The Sinister & Creepy Case of Yiya Murano

Brief Case

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Transcript

00:07Today we are going to Argentina so sit back as we go to the late 1970s.

00:18Guilla Morano was born in Corrientes in Argentina on May the 20th 1930. Her mother stayed at home

00:26and brought up her children and her father had been in the military. When Guilla was young the

00:33family moved to Argentina's capital Buenos Aires and Guilla was fascinated by all the tall buildings

00:39and hectic pace of the city. She was also fascinated by the wealth in the city, the elegantly dressed

00:46people and the wonderful shops with designer brands. It came as no surprise that she married a

00:52lawyer named Antonio Morano. He wanted his wife to stay at home rather than go to work and his wife

00:59was very happy to oblige with his request. She would spend most of her days meeting friends and shopping.

01:06She liked to buy designer clothes and jewelry from the most recognizable brands. She gave off a sense

01:12of being a very cultured and well-off person but in reality she wasn't. She wasn't well educated and

01:19along with her husband lived in a depressing two-bedroom apartment with old furniture and damp walls.

01:27When she was not with her friends they would joke about her excessive expenditure and her love of

01:33anything with a designer label but they also considered her to be a caring person and Yia had a

01:39way of convincing people that she was rich. She always told them that she made money by investing.

01:45She would say that she had discovered a formula which meant that when she invested money the return

01:52she would get would be far better than any investment company or bank. Although many of her friends didn't

01:57believe her she was always spending money and part of them thought that maybe she had stumbled on a way

02:03of making lots of money and they would love to be part of it. Yia was a good talker and

02:09always sounded

02:10convincing when talking about her investments so offered three of her closest friends the opportunity

02:15of investing in her money-making scheme and sharing her success. One of Yia's best friends was her

02:23cousin named Carmen Zulema who had been a widow for some time. Carmen's husband had been an important

02:29businessman in Argentina and when he died he left his wife a large sum of money so Carmen and her

02:35daughter

02:36would have a prosperous future without him. The cousins were very close and used to exchange little

02:41gifts. Carmen gave plants to Yia who in exchange made delicious cakes for Carmen. In January 1979

02:49Yia told her cousin about how much money she was making in her wonderful investment scheme

02:54and convinced Carmen to give her 20 million pesos to invest promising her cousin amazing returns on the money.

03:01Yia signed a promissory note that stated that on March 27th of the same year she would return the

03:07full amount plus great returns on the investment. Carmen agreed and handed over 20 million pesos to her

03:15cousin. March arrived and Carmen was looking forward to the return of her investment but on March 24th

03:23three days before Carmen was due to get her money she began to feel very ill and became so concerned

03:29that

03:29she left her apartment to ask for help. The pain however was so bad that when she reached the top

03:34of

03:34the stairs she fell and like a doll rolled down from the top to the bottom. On seeing her fall

03:40the

03:40doorman named Jose Gonzalez phoned for an ambulance. With all the commotion the neighbours all came to see

03:47what was going on and then suddenly Yia appeared at the building. She asked the doorman for a set of

03:53keys to

03:54her cousin's apartment as she said that she would have to contact her cousin's family and friends

03:58to let them know what had happened. She said she would need the phone book. Jose knew she was a

04:05friend

04:05of Carmen's so thinking this was normal obliged with her request. A short time later she left the building

04:11with a small bottle and some papers and as she passed for doorman she loudly cried,

04:16my god she is a third friend of mine who has died this year and it's only the end of

04:22March.

04:23Carmen died on her way to hospital and the doctor who produced Carmen's death certificate

04:28indicated that the cause of death was non-traumatic cardiac arrest. A few days later Carmen's daughter

04:35went to the police to inform them that she was concerned about the circumstances surrounding her

04:39mother's death. She said that her mother had been in very good health and that following her mother's

04:44tragic demise a promissory note had gone missing from the apartment. She explained how the doorman had

04:51given Yia keys to the apartment and that she had left carrying papers in a jar. The daughter suspected

04:57someone may have poisoned her mother and demanded that the police conduct an autopsy. The police decided

05:04to investigate the case and following the autopsy discovered that there was cyanide present in Carmen's

05:09stomach. They were on alert as they thought they may have a murder case on their hands

05:13and as Yia was one of the closest people to the victim and the first person to enter her apartment

