On the evening of 21 June, carabinieri located Sarah and Alisya Di Giacinto, aged 16 and 12, in a flat in Formia, a coastal town in the province of Latina, ending a 15-day search that had drawn national attention since the sisters disappeared from a children’s home in Civitella Alfedena, Abruzzo, on the night of 6–7 June. The girls were found in good physical health, the Sulmona public prosecutor’s office confirmed.

Within hours, prosecutor Luciano D’Angelo announced the detention of three people on suspicion of aggravated kidnapping in concert: the girls’ mother, Valentina D’Acunto; her partner, Vincenzo Esposito; and the maternal grandfather, Marco D’Acunto. The mother was transferred to a prison in Teramo, the two men to Sulmona. An 80-year-old distant relative, in whose apartment the sisters had been staying, is under investigation but was not taken into custody. At a press conference, D’Angelo described the conditions: “The girls were segregated in a room, unable to go out or open the shutters, only able to watch TV.”

The investigation turned on telephone surveillance. According to the prosecutor, the mother made a video call to a number that had been placed under observation — a SIM card activated clandestinely in Naples a couple of days before the disappearance and registered to a Pakistani national. “Among the mother’s many defects was that of maintaining control,” D’Angelo remarked. In the hours before the discovery, the mother’s lawyer had conveyed her belief that the girls were dead, a statement now being re-examined as possible misdirection. Italian media also reported that the mother did not visit the search area during the two weeks the sisters were missing.

The sisters had been living in the foster home after a family court in Cassino suspended the mother’s parental authority and recognised the father’s fitness, according to reports in the Italian press. Letters written by the girls to their mother, found during the investigation, expressed a wish to return to her. The father, Stefano Di Giacinto, who had made public appeals, reacted with relief and anger upon learning of the arrests, reportedly shouting accusations at the mother. The 18-year-old boyfriend of the older sister told investigators he believed family members had taken the girls to a secret location.

The minors have now been placed in a protected facility under the guardianship of the mayor of Minturno, their municipality of residence, and will receive psychological support. The Sulmona prosecutor’s office stated that the investigation continues to determine whether other individuals assisted in concealing the sisters. No further charges have been filed as of this report.