Rome
CNN
–
46-year-old American man accused of murder The 29-year-old woman and her baby are facing a preliminary legal hearing in Rome after being handed over to Italy.
The California native, named on an international arrest warrant and named Francis Kaufman by Italian police, was handed over from Greece over the weekend. Italian police say he previously used his authentic US passport and Italian ID card in the name of Matteo Capozzi under the name of Rexal Ford.
The preliminary hearing took place on Tuesday at Levivia Prison in Rome. According to the Roman Prosecutor’s Office, Kaufman exercised his right to not answer questions and did not respond to charges against him. He was questioned by investigating Justice Flavia Costantini and Rome prosecutor Giuseppe Casini, and his lawyer, Carlo Ludovico Favino, was represented, the prosecutor said.
The bodies of Anastasia Trofimova and her 11-month-old baby were found separately on June 7th in the overgrown area of Villa Panphili Park, Rome. The baby was starved and strangled, but the cause of the mother’s death has not yet been determined.
The victim’s identity was unknown over a week ago for the Italian. A TV show in which the missing person took a photo released by police with a massive tattoo of Trofimova, Moscow’s mother recognized it after a friend sent it to her.
Afterwards, Trofimova’s mother, who was interviewed for the missing person’s show, said her daughter met a man she knew by the name of Lexal Ford, Malta, where she was studying English.
She had never met her granddaughter, but she had sporadically touched the couple and their children, she told Italian investigators. and Italian media.
Kaufman, who denied involvement in the murder, was arrested on the island of Skysos, Greece, on June 13th. He handed over through a local lawyer who no longer represented him.
Italian police say his DNA was found in a black garbage bag where Trofimova’s body was found. DNA testing to determine whether Kaufman is the baby’s father is performed as he is in Italy.
Kaufman, who promoted his position as a film producer and screenwriter, used his Lexal Ford alias to scout the film’s location at a press conference last week, including several rooftop terraces in Rome, and announced the persecution of Rome.
Italian police said at a press conference on June 11 that Kaufman, Trofimova and the baby were ravaged in various parks in Rome and ate in the city’s soup kitchen.
