Leonarda Cianciulli Case Study

Leonarda Cianciulli was an Italian woman who believed that human sacrifice would save her son from dying while abroad at World War 2. She murdered 3 women promising them employment and prospects to lure them into her web. The most interesting part the Ciaciulli case was the methodology which was used to prep the women and dispose of their bodies. Ciaciulli meticulously cut the bodies, used the decomposed flesh to make soap, drained them of their blood, and dried the blood into a powder to make tea-cakes for her family and neighbors. This harrowing process would be continued -for all 3 of her victims until 1946 when she was finally arrested, tried, and sentenced to 33 years in prison (three of those in a Criminal Asylum).

Ciaciulli lived a

melancholic childhood of constant rejection and resentment; Emilia de Nolfi, her mother, was raped by Mariano Cianciulli resulting in Leonarda’s birth. Although her birth date is disputed among many sources she was said to be born around 1893-94 in Montella, Province of Avellino. As Ciaciulli got older the psychological abuse that she was facing by her mother caused her to attempt suicide twice, both attempts resulting unsuccessful. Additionally, she partook in self-harming behaviors such as swallowing eating glass still resulting with no avail.
In 1914 Leonarda decided to marry Raffaele Pansardi, despite her parents disapproval. Her mother was so appalled that Leonarda stated that she placed a curse on their marriage prohibiting any of the children to come out of that marriage alive. Though there are still skeptics about the curse, 13 out of Leonarda’s 17 children died before reaching adolescence. This caused her to become extremely protective of the lives of her four remaining children. In addition to the traumatic death of her children she had been previously imprisoned for fraud and her house had been destroyed by an earthquake in 1930. For most of her life Leonarda was a superstitious woman and constantly visited psychics or fortune tellers to help her with the future of her and her remaining children. One of the psychics was reported in telling Cianciulli that she “would have plenty children but all would die”, while another gypsy told her “In your right hand I see prison, in your left a criminal asylum.” These premonitions are what led the overly protective mother of 4 to commit human sacrifices for her eldest and “favorite” son, Giuseppe.
It was World War 2, Benito Mussolini had begun drafting young men and when her son Giuseppe was drafted she would do whatever it took to bring him back home alive. She had stated that “killing others would keep her own children safe by providing God with other deaths in place of her own children”. Faustina Setti was Cianciulli’s first victim, she was a common customer of Cianciulli’s fortune telling and match-making business. Cianciulli used the trust that women had in her to lure her victims into leaving their homes and finding “better futures”. Faustina was promised a husband in a far over town and Cianciulli convinced her to write a farewell letter to her family so that she would not be missed. When Faustina came to Cianciulli’s house to pay her, she drugged her wine and later chopped her into nine pieces using a hatchet. Cianciulli would then dissolve her body in pots mixing it with “caustic soda to make soap and pouring it into nearby septic tanks”. She waited until it had “coagulated, dried it in the oven, and made tea cakes” which she served to the ladies who came to visit, and stated that “Giuseppe and I also ate them”.
Her second unfortunate victim was Francesca Soavi to whom she promised a teaching job in Piacenza. Cianciulli also convinced Francesca to keep the job opportunity a secret, telling her to also write a goodbye letter to be sent in a later date. Cianciulli had replicated Setti’s murder almost identically when killing Soavi, drugging her, taking her money, and turning her to soap and tea cakes. Her last victim, the reason for her imprisonment, was Virginia Cacioppo a well-known opera singer at La Scala in Milan. What Cianciulli had promised Cacioppo was a meeting with a reputable impresario to help her be more successful in her singing career. Like her previous two victims her method of killing stayed the same; however, the only difference that was applied was the addition of cologne to the soap to make it more appealing to her neighbors. Cacioppo’s sister-in-law called for an investigation after she had been missing for too long of a time. The investigators arrested Cianciulli and it was said that “she was unusually open with the police, describing her crimes and disposal in ghoulish detail”. She was tried for the murders in 1946 and found guilty getting sentenced to 30 years in prison and 3 years in a criminal asylum.
What leads me to believe that Cianciulli was an organized killer was the fact that she dismembered the bodies always killing them at her house but disposing them in another location.

Moreover, she a very social appropriate person who kept a stable partner and talked to her victims personally. Her victims were lured in due to her charm, tricking them into vulnerable positions, and getting them to set their familiy members at ease was one of her specialties. Lastly, the disposal of the bodies was the give away of Cianciulli’s organized crime profile. She knew that if she disposed of the bodies by melting them and turning them into soap and tea cakes she would never get caught due to the lack of evidence present to incriminate

her.
The most prominent aspect of Leonarda Cianciulli was the way that she murdered her victims, her M.O.

Cianciulli would lure all three of her victims into her house by promising them great things that she “saw in their future”. When the victims arrived to her house for payment, she would invite them in and drug their wine in order to discapasitate them. Afterwards, she would cut the bodies into 9 pieces using a hatchet, dissolve their bodies in pots, and drain them of their blood. The melted flesh and fat would be used to make soap while the scrap meltings were disposed of in a septic tank near Cianciulli’s residence. The blood which was drained was let out to coagulate then dried in the oven to make a powder which she would use to add to her tea cakes. By cannibalizing the bodies and turning them into soap, which she gave to her neighbors, there was never any true evidence

remaining.
A disheartened mother refusing to lose another child, Leonarda Ciaciulli took it onto her own hands to prevent the death of her son abroad. She believed that if she sacrificed the bodies of others to God, that he would spare the lives of her only living children, especially her “favorite son”, Giuseppe. Her methodology was to cautiously drug the women, cut the bodies, make soap, and dry the blood into a powder to make tea-cakes for her family and neighbors. Her demise came by the hands of her most expensive victim, Virginia Cacioppo, whose sister-in-law called for the investigation which imprisoned her. Though her confession to the police was detailed and unemotional, there are still debates whether or not she should have been given the death-sentence or admitted to an asylum based on the insanity plea. Leonarda Cianciulli’s case was one of underlying childhood traumas and psychological hardships leading her to suffer from an acute God-complex in hopes of protecting her children. The ghastly manner in which she took advantage of the women who trusted her with their future lives and the insensitive confession she offered the police secures her place as one of the world’s most heinous female criminals.