The postman contacted the police and, later that same day, two men arrived on bicycles and saw that the black smear on the sill was in fact dried blood. The Pretore was summoned and in his presence, the two officers of the Pubblica Sicurezza made their way through the window into the Villa Laura.
A building of the late nineteenth century, it had thick walls to protect it in winter from the chill of the nearby Po and in summer from the stifling heat that would lie like a plague across the plain.