Passersby ignore the screaming for help of a Rome student set ablaze by her ex boyfriend.

A beautiful students of Rome university was said to be burnt alive by her ex-boyfriend after she left him for another man, authorities said Monday — a slaying one investigator called the most atrocious crime he has seen in his career.


The victim, by name Sara Di Pietrantonio, 22, died before Sunday morning after Vincenzo Paduano, 27, her ex-boyfriend set her car on fire by a cigarette.

Prosecutor Maria Monteleone told reporters. He then ran after her when she ran out of the car, and setting her ablaze again for the second time when he caught up with her, authorities said.

Investigators said her attacker used a cigarette lighter to set Ms Di Pietrantonio's face on fire after dousing her with alcohol.

''I can say that in 25 years in this work I have never seen something so atrocious," said Luigi Silipo, the lead police official in the investigation.

Vincenzo Paduano was arrested and currently in the Police custody