From 1974 to 1985, the monster of Florence, coldly killed seven young unmarried couples,

14 people in total, and possibly another couple in 1968.

The serial killer's impact was large. The culture of Florence was

substantially altered due to his dark looming presence. The monster of

Florence only ever used two weapons over the course of his killing spree, a

22 caliber Beretta handgun, and a scuba knife.

The location of his kills, always the same, the magnificent wooded hills that surround the Italian

city of Florence.

He targeted couples having sex and parked vehicles

and from four of his female victims this serial killer took a disturbing trophy,

their vaginas, which he brutally and meticulously severed whole from their bodies using that scuba knife.

And as darkly fascinating as the horrible crimes of the monster of Florence are,

the investigation into catching him, I I feel is far more fascinating.

Throughout the course of the convoluted investigation into the monster

so many clues were neglected or ignored.

So much legitimate evidence was dismissed. Other evidence was planted.

Wild accusations were thrown haphazardly at anyone they might stick to.

And there was a whole bunch of talk about a secret satanic cabal behind the killings.

The main characters in this story are actually not the

monster and his victims, but an award-winning Italian investigative journalist named Mario

Spezy and accomplished American author of crime novels, Douglas Preston, both of whom became inextricably

entangled in the case when they joined forces to write about it in the early 2000s, and both of whom

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