Soccer Player Murders Mother And 11-Year-Old Sister: Ex-Parma Soccer Player Nyantakyi Confesses To Killing

Former Parma youth team football player Solomon Nyantakyi murdered his 43-year-old mother and 11-year-old sister on Tuesday, July 11. Nyantakyi, who originally hails from Ghana, fled the scene after killing his family with a blunt object, which may have been a knife. The 21-year-old football player was stopped at Milan train station after evading authorities for 12 hours, and he later confessed to killing his mother, Nfum Patience, and sister, Magdalene Nyantakyi, on Wednesday, July 12.

According to people who knew the footballer and interacted with him regularly, Nyantakyi had a calm demeanor. His coach, as well as the former boss of Parma Primavera football club, are both stunned that the football player is responsible for the murder of his family members.

Solomon Nyantakyi’s older brother, 25-year-old Raymond Nyantakyi, discovered the bodies of his mother and sister late Tuesday night at approximately 9 p.m. after he returned home from work, according to AS. The murder took place in the family home situated in Via San Leonardo, which is on the outskirts of Parma. Many Ghanaians live in this neighborhood as it is multi-ethnic and close to the Parma train station.

According to Ghana Soccer Net, Raymond made the gruesome discovery when he opened the door of their sixth-floor apartment and was greeted with blood on the floor, walls, and furniture. Solomon’s father, Fred Nyantakyi, was not in Italy at the time of the murder of his wife and daughter, as he works in London.

Nyantakyi was found after diligent detective work using security cameras, which tracked him to Milan’s north train station.

Nyantakyi showed promise as a young football player. According to Bleacher Report, he made 44 appearances for Parma’s Primavera side. Although he played for the football club’s youth team, he was no stranger to being called to play for Parma’s first team during the 2014-2015 season. The Italian football club’s youth side won several titles, and he was promoted to the senior Parma football team by Roberto Donadoni before the club went bankrupt. He was released when the football club faced financial ruin in 2015.

Solomon Nyantakyi then went on to play for smaller Italian teams after he ran away from coach Cristiano Lucarelli’s new team, Cuoiopelli, which was based in Lega Pro, approximately 125 miles from Parma. Nyantakyi was let go from his last football team, Imolese, after he fell in “with a bad crowd.”

Lucarelli remembers Nyantakyi’s personality, and although he noted that he had problems, he was stunned that the football player could have committed murder.

“From his behavior in the Parma youth team, you could tell he had problems, but he never—and I mean never—raised his voice, argued with anyone or reacted out of turn.

“I did know he suffered from depression and I tried to get him to train with my team Cuoiopelli in Lega Pro, 125 miles from Parma.

“He stayed with us for 15 days, then ran away. He came to me and said he missed his family, his friends, his home. I thought it was just nostalgia. I am truly stunned.”

Donadoni expressed similar sentiments.

“I remember Solomon, he trained with us at Parma and I had him on the bench more than once during Serie A games. I remember he was very calm, even taciturn. If it really was him who did this, I can’t think what went through his mind.”

Solomon Nyantakyi suffered from depression.

[Featured Image by Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images]