Acting on DNA evidence from a used condom and a cigarette butt — as well as security video — police arrested an illegal alien from Senegal on suspicion of murdering American artist Ashley Olsen in Florence, Italy.
Cheik Tidiane Diaw, 25, who police describe as being in Italy illegally, is suspected of crushing Ashley’s skull and then strangling her to death after meeting her in a local nightclub last week.
Police say he told them her death came after consensual sex.
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Interrogators reported that Diaw said: “She told me to leave and that her boyfriend was coming and she pushed me to the door.” He then screamed, “You have treated me like a dog!” and punched her in the head.
Ashley fell back, got up and tried to push him away. Diaw said he shoved her back and she fell and hit her head, resulting in the skull fractures.
Diaw did, however, deny intentionally strangling the victim, claiming the marks on her neck happened when he tried to pull her up.
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“We have gathered serious indications of guilt against him,” said Florence chief prosecutor Giuseppe Creazzo at a news conference.
A used condom and cigarette butt discovered in Olsen’s toilet. The suspect tried to flush them, but failed. DNA samples were also found under her fingernails.
In addition, Creazzo said Diaw used Ashley’s cell phone after installing his own SIM card, and surveillance video put Diaw and Olsen at the Montecarla club early Friday morning. Her bruised and scratched naked body was discovered Saturday.
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Ashley, 35, of Summer Haven, Fla., suffered two fractures to her skull that would have killed her, but she was also strangled with a USB cord, according to the autopsy.
Diaw is accused of aggravated homicide — because of both the brutal manner of Ashley’s death and because she was in a compromised state, Creazzo added.
Ashley moved to Florence three years ago to join her father, Walter Olsen, a Renaissance art professor.
