Ernesto Picchioni

Timeline

• March 12, 1949 — He was sentenced to life in prison.
• 2016 — The case record listed him under “Monster’s Child Monday, Apr. 16, 1956” and included later editorial material about an English benefactor’s death and inheritance, but this did not change his sentencing status.

Background

Ernesto Picchioni was identified as the father of Carolina and as the “Monster of Nerola.” He lived with Carolina and her mother, two sisters and a brother in a dank stone cottage in a lonely gorge in the hills east of Rome. He was described as an itinerant olive-picker, chicken thief, and loud-mouthed braggart who was first a Fascist and later a Communist.

Carolina recalled that he was always roaring at his wife and children. She said he once made them dig a long family grave in the backyard so that “it will be ready when I want to get rid of you.”

The offence

Carolina remembered seeing her father commit a murder when she was nine years old. She said:

“Father was squabbling in the kitchen one night with a stranger.”
“I heard them and went to look. On the kitchen floor I saw a man with his throat cut and his head all bloody. I hurried back to bed.”

The record stated that after Carolina’s father was known to all Italy as the “Monster of Nerola,” a lawyer named Pietro Monni stopped in the lonely gorge in 1944 to ask help in fixing the leak in his bicycle tire and stayed for the night. Carolina’s mother heard a shot and said:

“I got up and saw my husband carrying out a big bundle—a sheet with a human foot hanging out.”

The record further stated that another bicyclist stopped later and did not live the night. It said Carolina’s terrified mother notified the police.

At the trial, Picchioni was said to have confessed to two more murders, and “a dozen others were attributed to him.” The record characterized him as “Lust killer of women” and stated that “buried victims in his garden.” It also stated “Motive: Sex.”

The record stated “VICTIMS: 16.”

Investigation

Carolina’s mother notified the police after another bicyclist did not live the night. The record did not include further investigative details.

Trial

At trial, Picchioni “brazenly confessed to two more murders,” and “a dozen others were attributed to him.”

Sentencing

The record stated that Picchioni was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Outcome

The case record listed the disposition as “Convicted.”

Aftermath

Carolina’s mother took up washing, and Carolina and her sisters were sent to Rome’s House of Calasanziane Sisters for orphans and convicts’ children. The record said Carolina learned to sew, made laces and embroideries, and made bridal trousseaux. It said she left the institution only for group walks, saw no movies, and read only religious books.

The record described the institution’s routine: she rose every day at 5:30, attended Mass at 6, and worked all day. It said Carolina had grown into a tall, slim, black-eyed girl of 17 when, one day last fall, the Sisters told all 157 girls to line up for inspection.

A greying, well-dressed man looked along the line and said:

“I'll take that one,”
“and pointed to Carolina.”

The record stated that the Sisters hastily told him the story of her father, and that he said:

“All the more reason to take her,”
“She deserves a break.”

Carolina’s benefactor was described as an Englishman named Robert Wilbraham Fitz Aucher, “a vicar's son” with “great charm and erratic fortune.” The record stated he sold a rust-proofing process to a Belgian steel concern for close to $1,000,000 “Three years ago,” and that after that he expanded “from Norway to Iran.” It said Fitz Aucher did not marry and decided to adopt children, dreaming of being a “Pygmalion” to transform a poor Italian girl into a perfect English lady.

The record said Italian friends sent Fitz Aucher to the Calasanziane Sisters, and that Fitz Aucher arranged a legal guardianship for Carolina and younger sister Gabriella. While he traveled the international business circuit, he lodged Carolina with an elderly couple in one of Rome’s most expensive districts.

The record said Carolina went on a happy whirl of movies and shopping, rode home weekly in a Rolls-Royce to her old village of Nerola, and that Fitz Aucher started her studying English, tennis, and driving. It said he planned to adopt her formally and take her to London.

The record stated that “A fortnight ago Fitz Aucher died of a heart attack.” It then stated that “Last week every daily newspaper in Rome headlined the happy story of La Cenerèntola, the Cinderella girl,” who “had inherited an estimated $2,000,000” in his will. It stated that Carolina, the monster’s child, “had overnight become the richest 17-year-old girl in Italy.”

The record stated that Carolina talked happily of building a home for her mother, of praying for the soul of Signor Fitz Aucher, that “very good man,” and of going to Texas to see some cowboys. It did not provide additional details about those remarks beyond the quotations.

“very good man”