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Chiek Tidiane Diaw: Man Accused Of Killing American Ashley Olsen Had Entered Italy Illegally Just Weeks Before

By Nathan Francis
Published on: 10:13 PST, Jan 14, 2016

Chiek Tidiane Diaw had entered Italy illegally just weeks before he attacked and killed American, Ashley Olsen, authorities revealed this week.

Olsen was found murdered in her home in Florence, Italy, leading to the arrest of a man she had met at a disco that night. Cheik Tidiane Diaw, a 27-year-old who had recently immigrated to Italy from Senegal, reportedly confessed to the killing after a night of sex and drugs turned violent. Diaw claimed that the two fought, but that he had no intention to kill the 35-year-old Olsen.

Chiek Tidiane Diaw was arrested Thursday on suspicion of aggravated homicide. Prosecutors said surveillance cameras and witnesses identified Diaw as leaving the nightclub, Montecarla, with Ashley Olsen in the early morning hours on January 8.

Diaw claimed that the two had consensual sex. He said afterward, Olsen tried to push him out of the apartment, fearful that her boyfriend was coming home. He claimed he then punched her in the neck and pushed her to the ground, where she hit her head.

Diaw told investigators that he shouted, “you have treated me like a dog.”

After the altercation, Diaw said he then helped Olsen to bed, and that she was alive when he last saw her.

As the Daily Mail reported, investigators believe both were intoxicated on alcohol and drugs at the time of the killing.

“It is likely that the killer and victim were not lucid at the time of the murder,” the chief prosecutor, Giuseppe Creazzo, said.

“We have reason to believe that they took substances that made them not lucid. Alcohol for sure, maybe other substances.

“We will know more when the drugs tests on Ashley come back.”

Investigators said Cheik Tidiane Diaw entered Italy illegally a few months ago, joining his brother who had already been living in the country. The case has added tension to the debate over illegal immigrants in Europe, with several high-profile cases of rape and sexual abuse in recent weeks as an influx of immigrants enters the continent from war-torn regions in the Middle East and from Northern Africa.

On New Year’s Eve, there were reports of widespread violence and mass assaults against women in several European cities, largely in Germany. The attacks were blamed on packs of migrant men, which has fueled debate over whether European nations were too hasty in taking in immigrants.

Reports from several cities uncovered a chaotic scene, with women being attacked and sometimes raped.

A leaked police report from Cologne, where more than 200 women have come forward alleging sexual abuse, claimed that the groups even turned their attacks on police.

“When we arrived, our vehicles were pelted with firecrackers,” the report read, via Russia Today. “In the forecourt and on the cathedral steps were a thousand people, mostly males of an immigrant background who were indiscriminately throwing fireworks and bottles into the crowd.”

In Italy, the murder of Ashley Olsen has also drawn parallels to the murder of Meredith Kercher and the subsequent conviction of American exchange student, Amanda Knox.

Aside from the confession, police say they have found other evidence connecting Chiek Tidiane Diaw to the murder of Ashley Olsen. Police obtained Diaw’s DNA, and said it came back as a match to a used condom and cigarette butt found in Olsen’s toilet. They also found his DNA underneath Olsen’s fingernails, which police said fit their description of a struggle between the two.

[Image release by Florence Police]

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