First Court of Assizes · Rome, Italy · November 5, 2026
A court in Rome sentenced Francis Kaufmann to life in prison on November 5 for murdering his partner, Anastasia Trofimova, and their infant daughter. The mother and child were found in the Villa Pamphili park on June 7, 2025. Italy’s ANSA news agency reported that the First Court of Assizes imposed three years of daytime isolation as part of the sentence. The Associated Press also reported the life sentence.
From an identification appeal to a trial
Police initially did not know the woman’s identity. On June 9, 2025, the Rome police headquarters appealed for help identifying her. The appeal documents what police were asking the public at that point; it predates the identification and later charges.
Reuters reported from Rome that a viewer of an Italian television appeal recalled seeing a man with a woman and child during an earlier police encounter. Investigators found a corresponding police record. Reuters also reported that investigators relied on surveillance footage prosecutors said traced Kaufmann toward the park with the child and away without her. Kaufmann was later arrested in Greece and extradited to Italy.
The appeal and the footage played different roles. The tip gave investigators a previous encounter to look for. The footage formed part of the prosecution’s case about the later sequence of events. Neither should be read as a complete account of the trial evidence on its own.
What the verdict resolved
Kaufmann denied the charges. His lawyer, Paolo Foti, argued that the prosecution’s circumstantial case did not establish that he committed the murders. The court found Kaufmann guilty. ANSA reported that the prosecution also questioned the handling of an earlier police encounter. That criticism is distinct from the court’s finding about who killed Trofimova and her daughter.
The November 5 ruling is the trial court’s judgment. This report did not independently verify a subsequent appeal or a published written explanation of the judgment. Follow Family Murders and the international crime collection for related reporting.
File photograph: the chapel at Villa Doria Pamphilj, Rome, May 2011. Photo by Friar’s Balsam, CC BY 2.0. This is a general view of the park estate, not the discovery site. Photo source and license review · CC BY 2.0 license. Re-encoded for display.
