Rimini, September 7, 2026 – A new home, the return to work as a metalworker and life together with his wife Valeria Bartolucci. Almost three months after the acquittal for the murder of Pierina Paganelli, Louis Dassilva tries to put the pieces of his daily life back together. But the judicial case is far from over. To know the reasons that led the judges to acquit him, we will have to wait longer: a 90-day extension has been requested for the filing of the sentence’s motivations. And the Rimini prosecutor’s office has already announced its intention to appeal.
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Dassilva broke the long silence: “The acquittal was a liberation”
Dassilva, meanwhile, breaks the long silence and speaks publicly again in an interview with the host of ‘Ore 14’ Salvo Sottile. Dassilva, in the studio with his lawyers Riario Fabbri and Andrea Guidi, starts from the night between June 9 and 10, when, after 16 hours of deliberation, in the Falcone and Borsellino courtroom of the Rimini court came the acquittal “for not having committed the act”. A verdict that the 36-year-old, he says, initially did not even understand. “If the lawyer hadn’t touched me to make me understand, I wouldn’t have even understood. But immediately after it was a liberation, a presence of light, a weight that was too heavy and that I freed myself from”. Then the tears, after 694 days spent in prison. “I had faith. But the fear was there. I started crying because I prayed a lot, prayed a lot, and people helped me to pray too”. And the first gesture as a free man was as normal as one can imagine: breakfast together with his lawyers. “They are small things, but to appreciate the small things you have to have the moment when you don’t have them, the moment of lack. When you miss them, you appreciate them more”.
Dassilva’s new daily life
Today Dassilva is looking for that normality. He has returned to work full-time as a metalworker, resuming the permanent position he had before the arrest. He left via del Ciclamino and lives in a new home with his wife. The intention, his lawyers explain, is to stay in Italy.
With his wife Valeria “everything has returned to how it was before”
Then there is the relationship with Valeria Bartolucci, who stayed by his side during prison and despite the extramarital affair with Manuela Bianchi, Pierina’s daughter-in-law, having emerged. Dassilva says that today between them “everything is at peace” and that “everything has returned to how it was before”. When asked if he is in love with his wife, he answers without hesitation: “Yes, very much”. He also talks about the apologies made to the family: “It was a very difficult period and the betrayal is not something I was proud of. I hurt a lot of people, especially my family members”.
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“Manuela? It could be revenge, maybe she’s protecting someone”
The tone is very different when the conversation turns to Manuela, who became Dassilva’s main accuser. “It could be revenge. Only she knows. But certainly, if a person goes to accuse another person of such a terrible thing, there is something to hide or she is protecting someone“. And he completely downplays the relationship he had with her: “It was a physical relationship, a physical relationship and nothing more“.
“I prayed a lot for Pierina Paganelli”
At the bottom remains the murder of Pierina, the 78-year-old retiree killed with 29 stab wounds on the evening of October 3, 2023, in the garage of the condominium on via del Ciclamino. Dassilva describes their relationship as limited to greetings: “Honestly, we only had a good morning, good evening relationship. That’s it, nothing more”. And he does not indicate possible suspects for the crime: “The idea I had is the one many people, many Italians had. But, having no evidence, no proof, you cannot point the finger at anyone”. And when Sottile asks him what he would say to Pierina today, Dassilva returns to the months spent behind bars: “There’s nothing I can say to her. The only thing is that I dedicated many prayers to her during prison”. For Manuela Bianchi, instead, the answer is sharp: “I have no words to say to her. Nothing”.
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