Vatican to probe decades-old missing girl case

By Senhan Bolelli</p> <p>MADRID (AA) – After 35 years of silence and lack of cooperation, the Vatican on Wednesday decided to open its own investigation into the case of Emanuela Orlandi, a 15-year-old Vatican citizen who disappeared in the summer of 1983.</p> <p>Laura Sgro, the lawyer of the Orlandi family, and Emanuela's brother Pietro have confirmed the probe to the Italian media.</p> <p>Daughter of a Vatican employee, Orlandi had disappeared mysteriously in Rome.</p> <p>Despite recurrent speculations in the media that the remains of her body were found, there was nothing solid in her case for decades.</p> <p>Obsessed with the fate of Orlandi, many rumors have swirled over the years about what happened to her. </p> <p>Conspiracy theories tied her cold case to the mafia and even to the plot to assassinate Pope John Paul II. </p> <p>Orlandi disappeared when Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish national who was then charged with plotting to assassinate the Pope was in jail.