Allison Owens, 23, U.S. Citizen, Killed In Hit-And-Run Accident In Italy; Driver Turns Himself In

By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press

ROME -- The driver of a car that hit and killed an American woman while she was jogging turned himself in Friday after police located the car and discovered it had already been repaired, police said.

A Tuscan businessman, Pietro Stefanoni was questioned for several hours by magistrates Friday, said Carabinieri police Col. Antonio Frassinetto. Stefanoni, 56, told authorities he fell asleep at the wheel on Sunday when it fatally struck Allison Owens, 23, from Columbus, Ohio, news reports said.

Frassinetto said investigators tracked down his Volvo by analyzing speed camera footage of the road and green paint chips on the guardrail near where Owens' body was found - a canal close to a busy state highway running through the town of San Giovanni Valdarno, between Florence and Arezzo.

Frassinetto told The Associated Press the car was impounded Friday morning after police located it in Tuscany, albeit it far from the scene. He said it had already been repaired by mechanics, and that the damage from the collision had been "substantial."

He said the driver turned himself in after the car had been located, implying that he only did so knowing that police were closing in on him. News reports had initially suggested Stefanoni turned himself in spontaneously.

Calls to the driver's lawyer went unanswered Friday, as the interrogation was under way.

Owens' family lawyer, Valentino Durante, told the AP the family was withholding comment until prosecutors make a decision about possible charges in the case.

Frassinetto said prosecutors had asked police to return to the scene for further investigation.

Comments

[ProgressiveChange]

05:24 PM on 10/12/2011

Perhaps, Prosecutor Mignini will charge Amanda Knox with the hit-and-run of Allison Owens. Nothing that the Italian judicial system does is shocking.

[theroundearth]

10:04 PM on 10/12/2011

Absurd comment

[Marc NL]

02:50 PM on 10/13/2011

Luckily we do not have any injustice in the U.S!
And there for it's totally acceptable to judge other countries.

Nobody gets executed Innocently..
Nobody gets killed in the U.S..
Low crime rates..
No hit and run accidents..

[ProgressiveChange]

05:11 PM on 10/13/2011

Mark NL: Rarely, if ever, does a police investigation conclude in 4 days unless the defendant is caught red-handed. In the Knox case, the Prosecutor theorized a cult sex murder as a motive; linked Amanda and Raffaele to Rudy Guede devoid of any evidence, but only after his DNA was all over the crime scene; police questioned Amanda without benefit of legal counsel's presence for many hours; found no DNA evidence to support a murder charges against A&R; and MIgnini was known to disregard facts, prosecute first, and let defendants appeal later. More than 45% of criminal convictions in Italy are overturned on appeal. Innocent defendants' lives are screwed up for years. We need not be exceptionally analytical to conclude that the Prosecutor in the Knox case was far more interested in being right and saving face than finding the truth. We have had the same issues in the U.S. However, far more times than not, the Trial Jury gets it right. In the U.S., a prosecutor using a Grand Jury can indict a Ham Sandwich. Conviction has been proven to be a different story.

MIgnini is buying time and still saving face with an appeal in the A & R acquittals. However, it is irrefutable that the proven murderer with DNA all over the crime scene. was sentenced to 16 years, while A & R originally got 25 and 26 year sentences. He is fanatically devoted to an absurd case. Devoid from his case were motive and evidence.

[one1byke]

05:10 PM on 10/12/2011

What kind of 'traction' do they hope to gain from this story?

30,000+ right here in the good ole US of A!

[OcotilloKid]

03:45 PM on 10/12/2011

What a horrible tragedy for such a beautiful young girl....RIP Allison.

[dannidan]

03:23 PM on 10/12/2011

Sad storie, These things happen every day all over the world. God bless them all..

[peeowedaboutit2]

11:47 AM on 10/12/2011

The photo of her hiking in the mountains is incredible! How wonderful is it that she was able to experience such a beautiful part of nature during her short time here.
Rip, Allison Owens. I hope your eternity is filled with beauty beyond that of your earthly experiences.
;-)

[pupmobile]

11:35 AM on 10/12/2011

God bless her family. She was a beautiful young lady. R.I.P. Allison.

[GWBsuxone]

11:30 AM on 10/12/2011

the driver turned himself in after the car had been located, implying that he only did so knowing that police were closing in on him. News reports had initially suggested Stefanoni turned himself in spontaneously----------------------------------------so by this statement the guy never really intended on turning himself in , other than the fact that he got caught - well in this country , he probably would get 5 years - so i don't expect anymore from italy , probably won't get that - since raping and murdering someone will only get you 16 years - one could live on to do that a couple more times in thier lifetime , considering their young enough !!

[theroundearth]

10:19 PM on 10/12/2011

Stick to this issue. No need to ramble on about raping and murdering.

[GWBsuxone]

11:26 AM on 10/12/2011

Frassinetto told The Associated Press the car was impounded Friday morning after police located it in Tuscany, albeit it far from the scene. He said it had already been repaired by mechanics, and that the damage from the collision had been "substantial."----------------------------------so i wonder how the italianos will handle this one

[kellygreen]

09:58 AM on 10/12/2011

Apparently such deaths (in the minds of the media) are only a "tragedy" when the victims are...

1. Young
2. Pretty
3. White..preferably blonde...
4. Middle-class.

Unbelievable. Like we have to go all the way to Italy find American women whose lives were ended unfairly .

