Comatose Woman Wakes to Reveal Her Alleged Suicide Attempt Was Really Murder

By Mark Shrayber  |  September 4, 2015 | 7:50pm
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An Italian woman who went into a coma following a 115-foot fall from a cruise ship balcony in July has woken to deny reports that she had tried to commit suicide. Now police are investigating her boyfriend, who the victim says was abusive. “I don’t know if he pushed me, but I certainly didn’t want to commit suicide,” Laura Stuardo told a local paper in Turin, where she lives.

Stuardo, 53, who had been on the cruise with her boyfriend, 55-year-old Giovanni Pia, was allegedly injured after she jumped from her room’s balcony as Pia tried to stop her from killing herself. Or, at least, that’s what Pia claims. The couple had gone on vacation to patch up their difficult relationship. Stuardo’s fall, according to The Washington Post, occurred right after the pair had a fight, while the boat was docked in Norway.

Stuardo tells a different story, stating to authorities that she remembers falling and screaming but that she doesn’t have any recollection of wanting to end her life. What she does remember, however, is the abuse her boyfriend visited upon her and her daughter.

From The Post:

Stuardo, a divorcee, moved her and her teenage daughter in with Pia recently in Turin. But she told police that he had abused her, the paper reported.
“One night he came home drunk after being involved in an accident,” the paper quoted her as saying. “I’m kicking you out now, he started to shout, you and your daughter. You two are tramps. He then grabbed me by the hair and dragged me out of the house.”

Currently, Stuardo is refusing visits from Pia. Her ex-husband asked that Pia be kept as far as possible from Stuardo while she recuperates from her devastating injuries The police, for their part, are investigating whether Pia had anything to do with his girlfriend’s fall.

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