It reads like a grisly, third-rate thriller yet in this case it is all too alarmingly true. A newly-appointed Swiss Guard officer, Comdt Alois Estermann (43), his Venezuelan wife, Ms Gladys Meza Romero, and Cpl Cedric Tornay (23) were all found dead in the Estermann apartment in the Vatican on Monday, victims of a homicide-suicide shooting allegedly prompted by a "moment of madness" on the part of Cpl Tornay.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, a senior Vatican spokesman, Dr Joaquin Navarro-Valls, outlined the motivation of killings which have shocked both the Vatican's small community and Pope John Paul II.
It would appear that Cpl Tornay went to the Estermann apartment on Monday evening and, on being admitted, immediately opened fire, first killing Comdt Estermann and his wife, and then himself.
The murder weapon, said Dr Navarro-Valls, was Cpl Tornay's duty-issue, Swiss-made Stig 75 revolver, found under his body.
Dr Navarro-Valls said it appeared that Cpl Tornay harboured grievances against Comdt Estermann as he had received a written warning from him in February after he had failed to return to barracks one night.
The corporal was also allegedly resentful that he had not been chosen to receive an award at a special Swiss Guard ceremony, due to have been held today but now postponed. Dr Navarro-Valls added: "I would say that it is now much more than hypothesis to suggest that this [killing] was caused by a moment of madness . . . He [Cpl Tornay] had complained yesterday [Monday] because he felt he was not appreciated enough within the Swiss Guard."
The Vatican spokesman also said Cpl Tornay had given his comrades a letter, addressed to his family, at around 7 p.m. on Monday, about two hours before the killings. He rejected media speculation about a sexual motivation to the killings, linked to the fact that the Estermanns were childless. "I was close friends with them both.
They were a model couple and the fact that they could not have children did not bother them too much as they dedicated their time to other interests."
Given that under the 1929 Lateran Treaties between Italy and the Vatican, the Holy See retains jurisdiction inside the Vatican State, the investigation into the killings will be carried out by the Vatican's own magistrate, Mr Gian Luigi Morrone.
Intrigue is added to mystery by Comdt Estermann's appointment as head of the Swiss Guard just hours before he was killed.
A member of the guard for more than 18 years, Swiss-born Comdt Estermann was present at the Pope's side on May 13th, 1981, during the assassination attempt by Turkish gunman Ali Agca, in St Peter's Square.
More recently, the commandant had become well known to members of the Vatican Press Corps since he accompanied the Pope on many of his overseas trips, usually carrying out his bodyguard duties in plain clothes.
The commandant's seemingly model career was marked by a devout Catholicism which recently saw him fulfil the role of postulatore or plaintiff in arguing the cause for the beatification of 19th century writer Nicolai Wolf, in front of the Vatican's Congregation for the Cause of Saints.
Ironically, several of yesterday's newspapers carried interviews with him, marking his new appointment. Speaking to the Rome daily La Repubblica, he had said: "I'm very happy and I have to thank the Holy Father for the honour he has bestowed on me and the trust he has placed in me. I also thank the Lord for having guided me thus far and for the help that He will, I hope, continue to show me."
The Pope sent a message of condolence to the Estermann family in Switzerland. He said: "It is with great pain that I learnt of the unbearable news of the death of your son . . . In this situation, which is beyond human comprehension, I put the questions and distress which will be felt by many in my prayers to God, who reigns above life and death."