Italian authorities say a visiting American college student has confessed to stabbing a man to death in Florence, according to reports from the Associated Press and the Italian news media.
The student, Johnathan Hindenach, was among a group of eight students and a professor from Olivet College, in Michigan, who left May 2 for what was to have been a 16-day trip to Italy, according to a statement on the college’s Web site.
A police investigator in Florence told reporters that Mr. Hindenach, who he said had been drinking and taking unspecified drugs, left his hotel room late Wednesday night, saying that his companions were trying to kill him. The investigator, Filippo Ferri, said that Mr. Hindenach had suffered from mental problems.
The victim, Riccardo Nistri, suffered two deep cuts to his neck, apparently caused by a broken piece of mirror. His body was found on Thursday at a small rented store he had been renovating in a section of Florence just across the Arno River from Mr. Hindenach’s hotel.
Also on Thursday, Mr. Hindenach was found wandering in that area, clad only in his underwear and stained with blood. The investigator said that Mr. Hindenach told police officers that he had killed Mr. Nistri. He was taken to a hospital for treatment of what the police believed to be a self-inflicted cut and then to a police station.
Mr. Hindenach was being detained over the weekend, pending a hearing to confirm his arrest. His court-appointed lawyer told the Associated Press that she was in touch with the U.S. Consulate, and that the student might arrange to hire his own lawyer.
Mr. Hindenach is a junior art major at Olivet, to which he transferred in January after attending Grand Valley State University and Lansing Community College. The Olivet statement described him as an honor student who had recently won an award in his field.
Olivet’s president, Donald L. Tuski, told the Associated Press last week that the remainder of the visiting group would leave Italy on Saturday. The group had been scheduled to visit other locations in Italy.
