A desperate search for a five-year-old girl who has been missing for ten days continued in Florence today, as police took control of the former hotel where she lived.
Kataleya Mia Chicillo Alvarez, five, disappeared nine days ago from the Astor Hotel in Florence where she had been living with her family and more than 140 illegal migrants.
There are two ways she could have been taken from the hotel.
CCTV recorded her playing on some steps near a courtyard at the hotel at 3.12pm on June 10 before she vanished.
No traces of Kataleya and her kidnappers were found in the area and the police’s working theory is that she was bundled into a trunk or suitcase and taken out one of the two exits of the hotel.
Italy’s Carabinieri Scientific Investigation Department officers and workers from local services are carrying out a desperate search for the five-year-old and have taken her toothbrush for DNA analysis.
On Sunday, ten police officers began to empty bins outside of the occupied hotel where Kataleya lived, while two teams of specialist officers arrived with search equipment.
Eight forensic officers were also on the scene as investigators finally emptied the building of all of its occupants in order to conduct an unimpeded search for the first time.
The inspection of the building is set to continue on Monday morning and the building has been manned to prevent intrusions and interference with evidence.
A nearby building and garage were also combed over by officers as they believe the five-year-old might have been moved there temporarily.
Anti-mafia police are believed to be involved in the ongoing search.
Kataleya’s family lived in a room in the former hotel which became occupied in September last year. They moved to Italy when she was six months old.
On Saturday the building was cleared and it was discovered that 140 people were living there illegally.
Kataleya’s parents, Kathrina Alvarez and Miguel Angel Romero, attended a church service in Via Lulli, near the hotel, to pray for the safe return of their daughter.
A letter from the priest of the parish, Father Juan Manuel Núñez Rubio, chaplain of the Latin American community in Florence, announced that Cadinal Giuseppe Betori has asked people to pray for the missing child, La Repubblica reported.
