The dismembered body of a 31-year-old Cameroonian woman was found in a rubbish dumpster in Bologna on the outskirts of Bologna on Sunday evening.
Reports say, her 43-year-old boyfriend was found hanged in his apartment shortly afterwards as police are treating the case as a murder-suicide.
The woman, Emma Pezemo, was a nursing student studying in Italy.
The man, Jacques Honoré Ngouenet, was being treated in a clinic for psychiatric problems.
He left a “confused” note that however suggested he had murdered her and then taken his own life, police said.
Police said he probably used an axe or a cleaver to cut her body up.
Friends of the couple told police the pair had not been rowing recently.
