Carter Roy (28:16)
If you are enjoying murder true crime stories, there's a new crime house show for you to check out. It's called the Final Hours and it's hosted by Sarah Turney and Courtney Nicole. Sarah is an advocate for missing and murdered victims whose sister disappeared in 2001. And Courtney is a true crime storyteller and investigator who witnessed firsthand how crime can change a family forever. Together, they bring lived experience to every case, looking not only at what happened, but what led up to it. Each episode examines the moments just before a person disappears. The routines, the timelines, and the small details that often get overlooked. Because every disappearance has a moment where everything still feels normal. A text that doesn't raise concern, a routine that goes unchanged, a door that closes just like it always has. Until it doesn't. The final hours puts those moments under a microscope. Because when it comes to justice, there's no such thing as over analyzing. Listen to and follow the final hours on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen. New episodes every Monday. By 2005, over two decades had passed since 15 year old Emanuela Orlandi went missing. In the wake of her disappearance, her family was left with a dark possibility. They believed the Catholic Church knew what happened to Emanuela and had helped cover it up. But the Vatican was incredibly secretive and the Orlandis might never know for certain. However, that year they got a little closer to the truth. One day, an Italian reporter named Raffaella Notariali received a phone call. The person on the other line told her to visit the crypts at the Basilica of Sant Apollinari. There, Raffaella would learn what happened to Emanuela. The Basilica was a Vatican church. Only the most important members of society were allowed to be buried there. Raffaella knew her anonymous source was pointing her towards someone powerful. She went to the Basilica and when she entered the lower level where the crypts were located, a large marble tomb caught her eye. The engraving on it read Enrico Di Pariz. Rafaela was shocked. Enrico de Pariz had been one of Italy's most notorious most mafia bosses. Rafaela was certain the tipster had led her towards his tomb. It seemed strange that he was laid to rest at a Vatican church. Raffaella wondered if he pulled a favor to be buried there. Obviously, Enrico couldn't tell her anything himself. He died eight years earlier, but his mistress was alive. Her name was Sabrina Medardi. 45 year old Sabrina lived in Rome and she was willing to talk. Although it took about a year to piece together her entire story. It all started back in 1981 with a man named Roberto Calvi. He ran one of Italy's largest private banks. He was also part of an organization known as propaganda due, or P2 for short. Based in Rome, P2 was an offshoot of the Freemasons. The Freemasons are one of the oldest and most controversial secret societies in history. As for P2, its members had allegedly infiltrated major sectors of Italian society, including the military, the media and banking. They also worked with the Mafia to arrange shady business deals. And even though Calvi was one of the group's most prominent members, his customers seemed to turn a blind eye. In fact, one of his biggest banking clients was the Vatican. At the time, American Archbishop Paul Marcinkis ran the Vatican Bank. He and Calvi were close. So close that Marcinkus allowed him to funnel the Vatican's money into P2. But that wasn't the only scheme the two men cooked up. Calvi also laundered money through the Vatican bank for the mob. Basically, Mafiosos delivered him cash, which he ran through the Vatican bank to offshore shell companies. Then the mob could access it without the Italian government knowing. According to Sabrina Minardi, she was one of the people who delivered duffel bags full of cash to Calvi's doorstep. She did it as a favor to her mobster boyfriend, Enrico de Parais. But before long, the whole operation crumbled. In June of 1982, Colvi's bank collapsed. He was left with millions of dollars in debt. And then he went on the run. He didn't make it far. A few days later, on June 18, Calvi's lifeless body was found hanged from a bridge in London. His death was initially ruled a suicide. However, prosecutors suspected the Mafia had actually killed him because it turned out he still owed them laundered money. The story doesn't end there, though. According to some, the mob wasn't just looking for revenge on Roberto Calvi. They were also looking to send a message to the Vatican. Calvi was hanged from the Blackfriars Bridge. The name Blackfriars refers to an order of Catholic monks. Some people believe that specific detail was meant to catch the Vatican's attention. At that point, the Church was still in possession of some of the mob's money. People theorized that killing Calvi was their way of demanding it back. And when that didn't work, they found another way to get the Vatican to raise repay them by holding Emanuela Orlandi hostage. According to Sabrina, her boyfriend Enrico had kidnapped Emanuela. Then he'd asked Sabrina to bring the girl to a house on the outskirts of Rome. Sabrina said a woman named Adelaide met them there. Apparently, Enrico had hired Adelaide to take care of Emanuela, but she wasn't exactly nurturing. For the next few days, Adelaide kept Emanuela in a locked bedroom. She only let her out to eat and bathe. She also dosed Emanuela with drugs that left her barely conscious. After 10 days in the house, Enrico moved Emanuela to another location. Shortly after, he asked Sabrina to pick her up from an apartment building in Rome and drive her to a gas station inside the Vatican. In the car, Sabrina tried to talk to emanuela. But the 15 year old was still heavily drugged and could barely speak. When they arrived at the gas station, Sabrina saw a black Mercedes with Vatican license plates. The man got out. He was dressed like a priest, though Sabrina wasn't sure he actually was one. He pulled Emanuela out of Sabrina's car, put her in the back of the Mercedes and drove off. Later, Sabrina asked Enrico why the mob was doing this to Emanuela. He said it was a power play. In 2008, 25 years after Emanuela vanished, Raffaella Notoreali published Sabrina's story. Unsurprisingly, The Vatican denied everything. Church officials said Sabrina's claims were highly dubious. But not everyone agreed. By then, Emanuela's brother Pietro had lost a lot of faith in the church. When he saw Sabrina's story, he wanted more than just their word against Sabrina's. He wanted