The Murder of Pippa Bacca

Pippa Bacca was the artistic name of Giuseppina Pasqualino di Marineo, a 33-year-old Italian performance artist. In March 2008 she and fellow artist Silvia Moro left Milan wearing white wedding dresses for a project often described as “Brides on Tour,” intended as a symbolic journey of peace and trust through countries touched by war.

The journey through Turkey

Bacca and Moro entered Turkey and later separated temporarily, planning to reunite farther along their route. Bacca continued hitchhiking alone. After March 31, 2008, contact with her stopped near Gebze in Kocaeli Province.

Her disappearance triggered searches in Turkey and intense concern in Italy. Contemporary reports later established that she had accepted a ride from Murat Karataş.

The investigation

Investigators traced Bacca's mobile phone after it was used following her disappearance. Reporting from the later appeal said that use of the phone was among the evidence that helped connect Karataş to the crime.

Karataş was detained, and Bacca's body was found on April 12 in a rural area near Gebze. Turkish news reports state that he led investigators to the location. The criminal case alleged that he had kidnapped and raped Bacca before killing her.

The 2009 conviction

In June 2009, the Kocaeli 1st High Criminal Court convicted Murat Karataş of offenses including deprivation of liberty, rape and intentional murder. Hürriyet Daily News reported the verdict as finding him guilty of kidnapping, raping and murdering Bacca.

The sentencing language can be confusing in English-language summaries. Turkish reporting states that the court first imposed an aggravated life sentence for the murder-related conduct and then applied a discretionary mitigation provision, converting the punishment to a standard life sentence. Some reports explain the practical execution calculation as a reduction from 36 to 30 years.

This file therefore describes the final punishment as a life sentence, while noting the mitigation, rather than presenting “30 years” as though the court had imposed an ordinary fixed-term sentence.

The appeal

The defense challenged the judgment. In April 2012, the First Criminal Chamber of Turkey's Court of Cassation upheld the life sentence. Anadolu Agency reported that the appellate court rejected the defense arguments and left the conviction in force.

The appeal matters editorially because it confirms that this is not merely a police allegation or a first-instance accusation: Karataş's guilt and life sentence survived review by the country's top criminal appellate court.

A second biological trace

Hürriyet Daily News reported that the appellate court criticized Karataş for failing to clarify the identity of a second man whose biological material was found on the victim's clothing. The available sources used for this file do not establish that another person was convicted of Bacca's rape or murder.

That evidence is therefore recorded as an unresolved investigative detail, not as grounds to accuse an unnamed person.

Public response and the victim's work

Bacca's murder caused outrage in both Turkey and Italy. Her peace project, which depended symbolically on trust between strangers, became inseparable in public memory from the violence committed against her.

The crime should not reduce Bacca to the circumstances of her death. She was an artist deliberately using travel, clothing and performance to explore peace and human connection. Later commemorations and cultural works continued to focus on that purpose.

Timeline

1. March 8, 2008
   Peace-art journey begins

   Pippa Bacca and Silvia Moro leave Milan wearing wedding dresses as part of their traveling art project.

2. March 2008
   The artists reach Turkey

   They travel through Turkey and temporarily separate, planning to meet again later in the journey.

3. March 31, 2008
   Contact with Bacca stops

   She disappears after continuing her journey near Gebze.

4. April 2008
   Phone evidence leads investigators

   Use of Bacca's mobile phone contributes to the investigation of Murat Karataş.

5. April 12, 2008
   Bacca is found dead

   Her body is located in a rural area near Gebze.

6. June 2009
   Karataş is convicted

   The Kocaeli court convicts him of kidnapping, rape and murder and imposes a life sentence after mitigation.

7. April 2012
   Life sentence upheld

   The Court of Cassation's First Criminal Chamber rejects the appeal and leaves the conviction and punishment in force.

Current status

Solved / adjudicated. Murat Karataş was convicted of kidnapping, rape and murder, and the life sentence was upheld on appeal in 2012. The sources reviewed for this file do not show that the conviction was later overturned.