What Have They Done to Your Daughters? (1974) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Discovery of Silvia Polvesi's body

An anonymous tip leads police to an attic apartment in Brescia where the naked body of 15-year-old Silvia Polvesi is found hanging from the rafters. The autopsy reveals she was approximately two months pregnant, making a suicide unlikely. The scene suggests foul play and triggers a homicide investigation.

Where

Attic apartment, Brescia

Footage suggests murder, not suicide

Investigators review footage from a student demonstration and notice Silvia walking into a different building around the time of her death. This observation causes Assistant District Attorney Vittoria Stori to suspect Silvia was murdered and that the killer moved her body. The new angle shifts the case away from suicide toward deliberate killing.

Case handed to Silvestri; Paglia arrested

Valentini hands the case to Homicide Inspector Silvestri. During an inspection of the crime scene, a middle-aged man named Paglia is arrested for taking photographs from a nearby building, revealing potential voyeuristic or criminal ties to the case. The arrest signals Paglia as a possible lead or suspect.

Where

Near Silvia's attic apartment

Discovery of a second victim

Silvestri searches the murder apartment and finds a tape recorder inside. The bathroom walls are smeared with blood, indicating a second victim and deepening the mystery. The tapes point to other people potentially involved in Silvia's death.

Where

Murder apartment

Paglia released; new clues emerge

Paglia is released for lack of evidence. Silvia's mother, Mrs. Polvesi, reveals she found birth control pills on her daughter's coat and had hired a private detective, Ruggero Talenti, who later disappeared. The discovery foreshadows a wider network behind Silvia's death.

Where

Polvesi home

Talenti's murder and Rosa questioned

Police locate Ruggero Talenti's dismembered remains wrapped in plastic bags inside the trunk of his own car. Silvestri questions Talenti's secretary and mistress, Rosa, who is hospitalized and too upset to answer. The case expands to a prostitution ring connected to Talenti and others.

Where

Talenti's car trunk; hospital

Hospital confrontation with the killer

That night, a killer wearing black leather and a motorcycle helmet sneaks into the hospital and threatens Rosa, demanding to know where she hid 'the stuff.' Silvestri and Napoli arrive in time to save her, but the killer injures Napoli's hand before fleeing on a motorcycle. The chase ends with the killer escaping through a train tunnel.

When

That night

Where

Hospital and surroundings

Tape recordings reveal underage prostitution ring

Back at the hospital, Rosa presents police with tape recordings hidden in a vent. The recordings reveal an underage prostitution ring run by older men, implicating powerful figures in the community. Vittoria uses one recording to confront Silvia's mother with her daughter's voice.

Where

Hospital

Butcher linked to the killer; motorcycle clue

The police learn of a butcher who recently purchased a motorcycle, with tire tracks matching those of the killer. They obtain a photograph of the butcher from his father, who notes the son left home three months earlier. The butcher becomes a leading suspect in the chain of crimes.

Where

Butcher's area

Vittoria attacked; pursuit continues

One night the killer attacks Vittoria in the parking garage of her apartment building, but she narrowly survives. The attack raises the stakes and accelerates the hunt for the motorcycle-riding killer and his associates. The police press on with the investigation.

When

Night

Where

Parking garage of Vittoria's building

Paglia is murdered; false confession used to trap suspects

Paglia is murdered at his home. Silvestri tricks the press by claiming Paglia survived the attack and confessed to the police, a false confession meant to draw the real culprits out. The tactic aims to flush out the ring's members.

Where

Paglia's home

Beltrame's death and incriminating files

After a newspaper prints the Paglia confession, Silvia's psychiatrist Beltrame is found dead in his bathtub in an apparent suicide. A former patient, Laura, reveals Beltrame drugged and abused her. Police discover incriminating files in Beltrame's office listing the prostitution ring's participants, including prominent political figures.

Where

Beltrame's office/home

Roberto Meichiorri is cornered; final shootout

Two young girls report spotting Roberto near a piazza. Police corner the area and, as he emerges on his motorcycle attempting to shoot his way out, they shoot him dead. The capture dissolves another thread of the network.

When

Night

Where

Piazza area; street vicinity

Closing: prosecution stopped due to killer's death

Silvestri's superior discourages prosecuting the prostitution ring members, arguing it would take months and that the killer is already dead. The case effectively ends with many suspects exposed but not formally charged.

Where

Police headquarters