American man detained in Greece over suspected double killing of infant and woman in Rome

MILAN (AP) — Greek authorities detained an American man on Friday on the Greek island of Skiathos suspected of killing an infant found over the weekend in a Rome park and of having a role in the death of a woman believed to be the infant’s mother, whose body was found nearby.

The American, who wasn't identified, was detained on a European arrest warrant issued in Italy, citing “strong evidence” of his suspected involvement in the death of the baby girl, chief Rome prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi told a news conference in Rome.

Italian investigators said that the cause of the woman's death wasn't known, “but there is a reasonable suspicion that it is a double murder,” deputy prosecutor Giuseppe Cascini said.

The bodies of the baby girl and mother, also believed to be American, were found in Rome’s Villa Pamphili park on Saturday. The mother’s body was under a black bag, having been killed several days before the infant, who was found several hundred meters away in undergrowth.

Both were naked, and without any identification, Lo Voi said.

The suspect, who witnesses had seen in the presence of a woman and infant, fled Italy for Skiathos on Wednesday, Lo Voi said.

He will be formally arrested when the warrant is forwarded to Greek officials, and will appear for an extradition hearing next week, Greek police told The Associated Press.

“It is not exactly understandable that someone who was with a woman and a baby girl, once the woman and the girl died, whom he carried in his arms, would then leave the country without calling for help, without seeking assistance," Lo Voi said. “In itself, that doesn't look good.”

The victims' relationship with the suspect wasn't immediately clear — but video surveillance and witness reports put them together on several occasions; witnesses heard them speaking in English. They had been traced to a shelter for the needy near the Vatican, where they appeared to be a nuclear family, Corriere della Sera reported.

At one point, the pair had fought in the street, leading police to take his identity, which helped lead to him, investigators said.

Authorities were able to track down the suspect thanks to fingerprints on the bag covering the woman and a scrap of a tent like ones provided to people without shelter, the newspaper said. He was located in Greece with cellphone data.

According to the newspaper, the woman, who was around 30 years old, had a tattoo of a skeleton on a surfboard.

Costas Kantouris reported from Thessaloniki, Greece.

Prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi leaves after a news conference in Rome, on Friday, June 13, 2025, about the case of a baby girl and mother found dead in Rome's Villa Pamphili park. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

A firefighter truck and forensic police work at the site of the discovery of the body of an infant and the infant’s mother, in Rome’s Villa Pamphili park, Saturday, June 7, 2025. (Francesco Benvenuti/LaPresse via AP)

Prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi speaks during a news conference in Rome, on Friday, June 13, 2025, about about the case of a baby girl and mother found dead in Rome's Villa Pamphili park. (Cecilia Fabiano/LaPresse via AP)

Forensic police working at the site of the discovery of the body of an infant and the infant’s mother, in Rome’s Villa Pamphili park, Saturday, June 7, 2025. (Francesco Benvenuti/LaPresse via AP)

A police officer walks past a sealed off area where forensic police work at the site of the discovery of the body of an infant and the infant’s mother, in Rome’s Villa Pamphili park, Saturday, June 7, 2025. (Francesco Benvenuti/LaPresse via AP)

A woman films as a passerby stops by forensic police working at the site of the discovery of the body of an infant and the infant’s mother, in Rome’s Villa Pamphili park, Saturday, June 7, 2025. (Francesco Benvenuti/LaPresse via AP)

A Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and wounded three others in the Russian city of Voronezh, local officials said Sunday.

A young woman died overnight in a hospital intensive care unit after debris from a drone fell on a house during the attack on Saturday, regional Gov. Alexander Gusev said on Telegram.

Three other people were wounded and more than 10 apartment buildings, private houses and a high school were damaged, he said, adding that air defenses shot down 17 drones over Voronezh. The city is home to just over 1 million people and lies some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

The attack came the day after Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, killing at least four people in the capital Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials.

For only the second time in the nearly four-year war, Russia used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv and NATO.

The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further aggression by Moscow if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly address that Ukrainian negotiators “continue to communicate with the American side.”

Chief negotiator Rustem Umerov was in contact with U.S. partners Saturday, he said.

Separately, Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia targeted Ukraine with 154 drones overnight into Sunday and 125 were shot down.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

This photo provided by the Ukrainian Security Service on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, shows a fragment believed to be a part of a Russian Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile that hit the Lviv region. (Ukrainian Security Service via AP)

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, listens to British Defense Secretary John Healey during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)