A 22-year-old Italian woman died on Sunday after her ex-boyfriend allegedly rammed her car off the road, then used a cigarette lighter to set her on fire.


Vincenzo Paduano, 27, confessed to killing Sara Di Pietrantonio on Sunday morning, reportedly walking off his job as a security guard around 3 a.m. to wait for her outside her current boyfriend’s home. She left alone, and Paduano followed in his car, forcing her off the road as she tried to drive away, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Once Di Pietrantonio was stopped, Paduano allegedly got into her car and, following an argument, doused both Di Pietrantonio and the car’s interior with alcohol. Di Pietrantonio got out and started to run, and Paduano set the car ablaze before catching up and setting her on fire, too.


“In 25 years in this job I have never seen such a heinous crime,” officer Luigi Silipo told reporters on Monday.



Paduano was questioned by police for around eight hours before admitting to the grisly crime. He’s being held on suspicion of premeditated murder.

Prosecutor Maria Monteleone posits that Paduano’s motivation for the slaying was that he “didn’t accept being abandoned.” The pair had dated for two years.

A nearby surveillance camera shows multiple cars passing by the scene as Di Pietrantonio screamed for help. Monteleone notes that had someone stopped, her life might have been saved.


Photo via Facebook.