Fugitive Killer Jumps to His Death From Milan Landmark

Convicted murderer on work-release program stabbed colleague, may have killed another
Posted May 12, 2025 3:54 PM CDT
Killer Jumps to His Death From Milan Landmark
The Milan Duomo is seen at sunrise in this file photo.   (Getty Images/Xantana)

"They were looking for him everywhere, and in the end, he was right at the Duomo," a passerby told Il Messaggero after a fugitive murderer jumped to his death from Milan's famous cathedral. Emanuele De Maria, 35, was serving a 14-year sentence for the murder of a woman in 2016, but he had been allowed out of prison five days a week to work part time at a hotel near the city's main train station, reports CBS News. He jumped from the cathedral on Sunday, a day after he stabbed a 51-year-old colleague from Egypt, inflicting serious injuries, Il Mattino reports.

The body of another of the fugitive's colleagues, a 50-year-old woman from Sri Lanka, was found in a park soon after his death, ANSA reports. Chamila Wijesuriyauna was reported missing by her family on Friday. De Maria—who went on the run after the 2016 murder and was captured in Germany in 2018—jumped around 130 feet from the cathedral and was identified by his tattoos, authorities say. The square in front of the Duomo was busy at the time, but there were no reports of serious injuries. "He grazed a little boy with a stuffed toy in his hand. He must have been 13 or 14 years old," a bar owner tells Corriere Della Sera. "He fell next to him. He was in shock. He sat there for 20 minutes without speaking. A miracle." (More Milan stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X