Miss Cianciulli was born in Montello, Province of Avellino in Southern Italy on April 14, 1894. Her childhood was marred by personal struggle, and after two failed suicide attempts, she married a man without her family's blessings. Going against their wishes, she felt, would haunt her the rest of her life.
A series of unfortunate accidents, miscarriages, and ten deceased children culminated in the murder of three townswomen in Correggio where her husband and she had finally settled. She was considered a pillar of the community and was sought out by local women as a fortuneteller, which gave her an incredible ability to manipulate her chosen victims.
The murders started in 1939.
Faustina Setti-- Miss Setti was the first of her victims, a fifty year old spinster who paid 30,000 lire for Miss Cianciulli's help in finding a husband. After claiming she had located a suitable match, Leonarda instructed her to write letters indicating she was fine for her family members. She was to tell no one of the marriage and mail the letters upon arrival in her future husband's village.
When Faustina came for a final visit to say farewell, Leonarda drugged her with a glass of wine and used an ax to cut her victim's body into nine pieces while collecting the blood in a basin. The following is an account of the incident from Leonarda's personal memoir, An Embittered Soul's Confessions.
I threw the pieces into a pot, added seven kilos of caustic soda, which I had bought to make soap, and stirred the whole mixture until the pieces dissolved in a thick, dark mush that I poured into several buckets and emptied in a nearby septic tank. As for the blood in the basin, I waited until it had coagulated, dried it in the oven, ground it and mixed it with flour, sugar, chocolate, milk and eggs, as well as a bit of margarine, kneading all the ingredients together. I made lots of crunchy tea cakes and served them to the ladies who came to visit, though Giuseppe and I also ate them.
Francesca Soavi-- Francesca, the second victim, paid 3,000 lire to have Miss Cianciulli find a job for her. Cianciulli claimed she had a found a position for the woman at an all girl's school and that Francesca should write letters to her family saying all was well that were only to be mailed when she arrived in her new home. Like the first victim, Miss Soavi was drugged with a glass of wine and hacked to pieces, her parts being made into cakes and soap. The murder took place on September 5, 1940.
Virginia Cacioppo-- The third and final victim was said to have paid 50,000 lire when Leonarda supposedly found her a secretarial position for an impresario in Florence. The scheme went much the same as the previous murders. Letters were to be written to her family but only mailed after her move was completed. No one was to be told until then. During her farewell visit with Leonarda, Virginia was drugged, cut into pieces and her body disposed of.
This is what Cianciulli had to say about her final victim.
She ended up in the pot, like the other two...her flesh was fat and white, when it had melted I added a bottle of cologne, and after a long time on the boil I was able to make some most acceptable creamy soap. I gave bars to neighbours and acquaintances. The cakes, too, were better: that woman was really sweet.
Leonarda was eventually caught and charged with the crimes when Miss Cacioppo's sister-in-law became suspicious over her sudden disappearance and had been last seen entering Cianciulli's home. After being arrested, she confessed to the murders and provided vivid details, even going so far as to correct the official account while on the witness stand.
She served thirty years in prison and a further three in a criminal asylum where she died on October 15, 1970 of cerebral apoplexy.
