Celeste entered therapy before trial.
Her sentencing evaluator later summarized her history with consent.
She had grown up around Vittorio.
He was nine years older.
When Celeste’s father died, Vittorio’s parents helped support her.
She admired him.
He became older brother, patron, authority.
For decades, when Vittorio said:
This matters,
Celeste made it happen.
Weddings.
Funerals.
Dinners.
Family disputes.
She interpreted usefulness as loyalty.
Then retirement changed him.
He called her more.
Complained.
Said Matteo was careless.
Said traditions were vanishing.
Celeste enjoyed being needed again.
Then Sophie.
A four-year-old challenging a seventy-year-old man?
Celeste did not see developmentally normal behavior.
She saw disrespect.
In deposition she said:
“I thought Matteo had taught Sophie that no adult mattered except him.”
Was that true?
No.
Could Sophie be bossy?
Absolutely.
At preschool she once informed another child that “Daddy owns big table.”
We corrected.
But adult authority does not become safe because a child is irritating.
Celeste knew the stairs were dangerous.
That was where her moral theory failed.
She prioritized obedience over foreseeable risk.
