As they prepared to send their 19-year-old son to Rome for the summer, Beau Solomon’s parents figured they had little to worry about.

Solomon, who had just completed his first year at University of Wisconsin, was responsible by nature; an athlete who majored in personal finance, he had even taken Italian classes to prepare for his trip, his parents told The Guardian.

Only one thing concerned them about their teenager spending six weeks in the Italian capital.

“The only doubts we had were pick-pocketing,” his father told the paper.

The petty crime has long plagued the historic city, but rarely does it lead to serious violence. Now, however, Italian investigators are exploring whether, in Solomon’s case, it did.

Within hours of landing on Thursday, the American exchange student disappeared after going to a bar, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

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“Everything’s so pretty,” he told his mother on his first night out, the paper reported. “It’s so beautiful.”

Solomon was last seen around 1 a.m. at G Bar in the Trastevere neighborhood, “a picturesque area popular with American students and tourists,” the Guardian reported.

Cole Solomon, 23, said his brother’s body was pulled Monday from the Tiber River.

He had a head wound and a blood-stained shirt, as well as thousands of dollars of illicit charges on his credit cards, Cole Solomon said.

“It’s a murder investigation,” he told the Journal-Sentinel.

Beau Solomon’s wallet and cellphone were missing, suggesting to police that he’d been robbed, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

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Italian state TV said about $1,700 was charged to Solomon’s cards at a Milan store, more than 350 miles away, according to CBS News.

On Tuesday, Italian police announced that they detained a homeless man in connection with Solomon’s death, according to The Associated Press. He was identified as Massimo Galioto, a 40-year-old from Rome.

Galioto told police he got into an argument with Solomon, who was allegedly drunk and staggering at the time, ANSA reported. Galioto told investigators that the teenager slipped over an embankment and plunged into the water, but authorities suspect he pushed Solomon to his death before returning to his tent with a companion and falling asleep, ANSA reported.

Police told ANSA that Solomon was also kicked twice.

The exact cause of his death has yet to be determined.

Galioto – who reportedly has a record for petty crime – has been charged with homicide aggravated by futile motives, ANSA reported.

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Police are watching surveillance camera footage, tracking the signal from Solomon’s cellphone and investigating the use of his credit card after it was stolen, CNN reported.

After receiving emergency passports, Solomon’s parents landed in Rome on Monday, according to The Guardian.

John Phillips, U.S. ambassador to Italy, also released a statement expressing his condolences following news of Solomon’s death.

Solomon was enrolled in a summer program at John Cabot University, an American school near the center of Rome.

The school released a statement Monday about the teen’s death, saying it was “deeply saddened” to announce that Solomon’s body had been recovered in the Tiber River.

“We express our most heartfelt condolences to the Solomon family and to all those who loved Beau,” the statement said.

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University of Wisconsin Chancellor Rebecca Blank released a statement expressing her sadness and noting that the university was working with John Cabot University and American and Italian authorities to support their investigation into Solomon’s death.

“Beau was a bright and caring young man who lived the Wisconsin Idea through his work at Badger Boys State and his desire to travel and experience other cultures,” her statement said.

Originally from Spring Green, Wis., Solomon was the third of four boys, according to the Journal Sentinel.

He faced physical challenges early in life, fighting through a rare form of cancer as a child and enduring numerous chemotherapy treatments and surgeries, family members told CBS affiliate WISC-TV.

“He overcame all of that,” Jake Solomon said, noting that his brother became an athlete.


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