The 59-year-old, a doorman of a building in the Brera area of Milan, had been chatting for months with someone pretending to be the pop star. Then the requests for money started.
He was convinced he was in a relationship with Dua Lipa. He, Gianfranco Bonzi, Franco to his friends, a 59-year-old doorman of a building on via Borgonuovo, in the heart of Brera, a fashionable district of Milan. She, a 28-year-old British pop star, four albums behind her, millions of records sold, various awards, and countless followers on social media. When a colleague at work warned him about the classic “romantic scam,” he disappeared. The last images of Franco, captured by a camera, are dated Saturday, March 23. Then nothing. On Monday, his name resurfaced from a DNA check taken from a corpse recovered on June 22 in the Adda River. It is Bonzi’s body.
Jeans and a light jacket. The inevitable newsboy cap on his head. Bonzi also had a blue trolley with him. It is the camera outside the building on via Borgonuovo that captured him for the last time. It is 6:55 PM on March 23. The appeals from family, son, and friends were of no use. “Franco” vanishes. Leaving at home his wallet, bank card, and credit cards. And on the web, an enigmatic message that sounds like a farewell: “This is my last post that I publish and also one of the last actions of my life. The cause a love disappointment that I couldn’t handle.”
Before that Saturday, for a long time, for months, Bonzi had chatted with “her.” Or rather, with whoever hid behind a fake profile of Dua Lipa, from which he had received declarations of love and photos. Until he convinced himself that he was engaged in a relationship (“I’m already dating Dua” he had written in a chat). Then the fake Dua Lipa started making requests for money. First, small amounts, always returned, to win his trust. Then, at the end of February, “Franco” had made two withdrawals of 2,500 euros, as shown by his accounts.
Since his disappearance, the carabinieri of the Abbiategrasso company are investigating the case for instigation to suicide. The hypothesis is that Bonzi may have fallen victim to serial scammers who operate online traps from abroad to collect money. He may have even been offered a fake investment in bitcoin. Meanwhile, nothing was known of Bonzi. Until June 22, when some fishermen stumbled upon a corpse near Crotta d’Adda, in the Cremona area. On the body, unrecognizable due to its long stay in water, there were no signs of violence. Only DNA led to identifying him. “What he said in the end made sense — explains his son Luca —. I feel calm and destroyed. Rest in peace, Dad. It doesn’t matter what you did, we will all love you forever, don’t suffer anymore.”
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