Chris's Crime Forum

Athens - Greek police on Thursday said they believed they had found on an island in the Aegean a missing 8-year-old girl who was abducted outside of her home in Sicily more than four years ago. Authorities were led to the little girl, Denise Pipitone, after an Italian tourist visiting the island of Kos was sold a bracelet by the little girl who spoke fluent Italian.

When the tourist returned home to Italy she saw the numerous pictures of missing children at the airport and immediately realised who the little girl possibly was who sold her the bracelet on Kos.

The woman notified Italian police who then contacted Greek authorities via Interpol.

Police on the island arrested a 30-year-old Albanian woman who was with the little girl. The woman claimed she was the mother, but was unable to speak a word of Italian.

DNA tests conducted in Greece showed no blood relation between the little girl and her adult companion. Officials in Greece shipped a DNA sample of the little girl by plane to Italy for verification.

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Missing Italian girl's mother cautious ahead of DNA tests
Rome/Athens - The mother of a missing eight-year-old Italian girl cautioned Friday against "excessive enthusiasm" while waiting for the results of DNA tests to confirm whether a girl found this week on a Greek island is her daughter. "I'm serene, because I am used to this situation. In the past hundreds of claims have been made," said the mother, Piera Maggio.

She was referring to previous unsubstantiated reports regarding the whereabouts of her daughter, Denise Pipitone, who disappeared on September 1, 2004 while playing in front of her home in her hometown Mazara del Vallo, near Trapani, Sicily.

Greek authorities on Friday were waiting for the results of DNA tests on a little girl found on the island of Kos.

The girl is said to have the same birthmark as Denise Pipitone and a blood sample from the girl has been sent to Italy.

The results of the DNA test will take several days, authorities said. In the meantime the little girl is reportedly receiving care and psychological support at a hospital on Kos, where she was found.

Authorities were led to Kos after an Italian tourist visiting the Greek island in late August was sold a bracelet by an Italian- speaking little girl who was accompanied by a Roma woman of Albanian nationality and a small boy who were begging for money.

Upon returning to Italy, the tourist notified police after recognizing the little girl among airport photos of missing children. Greek authorities were notified via Interpol.

The Roma woman, who on September 2 was arrested and charged with abducting a minor, claimed she was the mother of the little girl. Unable to speak a word of Italian herself, the Roma woman said the little girl learned to speak Italian from a language book she bought for her to read.

DNA tests conducted in Greece have shown no blood relation between the little girl and her adult companion.

The disappearance of Denise Pipitone has echoes of the case of Ben Needham, who went missing while holidaying with his parents on Kos in 1991.

On the day of his disappearance, the then 21-month-old Ben had been left in the care of his grandparents. Despite a long-running campaign by his mother, he has never been found.


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Missing Italian girl not found

Greek police said DNA tests had shown a child found on the Aegean island of Kos was not missing Italian girl Denise Pipitone.

Police seized the girl and arrested a 34-year-old Roma woman she was with earlier this week following a tip off from Interpol after a family friend of the missing girl thought she had spotted her on Kos.

"The DNA test has shown that the Roma woman of Albanian origin is the natural mother of the girl," police spokesman Panagiotis Stathis said.

Denise Pipitone disappeared on September 1, 2004 while playing in the street of her hometown Mazara del Vallo, near Trapani in Sicily. She was four years old when she went missing.

Her mother, Piera Maggio, has always insisted she was alive and often appealed on television for help in finding her.

A report is now set to be handed to a Greek prosecutor investigating the case who is expected to rule in favour of the Albanian mother, who had originally been arrested for kidnapping.

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