A young disabled girl has been found dead next to her parents in their bed with gunshot wounds in a tragic murder-suicide.
The family were all found in bed at their home in Pietralata, a suburb of Rome, on Monday afternoon.
Emergency services were called after relatives of Luca Abbasciano, 42, Valentina Pambianco, 41, and Bianca, five, were unable to contact them for hours.
Carabinieri and firefighters broke down the door at 1 p.m. and found the tragic family dead with gunshot wounds, along with the family dog who had also been shot.
Around their bodies, local media reported, were dozens of letters addressed to loved ones containing apologies, explanations and instructions for the future. In a letter Luca wrote to his sister, who raised the alarm, he asked her to ‘take care of daddy’.
Among the messages Luca and Valentina left said: “We can’t do this alone.”
Sara, their neighbor, told local media: ‘They wanted this little girl so badly, but she was born with many problems. They were afraid she wouldn’t live much longer, and this exhausted them.’
Police are still investigating the incident and trying to piece together the family’s last hours.
Luca Abbasciano, 42, Valentina Pambianco, 41, and Bianca, five, (all pictured) were found dead at their home in Rome on Monday
Emergency services were called to the property after relatives were unable to contact their relatives for hours
Carabinieri and firefighters broke open the door at 1 p.m. and found the tragic family dead
Valentina (pictured) left her job to care for Bianca full-time
The couple (photo) had lived in the building in Rome for ten years and had Bianca in 2021
After moving to a small house Pietralata, bought for them by Valentina’s father Sandro about ten years ago, the couple started renovating the place to prepare for starting a family.
Nicolina Barbato, a neighbor, said: “When [Valentina] became pregnant, she was the epitome of happiness.’
But the couple had reportedly struggled to care for Bianca, who was born prematurely and had a severe disability, since her birth in 2021.
Luca’s brother said the couple were so desperate for help that they planned to travel to Mexico for specialist treatment.
They cut themselves off from the world, with Valentina quitting her job to care for Bianca full-time and Luca, an IT technician, further converting the house into a workshop so he never had to leave his family alone.
Massimiliano Umberti, a local politician, told La Repubblica: “Bianca stopped going to kindergarten because she was often sick.”
Neighbors said the isolation took its toll on the parents. Cristina, a local resident, said she encountered Valentina while walking her dog: In the afternoon, she stood in the hall with her high chair and watched her dog Teo wag his tail around her. But Valentina lost her smile after giving birth.”
And Umberti said: ‘I didn’t know them, but I know that the child was severely disabled and that the family was being cared for by our social services.
‘We had contacted them. For this reason, faced with what has happened, we feel helpless.
‘Loneliness is the greatest evil in the world today.’
