THIS is the chilling CCTV showing the last moments before student Sara Campanella was stabbed to death in broad daylight by her twisted stalker.
Suspect Stefano Argentino, 27, had allegedly followed the 22-year-old trainee nurse from the hospital she interned on Monday in Messina, Italy.
Witnesses said that Argentino walked up to Sara and heinously stabbed her in broad daylight.
They added to local media that she attempted to get away and screamed before collapsing: “Stop it, let me go, stop it”.
A witness later told the police: “I was standing at the bus stop when I suddenly heard loud screams.
“At first, I couldn’t tell where they were coming from or what was being said.
“Then, I saw a girl I’d never seen before running along the pavement across from me.
“She was fleeing in a panic, bent over, crying, and clearly in distress.”
The same witness reported seeing a young man approach the victim “holding a bladed weapon”.
After being heinously attacked, Sara dropped to the ground in a pool of blood with a deep cut to her neck.
Dozens of people were on the street at the time, and one even tried to chase her attacker as he ran away.
Responders who were called to the location quickly attended to Sara, but unfortunately, she passed away shortly after reaching the hospital she had just departed from.
The police found the suspect, Argentino, hiding in a B&B linked to his mother in Noto a mere few hours after the crime.
Sara was acquainted with Argentino from their time at university, and as per Messina prosecutor Antonio D’Amato, he had been continuously and persistently bothering her for two years.
He would constantly ask her out and refused to accept that she was not interested in him.
And one of Sara’s friends even had to intervene when Argentino repeatedly complained that she no longer smiled at him, D’Amato added.
Even though Sara had been enduring this ongoing harassment, she had refrained from reporting him as she did not anticipate the situation escalating to such a tragic outcome, nor did she view his actions as overtly threatening or abnormal.
Argentino’s lawyer, Raffaele Leone, revealed to Italian media on Wednesday that his client had admitted the charges against him – without explaining why he had done so.
According to Ansa news agency, he said: “I can’t say if he’s remorseful, he’s quite closed up.”
Before being killed, Sara had sent one of her friends a voice note saying: “The creep is following me.”
And chillingly, witnesses told how the last words she yelled over and over were: “Stop, leave me alone!”
Sara’s family is from Misilmeri, but she had been living in Messina for two years for her studies.
Her uncle told local media: “She was full of dreams and had a zest for life.”
Antonino Fricano, who had been dating Sara for a few months, wrote on social media: “Goodbye, my love.
“This should never have happened – not to us. A piece of my heart has been taken away.”
Prosecutors say other suspects aided and abetted the crime.
The Messina Prosecutor’s Office said: “He managed to escape quickly after the incident, relying on the support of unidentified individuals to cover his tracks.”
Argentino remains in prison as the investigation continues.
