Italian Mother Killed, Dismembered Son with Help of Daughter-in-Law Because He was ‘Physically Abusive’

An Italian mother has confessed to killing her 35-year-old son, dismembering him and attempting to hide his body with the help of his wife.

According to Italian news outlet L’Unione Sarda, Lorena Venier, 61, admitted to murdering her son, Alessandro Venier, after his wife, Mailyn Castro Monsalvo, 30, called the police to confess what they had done on July 25.

The outlet reported that Alessandro’s body was found dismembered in an old drum in the basement of the home he shared with his wife, mother and infant daughter in the town of Gemona del Friuli, located in the region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia.

“I took care of Alessandro’s ‘dismemberment’ myself,” Lorena, a nurse, told the judge during a court appearance. “I used a hacksaw and a sheet to hold the blood and I dissected him into three pieces. There were no blood splatters — that’s why the Carabinieri police found everything in order.”

Lorena Said She And Mailyn Had Been Planning the Murder for Months, Cited Physical Abuse as the Motive

Lorena allegedly confessed that she and her daughter-in-law, who had been suffering from postpartum depression, had been planning the crime for months, and she cited physical abuse from her son as their motive.

“Mailyn had been asking me to kill my son Alessandro for months, ever since the day their daughter was born in January,” Lorena claimed, per L’Unione Sarda.

“Mailyn was violently beaten, insulted and repeatedly threatened with death,” she alleged. “My son downplayed her postpartum depression, and when I decided to report it, he punched me in the back.”

Lorena also alleged that Alessandro told his wife, who is originally from Colombia, “I’ll take you to Colombia and drown you in the river, because no one’s looking for you there.”

Lorena and Mailyn Allegedly Served Alessandro a Drink with Sedatives Before Injecting Him with Insulin

investigators allege that Lorena and Mailyn served Alessandro a glass of lemonade spiked with sedatives before giving him two shots of insulin — which Lorena had obtained from the hospital where she worked — to render him unconscious.

Authorities claim that Alessandro was then suffocated with a pillow and strangled using shoelaces. Mailyn allegedly then moved her husband’s body to their garage and covered him in quicklime, or calcium oxide, to hide the smell.

Alessandro was Planning to Move to Colombia and the Women Planned to Use That to Cover Up His Disappearance

Alessandro had recently told friends that he was considering moving to Colombia, and Lorena and Mailyn planned to use that to cover up his disappearance, authorities claim, per the outlets.

Mailyn called the police and confessed soon after, and Lorena told the judge overseeing the case that her daughter-in-law had only moved the remains.

Lorena has been charged with murder and concealing a body, and Mailyn is being investigated for instigation to murder.