An Italian model and reality TV star was allegedly stabbed more than 20 times by her wealthy older boyfriend during a heated argument on her apartment balcony.
Pamela Genini, 29, was found dead inside her Milan apartment on Tuesday night after neighbors reported hearing screams and desperate pleas for help, according to the Italian newspaper Il Giorno.
Genini had been arguing with her boyfriend, 52-year-old Gianluca Soncin, when the confrontation turned violent, the outlet reported.
When police arrived, a neighbor on a nearby balcony shouted to get their attention about what was happening inside Genini’s top-floor apartment.
Officers then broke down the door just as Soncin stopped his attack, according to the outlet.
The young model was pronounced dead at the scene.
Soncin allegedly slashed his own neck twice in an apparent suicide attempt, but was stabilized and rushed to Milan’s Niguarda Hospital in critical condition and under police supervision.
Authorities said Genini had been stabbed 24 times before officers arrived.
Soncin has since been charged with murder aggravated by stalking, premeditation, and femicide.
In Italy, femicide refers to the killing of a woman due to gender-based motives or domestic violence and is prosecuted as an aggravated form of homicide.
Investigators have questioned neighbors, several of whom reportedly witnessed the attack from an adjacent building. Others said they saw a man storming into the apartment just before the crime.
One witness told Il Giorno they heard Genini screaming “Help! Help!” moments before she was killed.
A friend of the victim told officers the couple’s relationship had been rocky for months and that she had been planning to leave him.
Genini, who modeled in high-fashion campaigns in Milan, co-founded the swimwear brand SheLux and ran a luxury real estate business. She also appeared on the Italian reality dating show “The Island of Adam and Eve,” where contestants participate naked.
The model-turned-entrepreneur often showcased her glamorous lifestyle on Instagram, posting photos from vacations in Portofino and red carpet appearances at the Venice Film Festival, Il Giorno reported.
She had been dating Soncin — a wealthy and well-connected Italian businessman — for more than a year before the murder.
Soncin was arrested by Palermo’s financial police in 2010 in connection with an operation that dismantled a ring operating between Germany and Italy accused of selling hundreds of luxury cars at artificially low prices and evading taxes through false invoices, according to Il Giorno.
It is unclear if Soncin was ever convicted of fraud in that case.
