Denisa Maria Paun’s decapitated body was found shoved into a suitcase by an abandoned farmhouse in Italy – the man accused of murdering her reportedly shared a reason for the killing
The man accused of murdering a woman whose body was found beheaded and stuffed in a suitcase in a popular tourist region reportedly shared a chilling reason for the killing. Romanian national Denisa Maria Paun, 30, vanished from a hotel in Prato in Tuscany on May 15.
Her remains were tragically found around 11am on June 4. Denisa, who worked as an escort, went missing days after she told her friend she feared for her life. Her body was later found hidden among brambles near an abandoned farmhouse in Montecatini Terme, around 20 miles west of Florence. Local security guard Vasile Frumuzache, 32, also a Romanian national, has reportedly admitted to killing the 30-year-old and cutting off her head.
The married dad-of-two, who lived and worked in Rome, is facing charges of murder and suppression of a corpse. He is said to have used a knife to behead Denisa and set fire to her body – after she allegedly threatened to tell his wife if he did not pay for her services.
Frumuzache told police his chilling reason for allegedly killing Denisa, saying: “She was blackmailing me, that’s why I killed her. When I told her that I was a security guard and that I was married, she told me that she was able to reach my wife.”
He told cops the pair connected on a dating app before they met and had sex at a hotel, the same night she was savagely killed. Denisa reportedly demanded he pay more than £8,000 or she would go to his wife and expose the cheating.
Frumuzache is believed to have suffocated Denisa before cutting off her head, shoving her body into a big black bag and then into a suitcase. A post-mortem is expected to confirm the exact cause of death. CCTV footage from outside the hotel showed the 32-year-old man holding a black bag at around 10.50pm.
Footage then caught Frumuzache walking out of the hotel holding a white suitcase, which belonged to Denisa, and put it into his car. Italian prosecutors say the woman’s remains were in that suitcase. Using GPS data from a tracker fitted to his car for insurance purposes, detectives traced his journey to the spot where the body was found.
This comes after reports the 30-year-old called her mum just hours before her harrowing death and “seemed calm”. Denisa said: “Hi Mum, I’m fine, see you at home on Saturday.” Shortly after this call however, Denisa’s phone switched off.
Her mum then went to police in Rome and reported her as missing. A few days before her death, Denis reportedly told a friend: “I’m afraid I’m going to be killed.”