An Unusual Serial Killer

by M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
There is a little-known but very interesting case of a serial sexual killer who targeted older women. Between 1995 to 1997 he claimed fifteen lives in  the city of Apulia (also known as Puglia) located in Italy's heel.

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It took some time before Italian police realized that only one person was killing elderly women.

The murder of fifteen women, all over the age of 70, was not initially attributed to a serial killer. Different persons were accused, tried and convicted of murders they had not committed, before authorities realized all the bloodshed was the handiwork of one individual.

Based upon where a particular victim lived, murder investigations were conducted by three different jurisdictions, therefore autopsies were performed by different pathologists.

Eventually the connection was made that the same perpetrator was responsible for the crimes, but only within the jurisdiction where a group of murders occurred.

The majority of the victims were stabbed multiple times in the neck, except for three cases in which the cause of death was manual strangulation. There was evidence of sexual assault in only one of the cases.

The highest number of stab wounds listed in a single case was 25. Wounds were consistent with being inflicted from the front by a right-handed individual. A knife was never recovered at any of the crime scenes, since the offender took the weapon with him. ​

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All the victims were found face-up on the floor of their homes

Eventually a forensic pathologist and a forensic psychiatrist reviewed the autopsy records, and the investigation reports of all the victims. They found all the cases shared the following characteristics: the victims were females over the age of 70, living alone in their own ground floor apartments, there were no signs of a break-in, all the apartments were ransacked, in some of the cases money and/or jewelry were taken, all the victims were stabbed in the neck, mostly on the left side, and none of the victims had defensive injuries.

The criminal  often spent time in the apartments after he killed the women. He would ransack drawers searching for money and jewelry, he would wash his hands and he would smoke and leave cigarette butts at the scene.

The profile indicated this was not the M.O. for the local criminals, and it was probable the offender was an immigrant. He was skilled in using a knife, and displayed features of antisocial personality disorder and was sexually motivated. It was suspected he might have a prior arrest for sex-related crimes or attempted murder.

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Ben Mohamed Ezzedine Sebai c.1990s

On September 15, 1997 a man identified as Ben Mohamed Ezzedine Sebai, a 35-year-old Tunisian was arrested. He was originally from Kairouan (Tunisia), and in 1990, had immigrated illegally to Italy.

Sebai was arrested while attempting to board a train after his last murder. The next door neighbor of the last victim, who was only 8 years old, identified him as the man he saw discarding blood stained clothing.

It was found that within a year of arriving in Italy he was charged with attempted murder and rape by the police of Bolzano (Northern Italy). An expulsion order was issued, but Sebai fled before the trial, and took refuge in the province of Foggia (Southern Italy), where he worked occasionally as a farm laborer.

Sebai was charged and convicted of four of the murders and was given a life sentence.

In 2005, he confessed to the murders of four additional elderly women, for which nine other people had already been previously tried and convicted, among them Vincenzo Donvito, who had been sentenced to 22 years. He committed suicide in jail.

In 2007, Sebai finally confessed to committing fifteen murders that occurred between 1995 and 1997. Based upon Sebai’s confession, his lawyer was indicted for homicide in the death of the minor young man who committed suicide in jail prior to Sebai’s admission, since his client had already told him he was guilty of all 15 murders.

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Ransacked bedroom where one of Sebai committed a murder c.1990s

​Surprisingly three cases which had been committed in 1995, were originally classified as natural deaths.

Sebai also admitted to experiencing sexual gratification at every homicide scene, even though there was no physical proof at most of the crime scenes. His fingerprints were found at two of the locations.

When Sebai was interviewed in prison he met all the clinical criteria for antisocial personality disorder, and sexual sadism. He described where he chose his victim randomly, and once chosen he would study the woman’s habits and pick a time when she was alone. He would approach the victim at home using the pretext of selling holy pictures. Then he would overpower them. He chose to stab in the neck because it would produce a rapid death. He said this reminded him of "ritual slaughter very common in Muslim life. In the preparation of Muslim meat (halal), animals are killed by having their throats cut wide open while fully conscious, and bled to death."

The offender described where his father was physically and sexually abusive. He would strike him on his feet after hanging him upside down, and he would also insert objects into his anus. His grandmother was overbearing and abusive, and allowed him to be abused by his uncles. He was also sexually abused by his first Imam at his Muslim school, and also in Turkish baths by "black dressed" old  women, who were friends of his mother and grandmother. These women were dressed in traditional black clothing similar to those by older women in Southern Italy.

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Sebai was found hanging in his prison cell while serving his sentence for murder

Sebai claimed he committed the murders for hatred of his mother, who took him to the Turkish baths where he was used as a sexual object by his mother's friends, who humiliated and raped him. These abuses led him to experience a deep repulsion for women, the engine that would lead him to kill.
 
In 2012, Sebai was found hanging in his cell in the prison of Padua. He had been sentenced to 4 life sentences for his crimes.

As of May 2024, trials for people convicted of the same murders confessed by Sebai have not been reopened. 

Though serial killers that target older women are rare, it is not unheard of. In May 2022, Billy Kipkorir Chemirmir, was charged with smothering to death 18 elderly women over a two-year crime spree. Born in Kenya, Africa he immigrated to Texas. Police described where he went door to door at independent living apartments, and pretended he was a maintenance worker. He stalked other women at Walmart and followed them home. He would kill them by smothering them with a pillow over their face. He would steal jewelry, cash and any precious items he could find.

In September, 2023, he was found dead in his cell at Coffield Unit in Tennessee Colony, Texas. He was killed by his cellmate who was in prison for a murder conviction. 

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Members of SCU are known for certain tattoos that identify which clan they belong to

It seems that Apulia and the surrounding areas are steeped in petty crimes, but violence as well. The criminal organization Sacra  Corona Unita (SCU, United Holy Crown) originated there some time between the late 1970s and early 1980s. It is credited with transforming the rules of traditional mafia organizations.

In 2020, a wave of murders related to the mafia swept through the area based on a new clan that emerged. "There was an average of one murder per week, one robbery per day and an extortion attempt every 48 hours."

The Sacra Corona Unita is tied to a series of ambushes and drive-by shootings that ended with seventeen deaths. The violence exemplifies lawlessness in some parts of Apulia, which have targeted multiple family members. These are often planned in advance and the perpetrator then commits suicide. This violence is also reflected in familial and domestic violence among the residents.

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