The disappearance of a 30-year-old woman in Italy might not have caused as much alarm had she not chillingly confessed she was ‘afraid of being killed’ just hours before she vanished.
Some speculate she may have voluntarily wanted to go away, but friends and family of Denisa Maria Adas are growing increasingly concerned something more sinister has happened.
Their suspicions – backed up by disturbing circumstances – are certainly not unfounded days after she travelled more than 185 miles from Rome to Prato, Tuscany.
Romanian-born Adas, who works as a professional escort, last spoke to her mother on Thursday evening, at around 11.30pm from her room in Via Ferrucci.
She did not know anyone in Prato and had only arrived in the city for work.
All seemed well, as she told her mother: ‘Hi Mum, I’m fine, see you at home on Saturday.’
But since then there has been simply silence.
Her two mobile phones have been switched off, while her red Fiat Cinqueccento remains in a car park close to the apartment she had booked for the night.
It could be that she has disappeared on her own accord, after her phones, purse, car keys, at least two suitcases and a blanket she never travelled without were found to be missing.
But the stranger details linger, including that the room was discovered to be unlocked and inserted from the inside.
Then there are the high heels found on top of a wardrobe – yet Adas was only 5ft 2in and would not have been able to reach up that high to put them there.
Her makeup bag was also left behind, something those close to her say she would never have left home without.
But in the most chilling twist of all, Adas is said to have told her friends just days before her disappearance: ‘If they find me, they’ll kill me’.
Adding all these things together, police officials now agree Adas might be held against her will and have launched an investigation into her possible kidnapping.
Her friends told Corriere Fiorentino: ‘We fear that someone may have hurt her.’
Adas’ mother, Maria Christina, with whom she lives in the Torpignattara neighborhood of Rome, said her daughter’s disappearance was completely out of character and was the first to raise the alarm.
‘I can only tell you one thing: my daughter would never have left without warning.’
Another friend spoke of the ‘very strong bond’ she has with her mother and how they would call each other several times a day.
‘We are very worried: she is a good girl, sweet, with a sensitive soul,’ she added.
The possibility that Adas would have slipped out the building unnoticed is also unlikely, say those who know her well.
Adas was ‘flashy’ and has distinctive features, including her long black hair, black eyes, and very large tattoos on her right shoulder and arm.
Police said there was no working CCTV at the apartment where she was staying, but there are several buildings in the street that do and they will be trawling through the footage for any clues.
She is known to have met a man at around 8.45pm on Friday but he is understood to have provided an alibi to police, Il Messaggero reported.
As police continue to investigate, her family and friends still question where Adas might be – or indeed what exactly has happened to her.