Police in northern Italy have arrested three people including the former boyfriend of missing secretary Isabella Noventa, on suspicion of her murder.
The suspects, Noventa's ex-boyfriend Freddy Sorgato, his sister Debora, and a tobacconist friend of Noventa's, Emanuela Cacco, who is said to be involved with Sorgato.
The three suspects were questioned all night and revealed "major contradictions and partial admissions" over Noventa's disappearance, police said.
Noventa, 55, vanished in the northern city of Padua in on the night of 15-16 January. Police believe she was murdered and have concentrated their searches for her body in the river Brenta.
Sorgato initially told police he had dinner with Noventa then dropped her off in the Padua city centre the night she disappeared. Security camera footage appeared to show Sorgato with Noventa but investigators later identified the woman as Cacco wearing Noventa's white quilted anorak.
Noventa had been due on 11 February to go on trial with her brother and niece on charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice during a police investigation of a case involving dentistry malpractice.
