American using fake identity suspected of murder after woman, baby found dead in Italy

An American man using a fake identity has been accused of murder after a woman and her baby were found dead in a park in Rome just days after the three were seen together.

A 46-year-old man who went by the name Rexal Ford was detained by authorities on the Greek island of Skiathos Friday on an Italian warrant, with Rome prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi citing “strong evidence” that he killed the baby girl, according to Italian outlets.

The cause of the 30-year-old woman’s death wasn’t known, but “there is a reasonable suspicion that it is a double murder,” deputy prosecutor Giuseppe Cascini said, CBS News reported.

Police later discovered that the man’s true identity was Charles Francis Kaufmann, of California, and he had been going by Rexal Ford with a US passport since 2019, according to Italian newspaper Il Missagero.

Kaufmann introduced himself as a filmmaker and claimed to be scouting locations in and around Rome, English-language Italian outlet La Voce de New York reported.

The naked bodies of the woman and baby — who have not been identified but are also believed to be American — were discovered on June 7 in Rome’s iconic Villa Pamphili park. The mother’s body was found under a black bag while the girl was found several hundred yards away in some bushes. Authorities believe the woman was killed several days before the baby.

The suspect, who had been seen with a woman and child several times speaking in English, fled Italy for Skiathos on Wednesday, Lo Voi said. The woman, whose identity also appears to have been obscured, introduced herself as “Stella Ford” and Kaufmann introduced her as “my wife,” according to Il Missagero.

Investigators traced the three back to a homeless shelter near the Vatican, but their relationship remains unclear, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported. Kaufmann’s fingerprints were found on the bag covering the woman and matched a scrap of tent, similar to those provided to people without shelter, the newspaper said.

Police used cellphone data to track him to the Greek island, where he was taken into custody. He is awaiting extradition to Italy. However, his legal team is pushing for his return to the United States.