The escape of Elia Del Grande, the 49-year-old man who escaped last October 30 from the workhouse in Castelfranco Emilia (Modena) where he was supposed to spend six months due to the repeated violations of the probation regime he had experienced, 40 in total, ended around 8 p.m. Six months later, the social danger will be re-evaluated. However, he ran away first. In his letter to Varesenews he explained that he did so because of the “total lack” of a family home-like structure which “was in reality the old Opg judicial mental hospital”. Carabinieri from the command of the provinces of Varese and Modena and the ROS stopped him tonight in Cadrezzate, in the province of Varese, where Del Grande still has property.
The 49-year-old man, as expected, returned to the places in the Varese area where he had roots and ties and where, on January 7, 1998, he exterminated his entire family by shooting his father, mother and brother who were “guilty”, according to him, of opposing his marriage to the young woman from Santo Domingo whom he had fallen in love with. For what was defined as the “baker’s massacre” – the entire family worked in a proprietary bakery in Cadrezzate that still bore the Del Grande sign – the man was sentenced to 30 years in prison. After 25 years he received the first benefits until he reached probation. At his home in Cadrezzate, the carabinieri contacted him on November 23 to take him to a workhouse in the Modena area on the orders of the supervising judge. Del Grande did not give up and fled across the rooftops until he arrived in Besozzo (Varese) after a few hours and stopped when he was inside a tobacco shop a stone’s throw from his then girlfriend’s house.
The search also continued, according to rumors, through phone tracing, which led investigators to the fateful raid. Tonight there must have been the 112th report both about Del Grande’s whereabouts, which investigators already knew, and about military intervention: an old woman reported the presence of five hooded bandits near a house who were none other than the military ready to carry out a raid. Del Grande would be stopped with very quick action, without him having time to react or escape once again. The 49-year-old man was taken to the Carabinieri provincial command barracks in Varese. Most likely in the next few hours he will be entrusted to the Penitentiary Police for translation based on the conditions that will be received from the Modena supervising judge. Investigators are now determining whether Del Grande had any accomplices either while fleeing or while on the run.
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