In a shocking case that has rattled Italy, a 61-year-old mother has confessed to killing and dismembering her own son with the help of his wife, claiming it was to protect the young woman from alleged domestic abuse.

The accused, identified as Lorena Venier, admitted to plotting the murder with her daughter-in-law, Mailyn Castro Monsalvo, 30, for months. According to her testimony, the plan was driven by repeated incidents of violence and threats made by her son, Alessandro Venier, 35, toward his wife.

“Mailyn was violently beaten, insulted, and repeatedly threatened with death,” Lorena told the court. She alleged that Alessandro dismissed his wife’s postpartum depression and became violent toward Lorena herself when she tried to intervene, even punching her in the back.

Lorena further claimed that Alessandro had threatened to take Mailyn, a Colombian national, back to her home country and drown her in a river, saying, “No one’s looking for you there.”

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The Murder Plot

On July 25, the two women allegedly executed their plan. Investigators say they first served Alessandro a glass of lemonade laced with a tranquilliser. Lorena, who had access to medical supplies through her work, then injected him with two doses of insulin to render him unconscious.

Authorities allege that Alessandro was then suffocated with a pillow and strangled using shoelaces. His body was later hacked into pieces in the basement of the family home in Gemona del Friuli, where he lived with Mailyn and their six-month-old daughter.

Cover-Up Attempt

Mailyn is accused of moving the body to the garage and covering it with quicklime, or calcium oxide, in an attempt to mask the smell of decomposition. According to police, the women initially planned to claim Alessandro had left for Colombia, a trip he had recently mentioned to friends, as a cover story for his disappearance.

However, the plan unravelled when Mailyn reportedly called the police and confessed to her role in the killing. Lorena later admitted to the murder in court, insisting that her daughter-in-law only moved the remains.

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Lorena Venier has been charged with murder and concealing a body. Mailyn Castro Monsalvo is under investigation for instigation to murder.