Mysterious Disappearances: What Happened to Mirella Gregori?

Mirella Gregori was an Italian girl who vanished in Italy in 1983. She was aged just 15 at the time, with her disappearance remaining unsolved.

The disappearance resulted in widescale confusion for all involved. Mirella’s case has gained more interest and discussion in recent years.

This article reviews this case. There is a reader’s poll at the end of the article, with any reader encouraged to vote on this. In doing so, we’ll be able to form a consensus to see what the most likely theory is.

Background

Mirella Gregori was born in October 1967. She lived in Rome, Italy at the time of her disappearance.

She was 15 at the time of her disappearance. As is the norm for people of that age, Mirella was in education at the time of her disappearance.

The Disappearance

7th May 1983 was – to begin with – a usual day for Mirella. But this would change when at 3.30pm, she left her house following a call from an ex-classmate – apparently named ‘Alessandro’.

Mirella told her mother that she was going to meet the ex-classmate outside, but would be back in 10 minutes. It seemed that she was leaving for just a small amount of time.

But instead of meeting with ‘Alessandro’, Mirella went to a bar under the Gregori’s residence and met with her best friend – named Sonia De Vito. Sonia was the daughter of the owner of the bar.

The duo spoke in the bathroom together for approximately 10 minutes. Then, Mirella left the bar and went outside.

But what happened next remained a mystery. After Mirella failed to return home, the Gregori family reported her as missing.

The Investigation

The police investigated the disappearance. Officers visited the Gregori residence and spoke with Mirella’s friend Sonia.

Initially, due to it still being daylight at the time of the last sighting of Mirella, initial thoughts were that she had simply gone to socialise with others.

However, as time went by, she still didn’t reappear, with suspicions worsening. The local area was searched, with the police starting to make door-to-door enquiries.

Soon enough, the Police realised that Mirella was certainly missing. Widescale searches began for Mirella.

The ‘real’ Alessandro was questioned by the police within hours of the disappearance. However, he had an alibi to prove he had been elsewhere at the time.

In fact, it turned out that Alessandro and Mirella hadn’t seen one another for several months. This led to confusion as to why Mirella said she was going to see him – only to then visit her friend instead.

The Police struggled to generate any leads, with the first few weeks passing without any progress. It was as if Mirella had vanished into thin air.

Then there was a twist. Just 46 days after Mirella’s disappearance, another girl – named Emanuela Orlandi – vanished, this time in Rome.

In a speech, the then-Italian President Sandro Pertini made an appeal for the return of Mirella and Orlandi.

Orlandi was last seen talking to a red-haired woman on a bus. It was theorised by some that Mirella may have become involved with this woman in some way, and that both girls had been kidnapped by this same woman.

The cases of Orlandi and Mirella became intertwined. Pope John Paul II became involved in the search for Orlandi – with this being due to the Orlandi family living in Vatican City at the time.

The Orlandi family published their phone number, hoping that this would result in leads developing.

Following this, they started receiving anonymous phone calls which also involved Mirella. The calls were supposedly coming from a terrorist group who were demanding the release of Mehmet Ali Agca – the man that had tried to assassinate the Pope in 1981.

The group said that they had kidnapped both Orlandi and Mirella. They proposed an exchange. The spokesman for this so-called group became known as “The American” due to his accent.

A few days later, “The American” said that Mirella had died and that her body would be returned just before Christmas. But nothing ever transpired on this front.

The calls soon stopped. Many believe that the entire episode was made up and that no group had kidnapped both girls. Others suggest this was the truth.

It was suggested that there may have been a connection between the Orlandi and Gregori cases. However, the police found no such connection.

There have been some suggestions that the disappearances are linked to the Vatican itself. Though others have dismissed this as a conspiracy theory.

Yet in 1985, Gregori’s mother recognised a man who was part of an escort for the Pope as someone that had spent time with Mirella at a bar a few days prior to her disappearance.

The man was identified as Raoul Bonarelli. Bonarelli was investigated and then questioned, but there was no evidence of any wrongdoing in the end.

Unfortunately, there were no other major advances in the investigation, meaning that over time the investigation was wound down.

Later Developments

The case of Mirella Gregori largely went quiet, with very few leads. For her family – many of whom have since passed away – this has been incredibly challenging.

Mirella’s sister Maria Antonietta Gregori remains alive at the time of writing, and continues to campaign for her sister. She has been at the forefront of efforts to keep the case alive.

There have been periodic updates in Mirella’s case over the last few decades, with interest in the case still strong.

In 2005, there was an anonymous tip-off during a TV show in Italy which suggested that Orlandi and Mirella had been buried in a tomb next to Enrico De Pedis – a former mafia boss. It took until 2012 for De Pedis’ body to be exhumed to see if this was true, though there was no trace, nor DNA, of Orlandi or Mirella.

In 2016, the discovery of a government document from October 1983 – a few months after Mirella initially disappeared – threatened to expose a darker side to the case.

