A 26-year-old Dutch-Italian model and pornstar, Carol Maltesi, was murdered in 2022 by her boyfriend, Davide Fontana, a 45-year-old banker and self-described food blogger, after she decided to relocate closer to her son in Verona. The Italian Court of Appeal has re-sentenced Fontana to life in prison for the crime.
Maltesi planned to relocate from a small Italian town to Verona to be closer to her six-year-old son. Unbeknownst to her, this decision would provoke a deadly reaction from her boyfriend Fontana, who was consumed by jealousy. Their relationship, which began in 2020, ended in tragedy in 2022 when Fontana murdered Maltesi in a brutal act that shocked Italy.
The 26-year-old, known by her stage name Charlotte Angie, started producing adult content on OnlyFans during the COVID-19 pandemic, having previously worked in a perfume shop. Fontana, her neighbor in Rescaldina near Milan, lured her into creating pornographic films together, and their professional collaboration soon turned romantic. However, when Maltesi decided to start anew in Verona, Fontana’s jealousy became uncontrollable.
The couple’s relationship deteriorated after Maltesi shared her relocation plans, with some neighbors suggesting they had broken up. She was determined to move forward, even contacting a real estate agency to view an apartment in Verona. Tragically, she never had the chance to realize her dream of reuniting with her son, as Fontana’s rage led to her horrific death.
The murder occurred during the filming of a pornographic video, where Fontana tied Maltesi naked and gagged to a lapdancing pole in his home. He then beat her 13 times with a hammer and slit her throat with a knife, claiming it was an "act of kindness" because she was suffering.
He dismembered her body over three days, attempted to burn the remains on a barbecue, and stored the pieces in a freezer he bought online before dumping them in the mountains near Brescia Fontana also sent messages from Maltesi's phone and continued paying her rent to conceal her disappearance.
The crime scene was described as belonging to a horror film, with investigators shocked by the brutality and the extent of the cover-up. Maltesi's son reportedly told his school friends he feared he would forget his mother's face after her death.
Fontana initially claimed the violence was part of a consensual erotic game that went wrong, but this was not believed by investigators.
In his initial trial in 2023, Fontana was sentenced to 30 years in prison for voluntary homicide and concealment of a corpse. The court controversially ruled that the murder was not premeditated and lacked excessive cruelty, sparing him a life sentence. The decision sparked public outrage, with accusations of victim-blaming after the court described Maltesi as “uninhibited” and suggested she had “used” Fontana, who was portrayed as a man in love.
Maltesi’s family and the public were outraged by the lenient sentence, with Italian media questioning whether a victim’s character could justify a lighter punishment. Relatives expressed shock and disbelief at the ruling.
In 2024, the Italian Court of Appeal re-sentenced Fontana to life in prison, finding him guilty of premeditation in the murder. This ruling was seen as a restoration of justice by many, addressing the public’s earlier concerns about the leniency of the original sentence.
"I would like to apologise again to everyone, especially to Carol's parents and to the son," the banker said in a re-trial in the Court of Assizes in Milan in 2024. "I don't know if I will ever be forgiven for what I have done."
Despite Fontana’s apology during the retrial and his payment of approximately £47,000 in compensation to Maltesi’s son, the loss of the young mother remains irreparable.
