Florence: Maria Denisa Paun’s body beheaded, stuffed into suitcase before alleged murderer claims blackmail

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

A hotel security guard has admitted to beheading a woman before stuffing her body parts in a suitcase in a town just outside the world-renowned Italian tourist destination of Florence.

Italian investigators made the gruesome discovery of Maria Denisa Paun’s headless corpse and body parts after they were transported inside a garbage bag and her own suitcase, before being set on fire at a remote farmhouse following her death three weeks earlier.

Italian media reports state that Vasile Frumuzache, 32, contacted Ms Paun, 30, via a dating app and that the two met and had sex. However, Frumuzache claims, Ms Paun then began blackmailing him with threats to expose their meeting to his wife.

Frumuzache reportedly cut off Ms Paun’s head using a knife before dousing it in petrol and setting it on fire as a way to dispose of the evidence.

Authorities began a search after the Romanian national vanished from her home in Prato, Tuscany on May 15, and confirmed her remains were found on a farm property in Montecatini Terme near Florence on Wednesday.

Ms Paun, agreed to meet Frumuzache in her role as an escort, before threatening to contact his wife and disclose his behaviour if he didn’t pay her the equivalent of around $17,500.

Frumuzache, who also has two children, told police he visited Ms Paun at a hotel to have sex on the night she was allegedly killed.

“She was blackmailing me, that’s why I killed her,” Frumuzache is quoted as saying.

“When I told her that I was a security guard and that I was married, she told me that she was able to reach my wife.”

Frumuzache then allegedly strangled Ms Paun, and cut off her head before stuffing the body body in a garbage bag and the remains in the suitcase, and placed them in a car to dispose of them at the remote property, Corriere Fiorentino reports.

Reports state that at around 1am, Frumuzache, also a Romanian national, was spotted on CCTV camera moving the garbage bag and Ms Paun’s suitcase into his Volkswagen Golf and leaving the hotel.

Police investigating the case used a tracking system installed in his car by his insurance company to track the journey which led them to an abandoned farmhouse, before discovering her corpse and suitcase.

Prosecutors have charged Frumuzache with murder and suppression of a corpse.

Ms Paun’s disappearance had drawn national attention in Italy, after reports stated she may have fallen foul of organised crime gangs in the Tuscany region.

If you or someone you know feel threatened or are experiencing violence, phone 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) or the Crisis Care Helpline on 1800 199 008.