Italian police: US woman found slain in her Florence flat

Police opened a murder investigation Saturday after 35-year-old Ashley Olsen of Summer Haven, Florida, was found dead, her neck bruised and scratched.

Police said Ashley Olsen, 35, was found with scratch marks and bruises on her neck Saturday.

But police wouldn’t comment on Italian news reports that the woman had been strangled until an autopsy was performed.

She is not Ashley Olsen of the “Olsen twins”. The incident is the latest in more than three months of near-daily Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers that have killed 21 people, mostly in stabbings, shootings, and car-ramming assaults.

Local TV stations reported that Ms Olsen’s body was found on a bed and that she was identified by her father, who is believed to work as a teacher in a nearby school.

The case is being handled by Giacinto Profazio – the same detective who initially ran the investigation into the killing of British student Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy, in 2007, which led to the conviction and imprisonment of her American roommate, Amanda Knox.

While the friends continue to be questioned the police have also turned their attention to Olsen’s electronic life They are analyzing her computer and also looking for evidence on the security camera footage of the street directly outside her apartment. Though the couple had fought prior to the lack of communication Olsen’s boyfriend still felt the urge to check on her when she would not answer any of his calls or messages.

“She always with her dog, always sitting on steps of Santo Spirito with friends”, Jupe said in a phone interview. It wasn’t immediately clear where in the U.S. the family came from.

She said she didn’t know Olsen personally, but said the first thing she thought of when she heard the news was the Knox saga.

She said: “We’ve been through this terribly unresolved mystery with Amanda Knox”.