The husband of a woman who the police believe killed their four-year-old son before taking her own life has offered a EUR-10,000 reward for any information about their potential killers in what he believes is a murder case.

The investigation into the death of the mother and her four-year-old son that followed a massive manhunt in Italy was closed down after it was determined that the mum had strangled the child before climbing up a pylon and jumping to her death.

But now the dad, Daniele Mondello, has offered a EUR-10,000 (GBP-8,360) reward for any information that could help solve what he believes was their “murder” by a third party.

The disappearance of Viviana Parisi, 41, and her son Gioele Mondello after a minor traffic accident made international headlines, with fears that she and the boy had been kidnapped after the vehicle was found abandoned.

The child’s body was later found in woods nearby in the municipality of Caronia, on the north coast of Sicily, in southern Italy, in August 2020.

The young boy had apparently been strangled before his body was abandoned, and the remains had been partially eaten by animals when they were found by investigators.

The mother was found not far away at the bottom of the pylon after she had apparently climbed near to the top before jumping to her death, investigators concluded.

The decision to close the case meant that the judges accepted that it was a case of suicide coupled with murder. The prosecutor of Patti in Messina Province, in charge of the coordination of the investigation, confirmed that he had asked the judge for the case to be closed.

Viviana, 43, who was a local DJ, went missing with her son Gioele after she told her husband that she was going to buy him some shoes.

Instead of going shopping, Viviana drove towards Messina, a city on the northeast coast of Sicily where she apparently left her car at the exit of a tunnel after being involved in a minor accident.

It is believed that she deliberately left her phone inside so that she could not be tracked as she headed into the wilderness.

Their bodies were found separately. Viviana was found on 8th August, while Gioele’s body was discovered on 19th August 2020.

According to the prosecutor, all of the investigations carried out throughout the year – kinematic, medical-legal, genetic, veterinary – have led to the conclusion that Viviana voluntarily jumped from the high voltage pylon with the intention of committing suicide.

It was reported that Viviana had in the past been hospitalised several times because she suffered from mental illness. A number of family members have also declared that the woman had suffered from numerous episodes of psychological instability.

Although her husband was supportive of her getting treatment, Viviana reportedly refused to get any help.

At one point in the investigation, it was thought that Gioele’s death happened after the child was attacked by a wild animal. But it was later concluded that he was already dead when his body was discovered by the unknown animal.

But Daniele vehemently disputes the official conclusion of the investigation, instead taking to social media to offer the reward and say: “We are not stopping. We are asking you to share this as widely as possible.”

Daniele shared the post on social media on Tuesday 4th January. It had been liked over 3,000 times and shared nearly 850 times at the time of writing.

He accompanied his message with a photograph showing himself and his deceased wife and son.

Some text on the image says (in Italian): “I am offering a reward of EUR 10,000 to whoever is able to provide useful and truthful information regarding the murder of my son Gioele and my wife Viviana.”

One of the reasons Daniele does not agree with the official conclusion of the investigation is because his wife had said that she wanted to have another child, as was revealed by WhatsApp messages, screams of which the grieving dad and husband shared in December.

One of the messages reportedly read: “Gioelino wants a little sister.”

But investigators do not believe that she was murdered, and prosecutor Angelo Cavallo instead argued that she was a “fragile woman who had repeatedly given danger signals underestimated by her family, in particular by her husband Daniele Mondello.”

The decision to close the investigation was justified in a 495-page ruling.

Carmelo Lavorino, a criminologist and legal consultant to Daniele Mondello, slammed the decision, saying: “We are very disappointed.”

He added: “When we will be able to read the reasons we will see if it is appropriate to appeal to the Supreme Court and make further defensive investigations.”