VATICAN CITY, FEB 8, 1999 (VIS) - The Holy See Press Office today issued an extensive and final report on the findings of the investigation into the deaths on the evening of May 4, 1998 of newly-named Swiss Guard Commander Alois Estermann and his wife Gladys, and the apparent suicide of Vice Corporal Cedric Tornay, accused of shooting the Estermann couple.
The report stated that "with a decree dated February 5, 1999, Investigating Magistrate Gianluigi Marrone of the Vatican Tribunal has ordered the acts relative to the deaths" of the Estermanns and Cedric Tornay "to be archived."
Magistrate Marrone accepted the proposition made by Public Prosecutor Nicola Picardi that "there was no need to proceed with penal action."
The final report, says the press office communique, is the result of 10 different types of examinations such as anatomical-histological, toxicological and ballistic analyses, 5 police and judicial reports, 38 interviews and "numerous requests for information and reports from public officials of Vatican City State, the Swiss Episcopal Conference and diverse photographic services."
The conclusions reached, and supported by considerable and substantial documentation, are the following:
1. No evidence and no witnesses could be found to support the theory put forth last May regarding the presence of a fourth person in the Estermann apartment at the time of the double murder-suicide. There never were, for example, as had been suggested, four drinking glasses on a table in the Estermann apartment.
2. Paraffin tests, which showed "the presence of gunpowder residue on the right hand" of Tornay, proved beyond a doubt that Vice Corporal Tornay fired the fatal shots, including the one with which he took his own life. The weapon used was his Swiss-made and Swiss Guard-issued 9 mm caliber SIG 75, identifiable by its serial number. This gun holds six bullets. Five were fired: The first two at Alois Estermann, a third went wild, the fourth struck Gladys Estermann and the fifth was used by Tornay to kill himself. One bullet remained in the weapon, unfired.
3. The autopsy performed on Cedric Tornay revealed three important facts, which were developed at length in this report: a. the presence of a subarachnoid cyst in his cranium; b. the presence of cannabis in his urine and the discovery in his room of 24 stubs of handmade cigarettes in which were found traces of cannabis, leading authorities to state that, "even if complete proof in this regard as not yet been reached, this office believes it cannot exclude (the possibility) that Tornay was a chronic drug user"; c. there was a case of bronchopneumonia underway.
Regarding the cyst, the report stated: "In the first place the autopsy revealed the presence in Tornay's cranium of a subarachnoid cyst the size of a pigeon egg which had compromised and deformed the anterior part of the left frontal brain lobe and had partially eroded the cranium." The report states that "authoritative neurological literature, on the one hand underlines the importance of this part of the brain, traditionally called 'the organ of civilization'; on the other, it analytically describes the clinical effects and the syndrome of lesions on the frontal lobe, indicating, with regard to this area, above all the impairment of cognitive function and the disinhibition of behavior."
It adds: "Two contrasting aspects of the personality of Vice Corporal Tornay emerged from these investigations: While, on the one hand he was considered a courteous and kind person who knew how to maintain relationships with friends, ... on the other hand, there were numerous incidences reported of his disinhibited behavior, which could be considered as outright irreverent and irresponsible." The report went on to give several examples of Tornay's changeable behavior.
Regarding "the presence of traces of a metabolite of cannabis in the urine and not the blood" of Cedric Tornay, this induced investigators to believe that "in the three hours preceding death, Tornay did not take such substances and that therefore he did not present acute symptoms linked to them at the moment of the fact. In any case, 'behavior and psychic alterations could be suspected .... in the event it could be ascertained that he was an habitual user (of cannabis)."
The report, "in describing some of the psycho-toxic effects induced by cannabis, underlined 'hallucinations, delusion and paranoid feelings', adding that 'thoughts become confused and disorganized, the feeling of depersonalization is accentuated and there is disorientation with regard to time." Tornay's "psychic state" in the period of months, days and hours preceding the killings, was reconstructed.
Nearing its conclusion the report stated that "a third co-cause ... is represented by the (case) of bronchopneumonia underway," as certified by the autopsy results. Notwithstanding this, said the report, Tornay had a very active day. "Thus," it affirmed that "Tornay certainly found himself in a situation of stress."
Adding to the above factors, said the report, were two other probable factors: the "bad news" for Cedric Tornay of the nomination that same day (May 4) of Estermann as Swiss Guard commander, and the news that he, Tornay, would be denied some medals he had expected to receive.
The report concluded: "The above-described co-causes, this office believes, interacted among each other and altered the psychic state of Tornay who, in every probability, was already not in full possession of a total and adequate psychic maturity."
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