US teens jailed in Italy in policeman’s killing

Associated Press

ROME

Two American teenagers who were classmates at a California high school spent a second night in a Rome jail Saturday after they were interrogated for hours about their alleged roles in the murder of an Italian policeman.

Investigators contended in written statements Saturday that the pair had confessed to their roles in the grisly slaying. Vice Brigadier Mario Cerciello Rega, a member of the storied Carabinieri paramilitary corps, was stabbed eight times, allegedly by one of the teens, leaving him bleeding on a street close to the teens’ upscale hotel near Rome’s Tiber River.

Italian authorities identified the two as Gabriel Christian Natale-Hjorth, 18, and Finnegan Lee Elder, 19, and said both were born in San Francisco.

Police said they were apparently vacationing in the Italian capital without family members.

In the detention order, Elder is described as repeatedly stabbing the 35-year-old officer, who had just returned to duty a few days earlier from his honeymoon.

Investigators said Cerciello Rega, along with another Carabinieri officer, were both in plainclothes when they confronted the Americans about 3 a.m. Friday in the wake of a drug deal gone wrong.

Natale-Hjorth was described in the document as having repeatedly punched Cerciello Rega’s partner.

Under Italian law, persons participating in a killing, but who didn’t actually carry out the slaying itself, risk being charged with murder.

Both suspects are also being investigated for attempted extortion.

Cerciello Rega, beloved for his charity work with the homeless and the ailing, was praised as a hero for trying to help keep Rome’s streets safe.

Photos of the officer, wearing his uniform for his wedding and showing off his wedding band as he sat next to his beaming bride, dominated the front pages of many Italian newspapers Saturday.

The young men were high- school classmates in Mill Valley, a wealthy suburb 10 miles north of San Francisco en route to the famed redwood trees in Muir Woods National Park. No one answered the door at a house listed for a relative of Elder. At a house listed for a relative of Natale-Hjorth’s, a young man who answered the door yelled “No!” when an Associated Press reporter asked to speak to her.

The judge left without indicating when she might rule on whether the American should stay jailed while the investigation continues.