American accused in murders of mother and baby appears before Italian judge after extradition
A police officer walks past a sealed-off area where forensic police work at the site of the discovery of the body of an infant and the infant’s mother
By Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN
Rome (CNN) — A 46-year-old American man accused of the murders of a 29-year-old woman and her baby has faced a preliminary legal hearing in Rome after being extradited to Italy.
The California native, named in an international arrest warrant and by Italian police as Francis Kaufmann, was extradited from Greece over the weekend. Italian police say he previously used an authentic US passport in the name of Rexal Ford and an Italian identity card in the name of Matteo Capozzi.
The preliminary hearing took place in Rome’s Rebibbia prison on Tuesday. According to the Rome prosecutor’s office, Kaufmann exercised his right not to answer any questions and did not respond to the charges against him. He was questioned by investigating judge Flavia Costantini and Rome prosecutor Giuseppe Cascini, and was represented by lawyer Carlo Ludovico Favino, the prosecutor’s office said.
The bodies of Anastasia Trofimova and her 11-month-old baby were found separately in overgrown areas of Rome’s Villa Pamphili park on June 7. The baby had been starved and strangled, but the cause of her mother’s death has still not been determined, police said in early July.
The victims’ identities were unknown for more than a week before an Italian TV show that highlights missing persons ran photos released by police of Trofimova’s extensive tattoos, which her mother in Moscow recognized after a friend sent them to her.
Subsequently interviewed for the missing persons show, Trofimova’s mother said her daughter had met a man she knew by the name Rexal Ford in Malta, where she was studying English.
She had never met her granddaughter, but was in sporadic touch with the couple and child, she told Italian investigators and Italian media.
Kaufmann, who has denied involvement in the murders, was arrested on the Greek island of Skiathos on June 13. He fought extradition through a local lawyer who no longer represents him.
Italian police say his DNA was found on the black garbage bag in which Trofimova’s body was found. DNA testing to determine if Kaufmann is the baby’s father will be carried out now that he is in Italy.
Kaufmann, who promoted himself as a film producer and screenwriter, used his Rexal Ford alias to scout movie locations, including several rooftop terraces in Rome, Cascini said in a press conference last week announcing Kaufmann’s impending extradition to Rome.
Italian police said in a press conference on June 11 that Kaufmann, Trofimova and the baby lived rough in various parks in Rome and ate at the city’s soup kitchens, despite him having multiple credit cards and often taking potential film investors to expensive restaurants.
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CNN’s Antonia Mortensen contributed to this report.
