A businesswoman who refused to sell her land to the mafia in southern Italy was kidnapped, murdered and fed to pigs after her body was ground up in a threshing machine, an informant has told Italian investigators.
Maria Chindoma, 44, the mother of three small children, disappeared five years ago from her home near Vibo Valentia in Calabria – the home turf of the ruthless ‘Ndrangheta mafia.
She had been in dispute with an alleged mafia boss, who had put pressure on her to sell him her land.
She steadfastly refused and disappeared on the night of May 6, 2016. Her car was later found with traces of blood and strands of hair on the front seat.
The suspect was arrested in 2019 in connection with her disappearance but was later released from custody because of a lack of evidence. The investigation is still ongoing.
Now a mafia pentito, or informer, has told Italian authorities that Mrs Chindoma was kidnapped, killed and ground up in some sort of threshing machine. Her remains were then fed to pigs, said Antonio Cossidente.
It is not the first time that mafia mobsters have used pigs to dispose of their victims and police immediately suspected that she may have been killed in that way.
They conducted a series of raids in the area, checking agricultural equipment, but could find no traces of Mrs Chindoma’s remains.
The claim that she was chopped up and fed to pigs “makes my blood run cold,” said her brother, Vincenzo.
“After five years, my family wants to know the truth. We want to know why she was eliminated,” he said, calling her murder “an atrocity”.
“This is a very difficult and painful time for the whole family,” he told an Italian television channel.
