Juan Ameen and Claudia Calleja
Possibility nails were hammered into young man's skull
Suspects released
The police are not ruling out the possibility that the six nails found in the head of Gaetano Romano, who was found dead in an industrial oven last week, were hammered into the 20-year-old's skull.
Investigators initially believed a nail gun could have been used to shoot the tacks into the young man's head but since the father's discovery of his son's charred body on Thursday such a weapon has not been found.
Given this, police sources said, investigators were not ruling out the possibility that no such gun was used.
As the circumstances of Mr Romano's gruesome death remain shrouded in mystery, the police were also open to the theory that his death could have been drug-related. The find of about 80 pills, strongly suspected to be ecstasy, in the young man's home pointed investigations in that direction.
The police were still awaiting toxicology results that would determine whether Mr Romano had drugs in his system, the sources said.
The sources also confirmed that Mr Romano was not known by the police to have a drug habit. He had a clean record.
Mr Romano's body was discovered one day after his 20th birthday in the oven of his father's gypsum workshop in Damascus Street, Buġibba.
His father, Nicola, was abroad with his Moroccan wife when the killing took place but flew to Malta when his son failed to answer his phone calls.
When the father entered his workshop he found the body locked in the oven. An autopsy failed to determine whether Mr Romano was still alive when his body was placed there.
The sources said it appeared Mr Romano had been killed after "an argument got out of hand" and ruled out rumours - sparked by the nature of the killing and because Mr Romano's father is Sicilian - that there was some kind of Mafia involvement.
Three suspects were held between Friday and Saturday. They included a relative of his father, a man in his 30s, as well as a Maltese and a "Yugoslav" who were close friends of the victim but were reported to have had a number of arguments with him recently. They have all been released following the lapse of the 48-hour legal time window during which the police could detain a suspect.
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John Matthews
Apr 10th 2009, 16:14
To those of you that suggest "lie detector" (polygraph) tests, as Mr Tyrell quite rightly pointed out, you need a suspect. However, polygraph tests are NOT PERMISSIBLE as evidence in a court of law. They are a guide.
James A. Tyrrell
Apr 10th 2009, 15:27
@Ronnie Gauci. In order for a lie detector to be used you need a suspect and once you have a suspect if they know what they are doing they can very easily beat a lie detector test. There is a new one in development, which uses some form of brain scanning and is said to be unbeatable but then they said that about the old one.
edward bartolo
Apr 10th 2009, 14:16
Those are not lie detecters, those are stress detectors. They can make the life of innocent people during interrogation a real nightmare. Malta is cautious about using such methods, and that is a good sign.
Ronnie Gauci
Apr 10th 2009, 10:36
Why don't we use lie detector tests in Malta? In the US these put investigators on the right track. Then on TV we see cases which are much harder to solve than this one solved in a matter of days.
Peter Carabott
Apr 9th 2009, 20:13
Was it necessary to publish that there is a possiblilty that the nails were hammered into the young man's skull?? This is all sensationalism by the press!!! Let the poor guy rest in peace!!
erica borg
Apr 9th 2009, 13:36
@ Mr Tyrrell
Whilst we are all support this families pain, it is only but natural for people to comment on the nature of the alleged murder. This must be the most horrifying murder we had in the last years. Personally i hope that the culprit/s is/are found and brought to justice as its rather scary to think that someone who is capable of doing such a thing is walking freely.
Charles Micallef
Apr 9th 2009, 11:01
I knew Romano and his father as did many others through their business.
We pray and hope that God and their religion will in the future give the family some comfort that they desperately need.
This crime is beyond any human being comprehension and one will find hard to believe that this is just another local murder…………………
deb bugeja
Apr 9th 2009, 09:53
ma nafx id dinja f hiex waslet. vera spicca l moralita kollha. nisma dawn l affarijiet u nitkexxkex.
James A. Tyrrell
Apr 8th 2009, 21:06
@ Anthony Magri and Joe Cordina. Surely you must see that this type of speculation is totally inappropriate given the circumstances. This poor young lad is dead and I think his father has enough to deal with without reading this type of comment. Leave the speculation to the experts and give your support at this time to Nicola.
Anthony Magri
Apr 8th 2009, 14:04
Hamering a nail into an empty round container would surely cause it to disintegrate. Try to hammer a nail into an easter egg and see the result.Remember, hammer not push gently.The egg, the skull would break. Perahaps the nails were fixed into a piece of wood and the body was placed into the oven to burn a very easy piece of evidence :a piece of wood.Anyhow the police have facts and experts to interprete what had possibly happened
Joe Cordina
Apr 8th 2009, 11:46
Having read that the nails where of different sizes, I was very sceptical of the theory that a nail gun was used, such guns would have same size nails. One possibility would be that the victim was hit on the head with a piece of would having various nails protruding from it and remained stuck to the skull wood and all. The wood would disitegrate in the oven leaving only the nails. Of course this is only a theory as one has to execute forensic examination for any residue in the oven.
J. Darmanin
Apr 8th 2009, 10:21
oh my god, hammered! i cant imagine the kind of excruciating pain he went through :-( thats so horrible