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Ashley Olsen Murder Suspect Says Artist Was Alive When He Left Her Apartment

Ashley Olsen
Ashley Olsen

The man suspected in the death of American artist Ashley Olsen in Florence, Italy, is adamant that though the two fought in the early hours of Friday, January 8, he had no intention of killing her.

According to Antonio Voce, the attorney who is defending Senegalese man Cheik Tidiane Diaw, Olsen was still alive when Diaw left her apartment, though she was moaning that she felt unwell.

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“He did not want to kill her or hurt her,” Voce told NBC News.

When questioned under oath on Wednesday, Diaw admitted that he and Olsen, 35, had physically fought that night while under the influence of alcohol and drugs, but that he had not meant to kill her.

According to Diaw, he and Olsen got into a heated argument after she tried to kick him out of her apartment after sex, for fear that her boyfriend would come home.

“She told him, ‘Please go away,’” Voce said. Olsen then allegedly pushed Diaw toward the door, and he punched her in the neck and pushed her to the ground. According to The New York Times, Diaw then helped her to bed and left. 

The artist’s boyfriend discovered her naked body in her studio apartment on Saturday, January 9, after he grew worried when he couldn’t reach her.

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An autopsy showed that Olsen had suffered two skull fractures and had been strangled with a rope or cordlike object, according to Florence chief prosecutor Giuseppe Creazzo.

On Thursday, January 14, Creazzo told reporters during a news conference that law enforcement had “very serious evidence” — namely, a condom and a cigarette with Diaw’s DNA — that suggested that the Senegalese man had murdered the Florida native and left her for dead.

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