nThe mystery surrounding the disappearance of an Italian teenager 36 years ago deepened Thursday after two graves at the Vatican thought to possibly hold her remains were discovered to be empty.
Not only was Emanuela Orlandi’s body not found, the tombs did not even hold the skeletons of the two princesses supposed to be buried there.
“The last thing I expected was to find empty tombs,” said her brother Pietro Orlandi, 60, who has never stopped hoping to find his sister alive.
The dig followed an anonymous tip-off that the Teutonic Cemetery in the tiny city state may be the last resting place of Orlandi, the daughter of a Vatican employee.
She was last seen leaving a music class aged 15. Theories have circulated for decades about who took her and where her body may lie. “We’re frankly astonished,” said Laura Sgro, the Orlandi family lawyer.