Who was Stefano Argentino, Sara Campanella's killer: those 7 social media posts

"Enough, leave me, enough!" Those were the last, terrible screams of Sara Campanella , the 22-year-old student stabbed to death by her university colleague, Stefano Argentino , who committed suicide in prison yesterday. But who was Argentino? What was known about this 27-year-old who, ever since he intercepted Sara Campanella in the classrooms of the three-year program in Biomedical Laboratory Techniques at the University of Messina, had methodically sought her attention, showing his interest even when the girl clearly wanted to be left alone?

The identikit of the confessed murderer

His obsessive and harassing behavior toward Sara had been noticed by the student's friends and colleagues. "On a regular basis," prosecutors wrote in their arrest warrant, "he harassed the victim, propositioning her, asking her to go out and deepen their relationship, not even stopping when she refused." Stefano Argentino had been located at a B&B in Noto linked to his mother, not at his parents' home. According to investigators' reconstruction, after fatally stabbing Sara Campanella, the 27-year-old fled, going not to his home in Messina, but to Noto.

Little on social media, only one post in 7 years

Little presence on social media. On his Instagram profile , opened in 2020, he followed football teams and players, a singer, and gaming profiles . There is a link to the University of Messina. A single post from 7 years ago, probably from a trip to Australia.

Also a student at the same university as the victim, he had been stalking her for at least two years , so much so that on the afternoon of the tragic episode, after classes ended, the 27-year-old first approached his friends to ask where Sara was and then followed the 22-year-old to the place where he killed her.

What is the “incel phenomenon”?

In light of the information that has emerged so far about Stefano Argentino, his shy and solitary nature, and the obsessive attention he paid to his victim, the connection to the 'incel' phenomenon , recently brought to media attention by the British series 'Adolescence', arises spontaneously. In reality, it is a particularly worrying phenomenon, born in the US but emerging globally in recent years. The term incel , short for " involuntary celibacy," refers to heterosexual men who are unable to establish relationships with women and feel discriminated against and rejected . For them, the blame lies solely with the opposite sex. Therefore, the reaction is marked by anger towards women, fueling a misogynistic and very violent vision .

Behind these men, often very young, lie stories of bullying, discrimination, peer pressure, and isolation. Their conversations often reveal suicidal and self-harming tendencies, behaviors that, along with suicide-homicides , are encouraged by the very members of these groups. Their platform is the web.

Incels vent their frustration on dedicated forums, but also on mainstream social media like X, Facebook, YouTube, and Telegram chats. These are very closed groups, difficult to join without a sort of "exam." Women are, for obvious reasons, completely impossible to participate. And the issue, even in Great Britain, is so deeply felt that even Prime Minister Keir Starmer has joined the now global debate sparked by the Netflix series, which tells the story of a 13-year-old accused of stabbing a classmate to death. The British Prime Minister , along with the series' creators, announced that Netflix will make " Adolescence" available free of charge to all British secondary schools. "What happens in the story could really happen anywhere, to any child," said Starmer, who stressed the importance of the fact that the story is shedding light and sparking debate on "misogyny, online content, and the fact that children, especially boys, are attracted to this world ."