A former boyfriend turned stalker has been convicted of murdering a young Italian woman after cold case cops discovered his DNA under her fingernails and on her bra.

When the naked body of 27-year-old Kristina Gallo was found lying partially under her bed at her home by her brother in Bologna in March 2019, cops had ruled it was a natural death.

The body, which had been partially decomposed, was lying in the house together with her hungry and thirsty pet Rottweiler.

But after her family complained, further investigations made it clear that her death was anything other than natural.

A second investigation was ordered in 2021 and revealed that in fact she had been strangled after a violent struggle, and DNA was found under her fingernails and on her bra that matched that of Giuseppe Cappello, 44.

The court heard that Kristina was separated from a former partner with whom she had a young daughter, and had recently started a relationship with Cappello that had soured, and he had started stalking her when she tried to end it.

When police examined the mobile phone of the young woman, they also found numerous threatening messages from Cappello, including one in which he said she would be with him until she died.

Other messages included: “I’m going to break open your head” and another where he said, “I’m going to beat you up badly”.

The judge described his claims that he separated from her a week before she died and rejected any involvement as a “castle of lies”.

Evidence included a 3D reconstruction of the crime scene and mobile phone records that shows he was at her home at a time when he said there were no longer together.

They also found on his phone deleted voice messages proving that he was violent with her and was constantly jealous every time she spoke to another man.

The court heard how he had managed to gain access to her home and killed her and then tried to make it look like a natural death.

He was sentenced to 30 years for murder and aggravated by stalking and was also ordered to pay EUR 100,000 (GBP 85,680) in compensation to her family.