Changing identity: and vanishing into thin air. In less than five years the number of persons disappearing without leaving any trace has more than doubled: Miriam Tomponzi explains how to do it during the TV program UnoMattina, at 7.45 am on Monday 27 January 'The recent story of Claudia Maggiulli, also known as Chiara Mayro, sentenced in 1974 for having murdered her boyfriend Davide De Simone, clearly showed that it is nowadays possible not only to slip through the meshes of the law but also to change identity and start a brand new life without incurring any great difficulties', declared firmly Miriam Tomponzi, holder of the Tomponzi Investigations agency in Rome, which many times in the past had to deal with cases of missing people who voluntarily vanished into thin air. According to the daughter of the great Tomponzi, those who vanish intentionally achieve their goal 100 times out of 100, and this is even more the case when they have no accounts pending with the law and prepare their escape with great care; on the contrary, those who set out to trace the fugitives have only 60 chances in 100 of finding them. In particular, one has to hope that some memories of the past or nostalgia find their way into the mind of the fugitive, thus compelling him to some faux pas that will betray him. 'There are many ways of disappearing without leaving any trace behind', continues the Roman detective. 'The simplest of all is to buy a false identity paper (which costs as little as 350.000 lire) or even cancel one's name from the local registry office having care not to file it anywhere else (as absurd as it may seem, this trick has yielded good results in a great many cases)'. And these are only the most common methods. There are many other ways that are so unbelievable that only insiders can fully understand their significance and potential danger. These incredible expedients were the subject of Miriam Tomponzi's intervention at UnoMattina on Monday 27 January.