Viadana with his parents and two sisters, and has been described by those who know him as kind, peaceful, polite, and reserved. He was disproportionately strong for his age but had never lashed out or been involved in fights, according to reports. But it later emerged that the 17-year-old was MMA obsessed, and reportedly showed an interest in bare-handed killing techniques on social media.

Detectives said he had researched extreme sexual practices online, and had even found evidence of a disturbing admiration towards confessed murderer Filippo Turetta. After allegedly killing Ms Campai, the teenager went about his usual routine, including going to the technical institute he attends. He is currently being held at a young offender institution in Milan on suspicion of murder with intent and of concealment of a corpse, and will be questioned again on September 30 - while the crime scene will also be reinspected.

The suspect's father, who is from Albania, told local media: "If my son has done wrong, then he will face the consequences. If he really did kill her, he must have had one or two accomplices. He couldn't have done it all by himself. It's just not possible."