proof. So he turned his attention to the original tip, the one that led Rafaela to Sabrina in the first place. He wanted to know why a notorious mobster was buried in a Vatican church. After reading the article, many Catholics had the same question. For the next few years, they stood behind Pietro as he demanded answers. Finally, in 2012, Italian police investigated a priest at the Basilica of Sant'. Apollinara. Apparently, he was the one who'd allowed Enrico de Paris to be buried there. The priest insisted he wasn't involved in Enrico's criminal dealings and had nothing to do with Emanuela's kidnapping. According to him, Enrico had been granted the burial site because he'd donated a lot of money to the church, plain and simple. And while the investigation didn't reveal any valuable information about what happened to Emanuela, it did spark a new morbid rumor that Emanuela was dead and she was buried with Enrico. It seemed like the public came up with this theory on their own. But it gained so much steam that the Vatican gave the Italian police permission to open Enrico's tomb. Unfortunately, there was no trace of Emanuela. Her remains had yet to be found. But that didn't seem to matter to the Vatican. In 2013, the Orlandes attended Sunday Mass led by the newly elected Pope Francis. When he saw the family, the Pope told them, emanuela is in heaven. Pietro responded that he hoped she was still alive. But the Pope only repeated himself. Pietro felt like the Church was trying to send a message. Message to the family that they should move on and stop probing. To him, it was further evidence that the Vatican was hiding something. He was right. About a year later, on March 29, 2014, an unknown person broke into a Vatican administrative building and stole multiple documents from a locked safe. They revealed years of of financial misconduct. The documents were sent to various Italian reporters who spent years combing through them. But something wasn't adding up. There were missing pages. Then, in 2017, a major puzzle piece fell into place. That year, a journalist named Emiliano Fittipaldi received a phone call from a prominent member of the Church. The clergy member's identity has never been revealed, but the man asked to meet with Emiliano. When they sat down, the man gave him a folder with a few photocopied papers inside. The Papers were titled A Summary of Expenses Sustained by the Vatican City State for Activities Relating to the citizen Emanuela Orlandi. There, in writing, was a list of various payments the Vatican had made. The first was in 1983, the same year Emanuela vanished. There were hundreds of thousands of dollars accounted for, but the amount was less shocking than the story. The documents told the line. Items suggested the Vatican had investigated Emanuela's disappearance and found her almost right away. But instead of bringing her home, they'd brought her to a girls hostel in London. It was run by Catholic priests, and Emanuela stayed there for two years until 1985. Her whereabouts for the next three years were a mystery for. But then, starting in 1988 until 1993, payments were made to a hospital in London. Not only that, but they also showed direct payments to a woman named Leslie Regan. She'd been a senior lecturer in obstetrics and gynecology at the hospital since 1990. After that, there was another gap, until one final expense was made in 1997. According to the transactions, that's when Emanuela's remains were moved from London to the Vatican. If that's true, she would have been 29 years old at her time of death. When the people of Italy learned about the documents, they were livid and convinced the church was still hiding her body. Over the next few years, Italian authorities exhumed more burial sites on Vatican grounds. They found that one tomb was filled with thousands of scattered bones belonging to at least a dozen different people. Another one that was supposed to contain the remains of two 19th century princesses was completely empty. The Vatican said the remains must have been misplaced during renovations in the 1960s and 70s. But neither Princess has been found, and neither has Emanuela. By then, it seemed like the search for her body had run its course. If those stolen documents didn't solve the mystery, it seemed like nothing would. In 2020, the Vatican officially closed its investigation. But that still wasn't the end of the story. In 2022, one of Emanuela's childhood friends spoke anonymously to Netflix for their documentary about Emanuela's disappearance. According to this source, Emanuela was walking in the Vatican gardens one day about a week before she disappeared. Allegedly, that's when someone close to the Pope sexually assaulted Emanuela. Afterwards, Emanuela told her friend about it. However, she didn't say who the person was. The girls didn't think anyone would believe them, so they kept the abuse quiet. But when the documentary aired, people started to wonder if church officials kidnapped and possibly killed Emanuela to cover up the scandal. In response, the Vatican reopened its investigation into emanuela's disappearance in 2023 under Pope Francis. As of this recording, the investigation is still underway. The Vatican, now under Pope Leo, has confirmed that they kept a confidential file on Emanuela's disappearance. They still claim the list of expenses was faked. But clearly there's something they wanted to hide. To this day, Emanuela Orlandi is the only Vatican citizen to ever go missing. Her family still believes the Vatican knows more than they're letting on. And Pietro has made several public pleas for the truth. Until that happens, he's vowed to never stop looking for his sister. Her disappearance remains one of the Vatican's most enduring and haunting mysteries. But that doesn't mean it can't be solved. Someone out there knows what happened to Emanuela, and it's not too late to find them. In fact, the investigation was reopened thanks to an anonymous tip. So if you feel like you don't have the power to help, think again. If you have any information that might be useful to the case, reach out to the Public Prosecutor's office in Rome. You can call their public line at 390-638761. In cases like this, it may seem like justice will never be served. But if we work together, there's nothing we can't overcome. Thanks so much for listening. I'm Carter Roy, and this is Murder True Crime Stories. Come back next time for the story of another murder and all the people it affected. And now I'm welcoming Sarah Turney and Courtney Nicole back to talk all about Crime House's newest show, the Final Hours.
