Sara Di Pietrantonio was just 22-years-old when she was burned alive by her ex-boyfriend.
Vincenzo Paduano, 27, had walked off his job as a security guard about 3am and waited outside the home of Sara’s current boyfriend.
After the young woman left the house and drove off in her car, Paduano gave chase in his own vehicle, eventually forcing her off the road.
Luigi Silipo, the lead police official in the investigation, explained: “He got into her car, and after an argument, doused the car (interior) with a small bottle of alcohol, and doused Sara, too.
"She ran out, he torched the car, caught up with her, and after about 100 meters" set her ablaze, leaving her to die."
Her charred body was found by firefighters just before dawn on Sunday, close to her burning car in Via della Magliana, south west Rome.
The detective added: “I can say that in 25 years in this work I have never seen something so atrocious.”
Paduano, who had returned to work after the murder, initially denied killing the woman.
However, after eight hours of interrogation, he confessed to murdering her after finding himself unable to accept that their relationship had ended.
He is currently being held for investigation of premeditated murder.
A surveillance camera in the area captured some of the events, including at least two cars that passed by while the woman screamed in vain for help as she tried to flee.
Prosecutor Maria Monteleone revealed that, heartbreakingly, none of these witnesses stopped to help Sara, or called police.
If they had, she said, Sara’s life might have been saved.
This deeply troubling incident has seen Monteleone make a fervent appeal to the general public, asking people “not to look the other way” when a woman calls for help.
She also encouraged victims of domestic abuse "not to keep hidden any threatening behaviour by those who insist they love you, but it's not that way."
Domestic violence and abuse can happen to anyone; if you recognise yourself in the following warning signs and descriptions of abuse, then please reach out. There is help available.
There are many signs that you are in an abusive relationship, with the most telling sign being that you feel afraid of your partner.
To determine whether your relationship is abusive, answer the following questions as truthfully as possible, the more 'yes' answers, the more likely it is that you are a victim of domestic abuse.
Are you a victim of domestic abuse? Read the following warning signs.
If you believe that you are a victim of emotional, mental, physical, and / or sexual abuse, then please call the Freephone 24 Hour National Domestic Violence Helpline (run in partnership between Women’s Aid and Refuge) on 0808 2000 247 to talk through your options or to find a space in a refuge.