Giancarlo Giudice was born in Turin on March 11, 1952, and was arrested in Piedmont in August 1986 as the man behind a series of killings of women that had begun in late December 1983. Italian reports count nine victims over about two and a half years. In March 1989 he was sentenced to life imprisonment. That November the sentence was replaced on appeal by thirty years in prison plus three years in a criminal psychiatric hospital. He was released in October 2008, after 22 years in custody, and in 2024 was reported to be living under a new identity at an undisclosed location.
Giudice was born in Turin in 1952. As a child he was sent to a boarding school. Il Torinese reports that he learned of his mother's death only some time after it. His father, who had been absent through much of his childhood, moved to Calabria with a new partner and married her about two years after the mother's death. Giudice stayed behind in Turin. Mole24 describes a boy who hated his stepmother and presents that as the root of what followed; that is the writer's reading, and no court finding on motive is on record.
As an adult he changed jobs often and eventually worked as a truck driver. Mole24 says he lived alone in disorder, without friends or family nearby. Il Torinese says colleagues saw him as a hard worker and knew little of his private life. He had petty criminal convictions before the killings.
Il Giornale places the first killing on December 27, 1983, in Turin. The woman was in her forties, and she was identified only after Giudice's arrest in 1986. Further deaths followed in January 1984, in the weeks after that, and in April 1985. Il Giornale then lists four more in 1986: on March 2, March 30, April 2 and May 22. The ninth and last victim, Maria Rosa Paoli, aged 37, died on June 28, 1986. All nine victims were women, most of them in their forties; the oldest were aged 64 and 67.
The women died at different places in Turin and the surrounding area, and each death was a separate event. Mole24 lists their names and ages and gives dates that differ in places from Il Giornale's. The police at first counted eight victims, according to Mole24, while Giudice later said he had killed nine.
Giudice was arrested on August 25, 1986, according to Il Torinese. Il Torinese describes the arrest as the result of chance, and Il Giornale says police stopped him for a routine check shortly after Paoli's death. Mole24 places the check at Santhià. Evidence found at the check tied him to the last killing.
Accounts differ on how much he admitted. Il Giornale says he confessed to the Paoli killing and, once that was established, to the others. Mole24 first says he admitted nine killings and later that he confessed only to the last. Il Giornale and Mole24 both say he had recently been held for two months in the judicial psychiatric hospital at Reggio Emilia.
The trial began in mid-March 1989, according to Mole24. Il Giornale gives March 22, 1989 as the date of the first-instance verdict, a sentence of life imprisonment (ergastolo). Il Torinese reports that the court found him "totalmente capace di intendere e volere," that is, fully capable of understanding and willing his acts. Mole24 quotes the experts who examined him as saying: "C'è sicuramente infermità mentale, ma la premeditazione non può essere ignorata" (there is certainly mental infirmity, but premeditation cannot be ignored).
The court that tried him and any finding of partial insanity in its exact legal wording are not on record.
In November 1989 the life sentence was reduced to thirty years of imprisonment (reclusione), with a further three years to be served in a criminal psychiatric hospital (manicomio criminale, in Il Giornale's wording; ospedale psichiatrico giudiziario in Il Torinese's). Il Torinese says his possible mental infirmity was reassessed after the first-instance verdict. The appeal court and its reasoning are not on record.
Il Giornale and Mole24 both give October 2008 as the date of his release, and Il Giornale puts his time in prison at 22 years. Il Torinese says he left the forensic psychiatric hospital definitively in 2008 and, in June 2017, was living under a protection regime that preserved his privacy. Il Giornale, in March 2024, wrote that he was living under a new identity in an unknown location.
Dates and details differ between published accounts. Il Giornale and Mole24 call the first victim Francesca, while Il Torinese calls her Anna. Mole24 dates several of the 1986 deaths to 1985, which cannot be squared with Il Giornale's dates or with an August 1986 arrest. The number of victims is nine in Il Giornale, Il Torinese and Mole24, though Mole24 adds that police at first counted eight. Mole24 gives the year of the appeal as 1989; Il Giornale says November without a year. The number of killings covered by the verdict is not on record.
March 11, 1952: Giancarlo Giudice is born in Turin.
Late 1983 (December 27, 1983, per Il Giornale): first killing.
1984 and April 1985: further killings.
March 2 to June 28, 1986: the last five killings, ending with that of Maria Rosa Paoli.
August 25, 1986: arrested after a routine police check.
Mid-March 1989: trial begins.
March 22, 1989: sentenced to life imprisonment at first instance.
November 1989: sentence reduced to thirty years plus three years in a criminal psychiatric hospital.
October 2008: released.
March 2024: reported to be living under a new identity at an undisclosed location.