It had been dumped beside a road on the east coast of the island near Geylang, not far from a Malay kampong or village. She had been strangled with a cord or a rope and there was nothing to identify her, only a wallet that contained an American passport, an expired California driver’s license, a Social Security card, and 176 Singapore dollars. The wallet was clutched in Carla Lozupone’s right hand and the police had been forced to pry the fingers open. The name on the passport, the license, and the Social Security card was Angelo Sacchetti. An early-rising Malay fisherman had stumbled across the body. He immediately summoned his neighbors from their thatched huts in the kampong and all of them, men, women and children, had squatted around the dead girl and palavered for a long time about what should be done. Finally, they dispatched a youth on a bicycle to find a policeman. He couldn’t find one at first and it was not until well after nine in the morning that members of Singapore’s Criminal Investigation Department arrived.
