‘Memory loss’ mystery man looked up how to disappear
HE was found at an Edinburgh cathedral with apparently no clue who he was and with no identifying documents.
After an international appeal, the mystery man was revealed to be a supermarket manager from Italy called Salvatore Mannino.
But while the 52-year-old is now back in his home country after spending a month in hospital, the case has only become more baffling.
Reports in Italy say Mr Mannino claims to be unable to speak Italian, and has been communicating in basic English since he was found.
Investigators believe he may be putting on an act, as before he went missing he reportedly searched the internet for advice on ‘how to disappear without a trace’, and checked bus routes and the weather forecast for Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
He also left his mobile phone behind when he vanished, with the recent call history deleted.
Mr Mannino is said to have tried to close joint bank accounts he held with his wife, and move the money to accounts in her name only.
He left a briefcase containing 10,500 euros and a sheet of paper with a numerical sequence, a code which was deciphered by his eldest son.
Aerospace student Filippo, 18, told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera: ‘It was a message Dad left me to decipher, I am sure of it, because he knew I am passionate about mathematical games.’
The message reportedly said: ‘Forgive me, I am sorry.’
The bizarre saga began when police were called to reports of a man taken unwell in St Giles’ Cathedral, on the Royal Mile, on September 20.
The man said he had no idea who he was and was not carrying any form of ID. Mr Mannino had gone missing from Lajatico, near Pisa, the previous day after taking his children to school – but it took two weeks for Police Scotland to identify him.
Officers issued an appeal to help identify a ‘man with no memory’ and used the Italian’s tattoos to help the search.
After he was identified, Mr Mannino’s wife and son flew to Edinburgh to see him, but he claimed not to know who they were.
The family’s lawyer, Ivo Gronchi, told The Times: ‘His wife and oldest son were reunited with him for an hour at the hospital but he didn’t know them, it was like they were total strangers to him.’
Mr Gronchi – a long-term friend of Mr Mannino – said the disappearance had been ‘like lightning in a blue sky’.
He said: ‘We have no idea why he vanished but we know it wasn’t spontaneous – evidently not all was well, because it was discovered that he first went online to look at bus routes to Milan and London.
‘When he was found, the day after his disappearance, he was wearing a new set of clothes, so he had been making plans.’
Mr Mannino was described as ‘tranquil’ and ‘happy’ before going missing.
He is being assessed at a psychiatric ward in Pisa, where doctors are yet to diagnose his condition. But Italian media say he has been charged with ‘violating his family assistance obligations’.