Maria Silvestri desperately tries to escape a man who is chasing her. The man is faster, he grabs her, drags her to the ground and is on top of her. Then, the darkness. Shortly afterwards two boys discover Maria's body. Leaning over her is a young man with a disturbing appearance: black clothes, disheveled hair, pale, dark-tinted lips. The boy flees but is captured shortly after, his name is Daniel Crawford. He is Maria's American cousin and for some months he had been living with the girl and her father, Bruno Silvestri.