Read Online Angel Face by Barbie Latza Nadeau - Free Book Online
Authors: Barbie Latza Nadeau
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she wears in a sharp fringe just above her eyes, perfectly framing her oval face. Her perma-tan décolletage and heavy eye makeup are familiar sites in Perugia. In the winter, she tucks her tight blue jeans into black stiletto boots. During the summer, she wears white jeans, baby-doll blouses, and sandals, her toenails painted the same crimson red as her manicured nails. As her officers were booking Raffaele, Napoleoni went out to the vending machine in the hallway, worried that Amanda might hear Raffaele protesting his arrest and decide to leave.
“Who on earth could have killed her?” Napoleoni asked Amanda, her arms crossed as she leaned against the vending machine.
Amanda said that she didn’t know—that she had wracked her brain and come up with nothing. The two went back to an interrogation room, where Napoleoni and several other officers asked Amanda to check through her cell phone for names and ideas. Because Amanda was not then an official suspect or person of interest, her questioning was not taped. At 1:45 A.M., Napoleoni called in a translator and wrote in her
police log that Amanda was also being questioned. At that point, she was an official suspect in Napoleoni’s eyes and the police should have started taping the interrogation and allowed Amanda to call a lawyer, but they didn’t. The interrogators asked Amanda to read the names and text messages on her phone. When she got to the message that she had written to Patrick Lumumba on November 1, she was asked to explain what it meant. She had written in Italian: “ Ci vediamo più tardi. Buona serata. ” In English, the phrase ci vediamo means “see you later” and is nothing more than a friendly “see you around.” But in Italian, the same phrase generally suggests a fixed appointment. The interrogators would not let it go; they pressed Amanda to explain when she met Patrick and what they did together.
Amanda says that the police yelled at her and called her “a stupid liar.” She says they hit her on the back of the head twice and told her that she was protecting someone. Amanda says they threatened her with thirty years in jail and told her she would never see her family again. So, she says, she came up with a story. She told the interrogators that, yes, she had met Patrick that night at the basketball courts. She said that the two of them went back to via della Pergola to find
Meredith because Patrick liked her and wanted to start something with her.
“Patrick and Meredith were in Meredith’s bedroom while I must have stayed in the kitchen,” she told the interrogators, who at 3:30 A.M. called prosecutor Giuliano Mignini, fifty-seven. Amanda repeated her story to him. “I can’t remember how long they were together in the bedroom, but the only thing I can say is that at a certain point I heard Meredith screaming. I was scared and put my hands over my ears. I can’t remember anything else. I’m so confused.”
As Amanda described the scene once more, Mignini took notes. Later he was told that she had cried and hit her head over and over again the first time she told the story. Despite what would be reported later, Mignini was only in the room for the last ninety minutes of the four-hour interrogation. He did not conduct the questioning and was not the one who browbeat her into confessing her presence at the crime scene. During the time Mignini was present, he says, Amanda admitted to being drunk and passing out. He says she covered her ears when she described the screams. Then she said, “This has upset me, and I’m very frightened of Patrick.” Mignini says he was sympathetic to Amanda at that moment. It made sense to him that she was afraid of her
boss and might be protecting him. The police immediately went out to arrest Lumumba, who was awake, preparing a bottle for his young son; they marched him out of the house as his son and his Polish wife looked on. Amanda also told the investigators that she did not remember if Raffaele
“Who on earth could have killed her?” Napoleoni asked Amanda, her arms crossed as she leaned against the vending machine.
Amanda said that she didn’t know—that she had wracked her brain and come up with nothing. The two went back to an interrogation room, where Napoleoni and several other officers asked Amanda to check through her cell phone for names and ideas. Because Amanda was not then an official suspect or person of interest, her questioning was not taped. At 1:45 A.M., Napoleoni called in a translator and wrote in her
police log that Amanda was also being questioned. At that point, she was an official suspect in Napoleoni’s eyes and the police should have started taping the interrogation and allowed Amanda to call a lawyer, but they didn’t. The interrogators asked Amanda to read the names and text messages on her phone. When she got to the message that she had written to Patrick Lumumba on November 1, she was asked to explain what it meant. She had written in Italian: “ Ci vediamo più tardi. Buona serata. ” In English, the phrase ci vediamo means “see you later” and is nothing more than a friendly “see you around.” But in Italian, the same phrase generally suggests a fixed appointment. The interrogators would not let it go; they pressed Amanda to explain when she met Patrick and what they did together.
Amanda says that the police yelled at her and called her “a stupid liar.” She says they hit her on the back of the head twice and told her that she was protecting someone. Amanda says they threatened her with thirty years in jail and told her she would never see her family again. So, she says, she came up with a story. She told the interrogators that, yes, she had met Patrick that night at the basketball courts. She said that the two of them went back to via della Pergola to find
Meredith because Patrick liked her and wanted to start something with her.
“Patrick and Meredith were in Meredith’s bedroom while I must have stayed in the kitchen,” she told the interrogators, who at 3:30 A.M. called prosecutor Giuliano Mignini, fifty-seven. Amanda repeated her story to him. “I can’t remember how long they were together in the bedroom, but the only thing I can say is that at a certain point I heard Meredith screaming. I was scared and put my hands over my ears. I can’t remember anything else. I’m so confused.”
As Amanda described the scene once more, Mignini took notes. Later he was told that she had cried and hit her head over and over again the first time she told the story. Despite what would be reported later, Mignini was only in the room for the last ninety minutes of the four-hour interrogation. He did not conduct the questioning and was not the one who browbeat her into confessing her presence at the crime scene. During the time Mignini was present, he says, Amanda admitted to being drunk and passing out. He says she covered her ears when she described the screams. Then she said, “This has upset me, and I’m very frightened of Patrick.” Mignini says he was sympathetic to Amanda at that moment. It made sense to him that she was afraid of her
boss and might be protecting him. The police immediately went out to arrest Lumumba, who was awake, preparing a bottle for his young son; they marched him out of the house as his son and his Polish wife looked on. Amanda also told the investigators that she did not remember if Raffaele
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