American Gets Life Sentence in Rome for Killing Partner and Baby Daughter

A court in Rome on Thursday convicted American citizen Francis Kaufmann of murdering his partner and their infant daughter and sentenced him to life in prison, the Italian news agency LaPresse reported, as cited by ABC News and The Independent. Kaufmann, 47, has denied the killings, and his lawyer argued that the case against him rests on circumstantial evidence.

The victims were Anastasia Trofimova, 28, and the couple's daughter Andromeda, who was nearly a year old. Their bodies were found in June 2025 in Rome's Villa Pamphili park.

What did the court decide?

According to LaPresse, the court found Kaufmann guilty of killing both Trofimova and Andromeda and imposed a life sentence. Kaufmann fled to the Greek island of Skiathos after the killings and was later extradited by Italy to stand trial, ABC News reported.

What do investigators say happened?

The bodies of the two victims were found hours apart on June 7, 2025, according to The Independent. Both were naked and had no identification. Trofimova's body was under a black bag. Andromeda was found in nearby undergrowth. ABC News reported that Trofimova had been killed several days before her daughter.

Prosecutors said CCTV footage showed Kaufmann carrying the child toward the park and returning about an hour later without her, The Independent reported. They also stated that Trofimova was already dead by June 5, when police stopped Kaufmann while he was visibly intoxicated and alone with the child.

What did the defense argue?

Kaufmann's lawyer, Paolo Foti, told the court the trial was built on circumstantial evidence, and he said that kind of evidence is not proof, according to The Independent. The defense maintained that there was no hard evidence showing Kaufmann carried out the killings. Kaufmann himself denies the accusations.

How were the victims identified?

Police at first struggled to establish who they were, The Independent reported. A breakthrough came after the case was featured on a popular television program that seeks help finding missing people. A viewer then reported seeing officers deal with a bleeding man who was with a young woman and a child in Rome less than three weeks before the murders.

Investigators confirmed the account in police logs, according to the same report. Trofimova was from Siberia and met Kaufmann in Malta on vacation in 2023. Andromeda was born in June 2024, and the family later moved to Rome.

Who is Kaufmann?

Kaufmann described himself as a filmmaker and used the alias Rexal Ford. ABC News and The Independent both reported that he had received $1 million in Italian tax credits for a film that was never made. ABC News reported that the scandal led the head of the Culture Ministry's film department to resign.

Why does it matter?

The verdict closes the trial of a case that drew attention in Italy on several fronts. It involved the deaths of a young mother and her baby, a suspect who left the country and had to be extradited, and a tax-credit affair that cost a senior official his post.

The case also raised questions about police contact before the deaths. Prosecutors suggested the child might have been saved had officers acted more decisively when they stopped Kaufmann on June 5, according to The Independent. The sources do not say whether any review of police conduct has been opened.

For readers outside Italy, the case shows that an American citizen accused of a crime abroad is tried under that country's legal system, and in this case the defendant was extradited from Greece to Italy to face trial.

Read next
Why the EU Gave Its Top Human Rights Prize to the International Criminal Court
Italy's New Protest Rules: What the Milan Decree Means for Rioters and Parents
Why the U.S. Sanctioned the ICC Hours After a Former Judge Won the Nobel Peace Prize

Around Prague, based on reporting by ABC News, The Independent