Police ‘blindfolded’ murder suspect

ITALIAN police have launched an investigation into a picture showing a US student, suspected of killing an officer, in a blindfold and handcuffs soon after his arrest.

Two American teenagers were arrested on Saturday in Rome accused of the fatal stabbing of Mario Cerciello Rega, 35, a Italian military police officer, in a drug deal gone awry.

Finnegan Lee Elder, 19, and Gabriel Christian Natale-hjorth, 18, are both from San Francisco, and had been holidaying in the Italian capital.

The pair are due in court today to face charges of murder and extortion. A picture circulating online reportedly depicts Mr Natale-hjorth in a gray blindfold while in custody. The Carabinieri command in Rome said it was “carrying out with extreme urgency an investigation to identify who is responsible” for leaking the picture.

Investigators said the two teenagers stole the backpack of a man who helped them buy “fake” cocaine and demanded €100 and a gram of the real drug for its return. The intermediary told police of the theft and two plainclothes officers went to the rendezvous, where Mr Rega was stabbed 11 times in a brawl.

According to a statement from the Carabinieri, the Americans confessed to the crime after police found a hidden knife in the ceiling of their hotel room.

In California, the Elder family posted a handwritten note on their door asking for privacy and released a statement expressing condolences to Mr Rega’s grieving family.

“We are shocked and dismayed at the events that have been reported. [We] have not [had] any communication with our son,” read the statement.

According to Italian media reports, citing police, Mr Elder confessed to the killing but said that he did not realise that Mr Rega was a police officer because the officers involved were both in plainclothes and he did not understand Italian.