Tidiane Cheik Diaw Charged In Murder Of American Artist Ashley Olsen In Italy

A Senegalese man has been charged with murder in the death of Ashley Olsen, an American artist found with a fractured skull and evidence of strangulation in her apartment in Florence, Italy, last weekend, according to reports.

Tidiane Cheik Diaw was arrested overnight after he was linked to DNA taken from a cigarette butt and a condom found in the home, Florence chief prosecutor Giuseppe Creazzo said at a press conference Thursday.

Diaw was in the country illegally when he was seen with Olsen on a surveillance camera on the night of her killing. Diaw, 27, was also found with Olsen’s phone, where he inserted his own SIM card.

The two met at a bar close to Olsen’s apartment on Thursday night, early Friday morning. After dining out, the two went back to Olsen’s apartment and had sex.

“Then he probably slammed her head against something twice, fracturing her skull, and then strangled her,” Creazzo said.

Her naked body was found the next day in her apartment. Lead investigators used the condom that was found in Olsen’s apartment against Diaw’s cigarette butt that he smoked during his interrogation.

The artist, originally from Florida, moved to Florence to be closer to her father who lives there as an architect.