Confined to the villa, the bored contessa was often drunk, according to her heirs, live-in lovers Rafael Tirso Roncado Gonzales and Susan Torretta. They claim she fled that night after a lovers’ quarrel. An empty whisky bottle was found near a ledge overlooking the sea, and eventually sunglasses, slippers and a blood-stained robe were plucked from the Mediterranean. Everything pointed to an accident or suicide. But when authorities discovered 500 billion lire and the contessa’s Mexican passport missing, it was announced that she was probably on the run. In fact, a housekeeper at her Mexico City villa said she expected her boss to arrive any day.
Things got even murkier last week. The ring on a naked, disfigured corpse that washed up on a French beach was linked to the contessa. According to prosecutors, the skull was smashed. Murder inquiries have started in France and Italy. Still, an official close to the case told NEWSWEEK the contessa was “most likely somewhere in the Caribbean with a new identity.”
