An
American teenager was "illegally blindfolded" before his interrogation as a suspect in a newlywed
police officer's slaying in Rome, a Carabinieri commander said Sunday after a photo circulated of the young tourist with his head bowed and handcuffed behind his back.
Gabriel Christian Natale-Hjorth, 18, was blindfolded "for a very few minutes, four or five" on Friday just before he was questioned about the fatal stabbing of Carabinieri officer Mario Cerciello Rega, Provincial Cmdr. Francesco Gargaro told The Associated Press in a phone interview.
Natale-Hjorth and another suspect from
California, 19-year-old Finnegan Lee Elder, remained jailed while Italians lined up outside a church to pay respects to Cerciello Rega, 35, who had returned to duty from his wedding and honeymoon just says before he was killed.