The document suggested that an investigator had heard Sonia De Vito – the girl that Mirella had been with prior to her disappearance – say to another girl that “yes, he knew us, we didn’t know him, as he took Mirella he could have taken me”. Therefore, this suggested that Sonia may have actually known who abducted Mirella.

The discovery of bones in the Vatican’s embassy to Italy in Rome in 2022 raised hope of answers about Mirella’s fate. But after DNA tests, the bones were found to belong to a male – thereby ruling out Mirella.

In recent years, the case has received renewed interest – largely in part due to the 2022 release of the Netflix documentary ‘Vatican Girl: The Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi’ – which also featured Mirella’s case.

The documentary resulted in widespread interest in the case – along with calls for investigations to be reopened. Belief of a cover-up also strengthened.

In positive news, in November 2023, the Italian Senate voted to reopen the investigation into the disappearances of Mirella and Orlandi. Efforts are still being made to find out what happened.

Unfortunately, so far, both cases have failed to produce any findings. It isn’t known if they are connected, or if their similarity is purely coincidental.

However, there was one update – concerning Sonia De Vito. In 2023, a new inquiry led to Sonia finally speaking. However, she requested that her testimony was kept secret, which was accepted by the commission handling the inquiry. Unfortunately, this has just led to more unanswered questions.

It seems that Sonia may know more than she has let on over the last few decades. Mirella’s sister – Maria – is steadfast in her belief that Sonia has been lying, saying that “it’s impossible that she doesn’t know anything”. What the testimony entailed is unknown – though it has hopefully helped investigators.

In Corviale – an area of Rome – there is a mural dedicated to Emanuela Orlandi and Mirella Gregori – featuring artistic paintings of the duo.

Emanuela Orlandi also remains missing. You can read more about this disappearance on our website.

For now though, Mirella remains missing, with her whereabouts remaining unknown.

Theories

There have been a few theories put forward to explain what may have happened to Mirella Gregori.

We take a look at the evidence for these theories:

Theory One: Mirella Gregori was kidnapped and then murdered

Arguably the most likely outcome is that Mirella was sadly kidnapped by someone and then murdered at some point. Her body would most likely have been disposed of in the aftermath.

It isn’t known though who could have done this act. It could have been someone who had been observing Mirella and waiting to strike, or perhaps an opportunistic criminal.

Due to Mirella having never been found, this does suggest that a kidnapping is likely. This would be a very tragic outcome for Mirella and her family.

Theory Two: Mirella Gregori was kidnapped by a gang that wanted to trade her for Mehmet Ali Agca, before being killed

Alongside Emanuela Orlandi, Mirella was caught up in an apparent attempt to effectively ‘trade’ themselves for Mehmet Ali Agca – who was imprisoned at the time for trying to assassinate the Pope.

The overall consensus suggests that it is likely the entire thing was a hoax – or that the group existed but never had custody of Orlandi or Mirella. However, it is possible that this group truly did exist and that the girls were being held prisoner.

The group said that Mirella had died – though they didn’t give any further information about this. They said her body would be returned just before Christmas 1983 – but this never happened, casting further doubt on the group’s existence.

But this is still a feasible suggestion. If the group did exist but unfortunately didn’t get what they wanted, they may have decided to tragically murder Mirella.

Theory Three: Mirella Gregori was murdered by the mafia

Earlier it was mentioned that an anonymous tip-off led investigators to exhume the body of mafia boss Enrico De Pedis due to a potential link to Mirella and Orlandi.

While nothing was found, there have been suggestions that there may have been mafia involvement. If Mirella was sadly killed, it is likely that her body would have been disposed of.

However, it isn’t too clear why Mirella would have been targeted by the mafia. So this theory really only revolves around the false tip-off.

Theory Four: Vatican Involvement and cover-up

Mainly owing to its similarities with the Orlandi disappearance, there have been suggestions that Mirella’s disappearance is linked to the Vatican.

The secrecy behind the Vatican, along with their perceived lack of cooperation over Orlandi’s disappearance has led to conspiracy theories to develop.

As mentioned earlier, Mirella’s mother recognised a man who was part of an escort for the Pope as someone that she had seen spending time with Mirella at a bar a few days before she vanished.

The man – Raoul Bonarelli – was questioned, though no further action was taken. It isn’t known if there was any link between Bonarelli and the wider case.

For some, the aforementioned Netflix documentary solidified the idea that the Vatican was involved in some form in Mirella and Orlandi’s disappearances.

Reader Vote

With the above theories in mind, we now invite you to cast your vote on the theory that you believe is most accurate in the poll below.

Summary

The disappearance of Mirella Gregori is one of Italy’s most troublesome missing persons cases. For decades, the case has been unsolved and remains mired in unanswered questions.

There is always hope though that answers will be forthcoming. Until then, the search for the truth will go on.