Italy, Milan - May 11, 2025

A convicted murderer permitted to work outside prison threw himself from Milan's famed Duomo cathedral on Sunday, killing himself, after allegedly stabbing a colleague, local news reports said.

ANSA news agency and other outlets reported said the Italian man, whom they identified as Emanuele De Maria, 35, fell "dozens of meters" after reportedly throwing himself from the Gothic cathedral into the square below.

Authorities identified De Maria — who went on television last year to describe his life — from an ID in his pocket and his tattoos, according to several reports, including Milan's Corriere della Sera daily.

One witness, a bar owner named Emanuele Sanità, told the outlet that De Maria landed right next to a boy who was holding a stuffed animal.

"He fell next to him. He was in shock. He sat there for twenty minutes without speaking," Sanità said.

De Maria had been serving a 14-year sentence after being convicted for the 2016 murder of a woman, according to reports. He was arrested in Germany in 2018 after hiding as a fugitive in the Netherlands.

But for nearly two years he had been working part-time at a hotel near Milan's central train station.

Police had been searching for him since Friday, when he allegedly stabbed a work colleague. The condition of that man, identified as a 50-year-old Italian-Egyptian, was improving Sunday after emergency surgery on his neck and chest