05:19after she died they decided to investigate her further. They soon discovered that Yia had a friend named

05:26Nilda Gamba who on February the 11th 1979 had died unexpectedly. They thought this was very strange as

05:34there was only a six-week period between the two deaths. On Friday the 9th of February,

05:40Nilda went to dinner at the Muranos where she stayed until one o'clock in the morning. The next day

05:46she

05:46had terrible pains in her stomach. Fortunately her neighbor was a doctor and he prescribed medicine

05:51for her and told her to stay in bed. Nilda phoned Yia and asked her to come over and look

05:57after her,

05:58which of course she did and as a good friend stayed by her bedside while she tried to recover.

06:04She tried to feed her and gave her tea but soon after Nilda died. When the doctor returned he found

06:11his patient dead in the bed and asked why Yia hadn't found a medic and she calmly replied but she

06:17wasn't authorized to do so. The doctor who produced a death certificate stated the cause of death as

06:24cardiac arrest. The police applied to get Nilda's body exhumed and an autopsy was conducted just like

06:32with Carmen's body. Traces of cyanide were found in the stomach of the deceased. Further investigations

06:38showed that she too had invested in Yia's amazing money-making scheme. As the police continued to

06:45look into the strange deaths of Yia Murano's friends they uncovered another one. Leila Formisano was a

06:53great friend of Yia and following Nilda's death the two ladies had arranged to go to the beautiful

06:58coastal city of Mar del Plata. Before they went Yia went to Leila's apartment. It was February the 19th

07:061979. Yia said that she wanted to see her friend at her apartment in preparation for the trip but when

07:13she arrived at her friend's apartment there was no answer. So Yia presumed that her friend was not home.

07:20She made a point of leaving a message with the doorman named Carlos Alberto Zamora. An hour later

07:26Yia returned looking desperately for her friend. As the doorman was not around she asked the doorman's

07:31wife if she had seen her friend. The doorman's wife was confused as a few hours earlier she had seen

07:37the two women leave together. But she went out with you the lady said. Yia replied yes I know but

07:43she

07:44had to go back because she did not feel well. Yia returned again that night this time with tickets

07:50for the cinema but again there was no answer. After three days of no one being able to get a

07:56response

07:56from Leila's apartment the doorman called the police who managed to enter the building via the neighbour's

08:01balcony where they found Leila dead sitting in a chair with the tv turned on. The death certificate

08:08gave a cause of death as natural causes. The police now exhumed the body and again found traces of cyanide

08:15in the deceased's stomach. They also discovered that she too had invested in Yia's money-making scheme.

08:26Yia Murano was arrested at her home on April 27th 1979. She was interviewed by police but denied all

08:33the charges made against her. She did admit to making cakes but not poisonous ones. She did confirm that

08:40the three women who had died had invested in her money-making scheme but said they knew they were

08:45risks as well as rewards. Yia was sent to prison to await her trial. She was always a very charming

08:52person and became very popular with both staff and fellow inmates. But that did not stop the

08:57prosecutor demanding that her sentence be life in prison. On May the 6th 1980 a prison guard found her

09:06lying in her cell with excruciating pain. She was transferred to hospital where she had surgery and the

09:12doctors said that she had had a stroke. Before the surgery she asked the nurse for a pen and paper

09:18to tell her story. She recovered from both the operation and the stroke so decided her story would

09:24stay with her. On June the 15th 1982 after three years and 45 days in detention a judge acquitted Yia

09:33of

09:33all charges against her and she was released. The prosecutor in her case however appealed the ruling

09:40and in June 1985 the courts overturned the decision sentencing her to life imprisonment and she was

09:47returned to her cell. In 2001 she was released after serving 16 years of her sentence. There are many

09:56people in Argentina who support the theory that Yia has in fact killed at least two more people.

10:01There is insufficient evidence to charge her with any other poisonings. Yia has always claimed that

10:07she is an innocent woman. The crimes of Yia Morano are very famous in Argentina. There have been books

10:15about her, TV shows and even a play called Yia the Musical. It is even possible to buy Yia Morano

10:23merchandise.

10:25Hello everyone and thank you so much for listening to another sad and tragic case.

10:31As per usual please leave any comments or feedback you may have and I will see you in the next

10:39brief case.

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