An Italian Woman Was Murdered in a Daytime Hit At a Popular Mexican Restaurant

MEXICO CITY — Three men have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the daytime murder of an Italian woman in a restaurant in the popular Mexican beachside tourist destination of Playa del Carmen.

Ornella Saiu, 40-years-old, was gunned down on May 30 while working at the Italian restaurant cafe called Sabrina 48, located just off the city’s famed main drag: 5th avenue. Initial reports alleged that a man arrived on a motorcycle and approached Saiu behind the front counter, and opened fire. Saiu, who reportedly lived in Playa del Carmen for over 20 years, died at the scene of the crime.

Óscar Montes de Oca, the attorney general of Quintana Roo state where Playa del Carmen is located, announced the arrest of the three men at a press conference on June 5. The men, identified only as Martín P, José R, and Pedro H due to Mexican privacy laws, were detained in the eastern state of Veracruz, to where they allegedly fled after the crime.

“Regarding the issue of the foreigner who was deprived of her life, it is ruled out at the moment that it was related to bribes or extortion, there is no evidence of this,” said Montes de Oca. “It was a direct attack on her, there was planning and it was not circumstantial.”

Authorities did not announce an alleged motive for the crime.

Saiu’s murder came amid an ongoing surge of violence and crime in Quintana Roo that has affected not only Playa del Carmen, but other popular nearby tourist destinations like Cancun and Tulum. On May 29, the day before her death, three severed heads were left in front of a Mexican military base in Cancun. A man was killed inside a Starbucks in Tulum in April reportedly in an attempt to steal his Rolex. In February, four Playa del Carmen city employees were found shot to death inside a vehicle with signs of torture. A shootout in Tulum in October 2021 left two foreign travelers dead from stray bullets.

The increase in violence is believed to be connected to warring gangs battling for control of the lucrative local drug markets, extortion rackets, people smuggling, and other criminal economies.

Saiu’s death was mourned by both foreigners and locals in Playa del Carmen. Andrea Lotito, the Vice-president of the Riviera Maya Hotel Association posted a photo of Saiu on Facebook, writing “Adiós Ornella, excellent resident of Playa del Carmen and for many, a friend. A very sad day without explanations, without justifications.”

The Italian honorary consul in Playa del Carmen, Italo Sampablo, said that “this heinous act of violence has deeply shaken the community and robbed a family of a loved one, leaving a deep wound in our hearts. In times like these, it is important that we come together as a community to show our support and offer comfort to the families affected by this tragedy,” according to local media.

The Quintana Roo state government and the federal government of Mexico have tried to quell the rising violence in one of the country’s most popular tourist regions with intermittent deployments of the country’s security apparatus, but with little success. 

In May, Cancun tried a new method to calm the violence — banning concerts by some of the country’s most prominent music artists who they believed glorified the criminal lifestyle in their music.