The dusty old book which could be the key to solving my great-great-gran’s murder – I’m investigating with my kids’ help
WHILE most mums would do anything they can to shelter their children from the world of true crime, Jo Piazza was ready to submerge her brood in it.
As other parents prepared to whisk their kids off on seaside breaks, Jo was preparing for a family jaunt to Sicily… to solve a murder.
Jo, from Philadelphia, grew up being told that her great-great-grandmother Lorenza Marsala was killed in Sicily before she could join the rest of the family who had relocated to America.
She had been born on February 14, 1862 and died on February 24, 1916 – both in the small village of Caltabellotta.
It was Jo’s dad who first began looking into the cold-case murder, but he never received the answers he was looking for before his death in 2015.
Keen to carry on her father’s work, Jo picked up the investigation but unable to guess her dad’ Ancestry.com passwords – she had to start from scratch.
Over 100 years after the mysterious death of her great-grandmother the mum-of-three travelled to Sicily in the hope to uncover the truth – with three young detectives in tow.
Here the author and podcaster from Philadelphia reveals how an ancient book could be the key to solving the century old mystery…
Is it OK to say murder to a three year old?
I wondered this to myself over and over when I decided to take my preschooler, my six year old and my six month old baby to Sicily to solve a cold case family murder mystery for their summer holiday.
I could have cloaked the trip in the guise of a European sojourn and glossed over the murder mystery, but my kids have keen ears and I don’t know how to whisper.
“We are here to solve a murder,” I finally explained to my three-year old daughter when we landed in Palermo.
“We are going to find out who killed my great great grandmother.”
“Like the T-Rex kills all those people in Jurassic Park,” she nodded knowingly.
“Exactly,” I said. Three year olds are much smarter than we give them credit for.
FAMILY MURDER MYSTERY
I know very well that there will be some mothers out there who will criticise me for explaining murder and the mafia and witch trials to children under the age of ten.
But mums like to judge other mums for everything.
I don’t let my kids drink soda or play with firearms and some do. Some people will find any reason to call you a bad parent.
Besides I didn’t want to leave my brood behind while I went off to Italy for a month. Neither my husband, Nick Aster, nor my bank account would allow it.
So, during last year’s summer break, with childcare options limited and the exorbitant cost of American summer camps prohibitive, my family of five, including our infant, embarked on an adventure to unravel a century-old mafia murder mystery.
My latest novel, “The Sicilian Inheritance,” draws inspiration from our family legend surrounding the tragic demise of my great-great-grandmother, Lorenza, in Sicily over a century ago.
Upon completing the fictional book (and adding in my own juicy details), I ventured into the realm of true-crime podcasting, hoping to uncover the truth behind her untimely death.
THE MAFIA & WITCHES
The men in my family have always believed that Lorenza was murdered by the mafia so they could take her land. This is because the men in my family are more than a little obsessed with the Godfather movies.
The women in my family believe she was a witch or a healer and she was killed for failing to save someone. The women in my family all think they are also Sicilian witches.
I ended up explaining various versions of this to my children once we travelled the 21 hours it took to reach the island off the toe of the boot of mainland Italy.
I have never minced words with my kids when they ask their many, many questions about life and death.
I want my kids to be curious. I want them to ask questions. I want them to care about their family history
Jo Piazza
And so, in as PG-rated a way as possible, I tried to explain our family’s murder mystery and why I wanted to solve it.
Throughout my extensive research journey, which included digging through ancient mafia and homicide records at the courthouse, conducting interviews with residents of my great-great-grandmother’s village, exploring the very site where she took her last breath, and even consulting with a Sicilian witch to inquire about the possibility of my own grandmother’s alleged witchcraft, I brought my children along for the ride as much as I could.
They ran through graveyards, learned how to keep themselves occupied in courthouse lobbies (except for the baby, she slept) and practised how to be gracious in Italian to everyone who chose to speak to us.
To sweeten the deal and keep my children’s spirits high amidst the investigations, I resorted to a plentiful supply of gelato. And by plentiful, I mean they developed a twice a day habit.
Frankly, this felt like top-notch parenting.
I let them ask all the questions and I answered them as honestly as I could. Kids will ask you the darndest things even when you aren’t investigating a murder.
I want my kids to be curious. I want them to ask questions. I want them to care about their family history.
This trip helped me foster all of those things. Sure, it might have been easier to stay home and go to the neighbourhood pool instead of packing them all up and flying halfway across the world.
But parenting is never easy and the good bits always happen when you’re least expecting it. Taking my kids to solve a murder mystery had way more good bits than I was expecting.
SOLVING THE MURDER
And the best part of this entire adventure is that we are actually solving this century old murder.
On that first trip we visited the town hall in the village of Caltabellotta where my family is from.
The town administrator brought out a massive, two-foot-tall cloth book, the Atti di Morte, or what locals call the “Death Book,” that listed every death in the village in the year 1916.
The book is divided into two sections, A and B, both handwritten in careful cursive. There is one important difference between section A and section B—section A lists people who have died of natural causes, usually in their homes. The second is unnatural causes, accidents or homicides.
The second is where we found Lorenza.
It was the first real evidence I had that she had been murdered more than a century earlier.
But just as the administrator was about to slam the book I asked him to look again. He reluctantly reopened it and looked at the one other entry beneath Lorenza’s.
A mystery man died at the exact same time, in the exact same location outside of town as Lorenza.
How to research your own family history
Ancestry.co.uk has provided the following top tips:
1. Involve your family
The best way to start your research is by speaking to your relatives. Older relatives can push your family research back two or three generations ,which will give you a firm standing point.
2. Start with what you know
Begin by recording your family members’ names, where and when they were born, married, died.
3. Find others researching the same ancestors
Once you’ve involved other family members, it’s time to see if someone else has been working on the same family lines. Chances are someone else may already have information about your common ancestors.
4. Search for historical records
Search censuses, birth marriage and death records, immigration, military documents and more.
His name was Nicolo Martino, a name I’d never heard before. A name no one in my family had ever heard before.
It was clear, finally, that Lorenza’s death was no accident.
The book of death contained incredibly detailed information about where she died, but not how.
There was no cause of death at all listed. For that, I had to keep digging.
Investigating a murder takes time (or so I’ve learned). I have just got back from another trip to Sicily where I got access to the homicide and mafia trial records from 1916 after much petitioning of the Sicilian courts.
However, we still have no clear answer. I’m still reporting and might just return with my kids for part two this summer.
To follow my investigation, catch The Sicilian Inheritance wherever you get your podcasts. You can get your copy of my novel The Sicilian Inheritance here.