[StephCaster]

10:31 AM on 10/12/2011

That doesn't change the fact that this is a heartbreaking tragedy. Yes, let's work to EXTEND compassion further, but not to retract it in this case.

[kellygreen]

11:31 AM on 10/12/2011

I think you need to go back and re-read the post you are responding to.

I regard the loss of ANY human life as a tragedy.

My complaint is against a media that clearly values SOME lives more than others....and does so (once again, clearly) along racial, ethnic, and CLASS lines.

We are all equal in this country...but we are still a country where some are more "equal" than others.

[Tone67]

10:59 AM on 10/12/2011

Yea, i mean really to be sure someone in the US died of a hit and run, why is this a major story.

[kellygreen]

11:28 AM on 10/12/2011

Because of the reasons I listed above.

The victim is young, pretty, white, blonde...and middle-class (since she was able to afford the cost of travelling to Europe).

We live in a society where the media puts more value on the lives of such people than those of anyone else.

That's why the inner-city, African-American women who are killed everyday in this country aren't a national news story.

[GWBsuxone]

11:32 AM on 10/12/2011

show's the hidden dangers of living abroad

[libertyanne]

07:12 AM on 10/12/2011

So sad..such a beauty...hopefully this will teach people to be more careful where they jog and drivers to own up to their responsability.

[infonomics]

05:40 AM on 10/12/2011

"Allison Owens, 23, U.S. Citizen, Killed In Hit-And-Run Accident In Italy..."

From Wikipedia:

Hit-and-run is the act of causing (or contributing to) a traffic accident (such as colliding with a person or a fixture), and failing to stop and identify oneself afterwards. It is considered a crime in most jurisdictions.

Hit-And-Run Accident. Contradiction of terms?

[splenetic]

06:18 AM on 10/12/2011

Unless the person hits someone on purpose, it's still an accident. Then a person either stays at the accident scene or 1. continues on not knowing the accident occurred or 2. continues on in a traumatized state or 3. continues on because of fear of punishment even though the person wasn't reckless or drunk, but is overwhelmed with fear anyway or 4. continues on because the person is guilty of recklessness and/or drunkenness or 5. (if it's a soccer mom on her cellphone in an SUV) continues on and says "Screw it!" Anyway, no contradiction of terms here. An accident (a hit) occurred and then the person left (run ... ran from) the scene.

[woody7]

03:59 PM on 10/12/2011

If not mistaken, to leave the scene of an accident is a crime, in this country, knowingly leaving the scene of an accident in my book escalates the crime. Not knowing you hit someone, means you at a minimum weren't paying attention to what you were doing, then getting your car fixed,what excuse would you have??

[brokenleoheart]

09:23 AM on 10/12/2011

unless you graduated any type of school recently, i'd like to update you that wikipedia is not a citable source.

[racerx577]

02:19 AM on 10/12/2011

Everyday I see people jogging on busy roads, inches away from passing cars,,I wonder what are they thinking? Go to a park or something.

[decypher]

05:37 AM on 10/12/2011

They are probably thinking the drivers have enough capacity to not fall asleep at the wheel and veer off the roadway.

[Rubyredman]

09:57 AM on 10/12/2011

That's is a lot of faith to put in someone else. I go by the motto - "trust in God, but lock your car doors", if you know what I mean....

[Zeroes]

10:34 AM on 10/12/2011

The city I live in has over 200 miles of paved running/bike trails. And everyday I see people running on busy roads breathing car exhaust.

[GWBsuxone]

12:00 PM on 10/12/2011

i know , i've seen em running along the side of the road when only 20 yards off to the side is a trail , in plain view - it almost appears that they want to get hit - in my state we have what they call the 1% rule - if a pedestrian steps out into traffice expecting them to stop , the pedestrian is at fault , we do have many bike trails to , and when they cross roadways theres stop signs on the trails - apparently people don't have the common sense to stop , so they have to put up a sign , its also a law , so their treated the same as a driver of an automobile if they run that stop sign , the law only protects those who are already in the intersection , in which a lot of people don't understand while driving thier cars , when they see those yellow markers in the middle of the road , it doesn't mean they have to stop ( like a 4 way stop intersection) to let pedestrians cross , but what it does mean is if the pedestrian is already in the crosswalk , they have to yield to the pedestrian , thats where the pedestrians rights come to play -

[GWBsuxone]

12:00 PM on 10/12/2011

annnnd if the person on the trail clearly sees an oncoming vehicle and begins to cross in front of it - thats where the 1% rule comes into effect again , meaning the person didn't "stop" to allow all trafffic to pass before crossing the road - theres a lot of states that have that rule - you should check your local laws - pedestrians don't always have the right away .Some cities have similar laws , but the city i live near has more rights for pedestrians , and likely so , since most traffic in the city is "foot" traffic

[opine Ron]

12:04 AM on 10/12/2011

Looks like Family. sad.

[Intelligentia]

11:12 PM on 10/11/2011

Does anyone remember the name of the other American citizen who was killed in Europe (Romania). Where is his picture???? Has his case been solved???? I want updates on his case the same way we are getting updates on Ms. Owens.

[aznurse]

11:26 PM on 10/11/2011

do you mean this?

http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=sportsxchange-000438502_american-basketball-player-killed-in-romania

[pupmobile]

11:45 AM on 10/12/2011

Google it maybe you will find your answer. After you see the article here I doubt that it will stay in the news.

[kellygreen]

10:00 AM on 10/12/2011

I was thinking Natalee Holloway must be connected somehow....