Denise Pipitone

Status:

Open

Missing From:

Mazara del Vallo, Sicily, Italy

Summary:

Denise Pipitone was a missing Italian girl who disappeared on September 1, 2004, while she was near the house of her maternal grandmother in Mazara del Vallo. She was born October 26, 2000. Through the years, investigations pointed to abduction as a cause of her disappearance involving several anonymous individuals. The case remains unsolved.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Disappearance:

On the morning of September 1, 2004, Denise disappeared in front of her house in her birthplace of Mazara del Vallo. She was last seen by her aunt Giacoma (sister of Piera Maggio) at 11:45 am, on the sidewalk near the street. Denise was left on her own after her cousin went home for lunch. At the time of the disappearance, her mother was taking a computer course and learned of the incident at around 12:30 PM. The news spread through the local media at 2 pm, and quickly became a national case.

Additional Details:

Denise Pipitone was the daughter of Piera Maggio and Pietro Pulizzi. However, on paper Tony Pipitone was listed as her legitimate father as he was married to Piera Maggio. At the time, Piera Maggio was unsure who fathered Denise. According to the last reconstruction of the prosecutors, Denise was abducted by Jessica Pulizzi, with the complicity of her mother, Anna Corona – to which Piero Pulizzi never confessed that Denise was his daughter, even though they suspected the fact – and of her ex-fiancé, Gaspare Ghaleb. The reason was «revenge and jealousy because Denise and Jessica Pulizzi are daughters of the same father, Piero Pulizzi». Jessica Pulizzi, charged with complicity in kidnapping a minor, was arraigned by the preliminary hearing judge of Marsala, on January 18, 2010. The first instance trial began on March 16, 2010, lasting for over three years. The public prosecutor of Marsala recommended the sentence of 15 years of imprisonment for child abduction, deeming her "undoubtedly guilty" due to a series of clear, unambiguous and convergent clues. However, upon completion of the trial, the woman was acquitted by the Court of Marsala, on June 27, 2013, for lack of evidence, and on October 2, 2015, the Court of Appeal of Palermo confirmed the acquittal, rejecting the request for the sentence to 15 years of imprisonment, asked by the head prosecutor of the Court of Appeal of Palermo, Rosalba Scaduto. On April 19, 2017, the Court of Cassation confirmed the final acquittal of Jessica Pulizzi, but at the same time points to the existence of a valid and proven motive. On October 18, 2004, in Milan, security guard Felice Grieco noticed a little girl, closely resembling Denise, accompanied by some gypsies, on the street in front of a bank, in Barona/Giambellino. The group of gypsies consisted of a dark-haired woman, a black man, a blond child with an accordion, and a blond woman. The guard managed to stop the group for a while and filmed the little girl. In September 2008, an Italian nurse on a holiday on the Greek island of Kos saw a child very similar to Denise. The girl apparently had the same age as Denise and was accompanied by an Albanian woman, who claimed to be her mother. A circumstance that raised suspicion was that the child spoke Italian, as opposed to her alleged mother; however, on September 12, 2008, the DNA test showed that the girl was not Denise Pipitone and was confirmed to be the daughter of the Albanian woman. The investigation into the disappearance of Denise was closed in December 2021 by the Marsala investigating judge. On 3 May 2021, the procura of Marsala reopened officially the case and, on 27 of the same month, some deputies of the Democratic Party requested a parliamentary commission of inquiry to investigate possible depistages and anomalies in the investigations carried out. In 2021 the Procura of Marsala has reopened the inquest, inscribing in the register of the investigated four people, among whom for the first time Anna Corona, but also this phase has then closed in nothing.

Case Last Updated:

Nov 04, 2026