A Nigerian man in Italy, Innocent Oseghale has been accused of killing and dismembering an 18-year-old Italian woman, Pamela Mastropietro.
Italian authorities said Oseghale, 29, dumped the victim’s remains in two suitcases in the countryside outside Pollenza near Macerata in Marche.
He has denied any links with the murder, accusing two other people who were previously cleared by police of any wrongdoing in the case.
Reports said the suspect appeared “confused and not very clear” while denying involvement in the crime on Thursday.
Oseghale is said to be an asylum seeker with residency permit that expired in 2017.
Although he is said to be married with a daughter, he lived alone in an apartment building, which he did not rent in his name.
When police searched his apartment on Thursday, they reportedly found 70 grams of a drug known as hashish.
Forensic police also reportedly found bloodstained clothes belonging to the victim and other blood traces at the suspect’ s home. They equally found a receipt from a nearby pharmacy where the victim had bought a syringe.
But an autopsy conducted on Thursday failed to establish the cause of death.
The suspect has a string of drug-related and was spotted by CCTV cameras around the area where the suitcases were dumped.
Also, an unidentified foreigner informed the police that he saw Oseghale carrying the suitcases there.