A 40-year-old British man was found dead at a posh Italian hotel Saturday morning after a woman thought to be his girlfriend pleaded with staffers for help following what police have described as “an erotic game” gone wrong.
The woman, who has not been named but was described in local media reports as a British woman in her 40s, was reportedly covered in cuts and bruises when she asked a chambermaid for help.
Police soon arrived and found the man dead in the room the couple had been staying in. No official cause of death had been released as of Saturday evening, but a police source was quoted telling The Daily Mail he had apparently suffered “some sort of seizure.” Italian outlet FirenzeToday reported it was likely a heart attack.
ADVERTISEMENT
“We are working on two theories an erotic game that went wrong or some sort of domestic argument, but the general direction is that of an erotic game,” police told The Daily Mail.
The pair, reportedly from Manchester, had only stayed one night at the Hotel Continentale in the heart of Florence, Italy. They reportedly returned to the hotel at 2 a.m. in “high spirits.”
The woman is in a “serious, but stable” condition at a local hospital, police said. The wounds on her body were said to be worse than those of her boyfriend.
A source told The Daily Mail other guests had already called the front desk to report “shouting and banging” coming from the room before the woman called out for help.
An investigation into the circumstances of the incident is ongoing.
