“It’s my nightmare, in a dream he wants to kill me” – Corriere.it

MUNICH – I don’t have hatred inside me, I don’t have anger. I don’t think about him, even though I sometimes dream about him. They are nightmares. I dream that he wants to kill me too or I see him killing them ….

Has Benno ever tried to write or call you since in prison?

Never.

They released the house. And now?

It was for rent, that house. We went there when I was 9, Benno was 13. Now I’m going to empty it and I already know it will be a painful step. There is still the Christmas tree assembled, there are the cookies I had made for Christmas, the pajamas, the slippers … all there as mom and dad left it, even though Benno lived there almost three weeks after having them. killed. Going back now to free, pack and greet that piece of life … it won’t be easy. Until now there has always been a physical space linked to them. Shutting everything down in a way like making them die again.

The doctor Mad Neumair he has just finished his shift in orthopedics and traumatology at Mnchen Klinik Schwabingnel, the hospital in Munich, the city where he has lived and worked for four years. I seem to have not sick but broken patients that I repair, she smiles at her as she says that surgery is rewarding because you see the result right away. A way to break the ice before talking about him, about them.

She chooses her words carefully, Mad. He tells and talks about his brother Benno, born in 1990, who killed his parents – Peter Neumair and Laura Perselli – in that house in Bolzano and threw their bodies into the icy waters of the Adige. was January 4, 2021. And we go back to that day.

When did you last hear from your mother?

A few minutes before he entered the house. I was the last person you spoke to. She was very tired. I told her: come on, let dad prepare something good. And she: I’ll still be out because I haven’t heard it for a while. Instead he was already dead.

When did you realize that something had happened?

I sent mom a photo. She did not see it and it seemed strange to me but I thought: she will have collapsed with exhaustion. The next morning there was still only one WhatsApp tick. So I wrote to dad: are you okay? When I saw that he too was not answering, I started calling everyone. I called Benno, he told me that he was out walking with the dog … Do you know when you know a person well and understand that he is lying?

He understood that he was lying.

There were too many things that did not add up … As a first thought I said to myself: they are no longer alive. Then I thought: I feel them very close, everywhere. And finally I told myself that for 26 years I had had the best parents in the world. It was my way of becoming aware of what had probably happened. I didn’t have to collapse because if I collapsed at that moment I would never get up again.

You followed all the hearings in the trial.

For me there is a duty towards mom and dad. I am thinking of defending their memory.

Defend it from what?

Some witnesses have come to tear and tarnish their memory … the memory of two dead people who cannot defend themselves.

Are you talking about your aunt Elizabeth, your mother’s sister?

Not just her. I’ve seen and heard people swear to tell the truth and then invent things that don’t exist, even about me.

Like she was the daughter of Serie A and Benno of Serie B?

That too, yes. A falsehood. My parents gave Benno all the love they could. Especially my mother. All time. And Benno knows it well.

Is it true that as a boy he tried to kill her too?

This story has never been told to me. And then the rumors that mom and dad were hostile towards psychologists for my brother ….

Precisely. Is it true that his mother took Benno to a holy man in Bali instead of a psychologist?

Hand! We used to go to Bali every year and there was a person who taught yoga and did a lot of other things of that kind, let’s say, spiritual. He saw Benno reckless who kept cutting himself or breaking something and then once he said: I’ll give you the Balinese anti-accident blessing so you don’t get hurt anymore. That’s all.

After the threats to his girlfriend and one night in the psychiatric hospital he had returned home to Bolzano …

He was back in July. After a short time, everything was normalized. In September he had started teaching. I have a beautiful family memory that dates back to a month and a half before the events.

What memory?

There was a lockdown, I had holidays and I was at home in Bolzano for three weeks with mum, dad and him. Those were peaceful days, of sunshine and walks. One night, all four of us saw the slides of their travels together before we were born. it was nice, Benno was curious, very cheerful.

What little brother was it?

We played a lot. He was very ambitious, tenacious. When he wanted to do something he always succeeded and I was fascinated by this ability of him. I always wanted to do what he did: homework, fish … I don’t have bad childhood memories with him. Keep the photo albums.

The first memory that comes to your mind of your mother?

Many, all together. I see her radiant, enthusiastic, whizzing on her bicycle. I hear her voice, I remember the goodnight kisses. The relationship between me and her was really the best I could ever want. She and dad dedicated themselves wholeheartedly, always, to the family. We were lucky to have them next to them and I really hope that what I got from them is the engine to keep going.

The Corriere della Sera and the Corriere.it website are out today and tomorrow without the signatures of journalists due to trade union agitation.