💾 Archived View for gmi.noulin.net › mobileNews › 573.gmi captured on 2023-12-28 at 20:33:47. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content

View Raw

More Information

⬅️ Previous capture (2023-01-29)

➡️ Next capture (2024-05-10)

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

US tourist drugged, killed by train in Rome

2008-05-27 04:46:45

By MARTA FALCONI, Associated Press WriterTue May 27, 1:52 AM ET

An American tourist was killed by a train as he walked on the tracks in a daze

after he drank a cappuccino laced with drugs and then was robbed, railway

police said Monday.

Frank Phel, 74, of California, died early Friday at the suburban Tiburtina

station, police official Giovanni Piccolantonio said. Phel's hometown was not

disclosed.

The suspected robber, a 54-year-old Italian man who was arrested Saturday, had

chatted with Phel and his wife before fetching them cappuccinos at a local cafe

and then adding a mix of drugs including sleeping pills, Piccolantonio said.

"This man approached these two tourists and earned their trust, and then

offered them two cappuccinos with drugs," Piccolantonio said.

The robbery was filmed by security cameras at a nearby cafe, Piccolantonio

said. Footage from other cameras also showed the man stumbling near the tracks,

where he ended up by accident.

Phel and his wife, who was briefly hospitalized after the incident, had just

completed a cruise in the Mediterranean and were going to Hungary by bus,

Piccolantonio said.

Phel's wife went to Hungary, where her husband was born, after being released

from hospital.

The U.S. Embassy in Rome did not have an immediate comment Monday on Phel's

death.