‘URGE TO KI//’: PARAMEDIC, 28, ACCUSED OF MURDERING SIX ELDERLY PATIENTS — AND INVESTIGATORS SAY HE USED THE SAME DEADLY METHOD

Luca Spada is accused of targeting vulnerable patients during ambulance journeys, with prosecutors alleging he deliberately injected air into their veins. He denies the allegations.

A 28-year-old Italian paramedic has been accused of becoming a serial killer after investigators linked him to the deaths of elderly and seriously ill patients transported by ambulance.

Luca Spada is charged with the murder of 85-year-old Deanna Mambelli, who died on November 25, 2025, while being transported in an ambulance.

Investigators are also examining five other deaths involving patients who were transported by ambulance.

The other people named in the investigation are Mirella Montanari, Francesco Mario Scavone, Edoarda Gasperini, Vincenzo Pesci and Vittorio Benini.

According to prosecutors, Spada allegedly injected air into patients’ veins, causing fatal air embolisms.

‘AN UNCONTROLLABLE URGE’

A psychological assessment commissioned by prosecutors reportedly described Spada as an obsessive individual driven by an “internal, obsessive and uncontrollable” motivation.

Investigators believe the patients may have been selected because they were elderly and already seriously ill, making the alleged method harder to detect.

The assessment reportedly characterized the alleged behavior as predatory and serial.

Spada has denied the accusations.

A DISTURBING CLUE FROM HIS OWN MEDICAL HISTORY

Investigators also examined an episode in which Spada himself was hospitalized after suffering an embolism.

Authorities reportedly suspect he may have deliberately caused the medical emergency as an experiment connected to the method investigators believe he later used against patients.

The allegation has become one of the most disturbing elements of the case.

THE PHOTOS THAT RAISED ALARM

After Spada’s arrest, colleagues reportedly alerted police to photographs and messages he had shared in group chats.

According to prosecutors, some images showed coffins, hearses, exhumations and cremation furnaces.

Investigators also reportedly obtained phone recordings in which Spada allegedly spoke about the deaths.

Prosecutors say some of those conversations suggested an apparent desire to repeat the alleged acts.

ARRESTED AFTER SUSPICIOUS DEATHS

Spada was arrested in April after colleagues raised concerns about a series of deaths involving patients during or following ambulance journeys.

In Mambelli’s case, investigators say an autopsy produced findings consistent with an embolism caused by an injection.

Authorities subsequently examined Spada’s communications and his behavior in an effort to determine whether the deaths were connected.

Prosecutors have opposed his release from custody, arguing that the psychological assessment indicated a continuing risk of repetition.

A request for house arrest was reportedly rejected.

TRIAL SET FOR OCTOBER

Spada remains in custody and continues to deny the allegations.

His first murder trial is scheduled to begin before the Court of Assizes in Forlì on October 15, 2026, where he will face the charge connected to Mambelli’s death.

The five other deaths remain under investigation.

For now, the allegations against Spada remain allegations, and he is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.