Summary of "Vanished Without a Trace: What Happened to Al Bano and Romina Power’s Daughter Ylenia?"

Overview

This is the tragic, unresolved story of Ylenia Carrisi — the eldest daughter of Italian pop stars Al Bano (Albano) and Romina Power — presented like a modern fairy tale: a beautiful “princess” who frequently said, “I belong to the water,” and then disappeared into real-world mysteries of addiction, rebellion, and the streets of New Orleans.

“I belong to the water.”

Main plot

Background

Born in 1970 to Albano (a traditional Southern Italian singer) and Romina Power (a globe‑trotting Hollywood heiress).
Grew up adored, multilingual (reportedly five languages), and artistic — she wrote poetry, painted, acted and sang with her family, and briefly worked in TV and film.

Turning point

Chose literature over a full showbiz career and enrolled at King’s College London, but left one exam short to focus on writing.
Became increasingly free‑spirited and idealistic, wanting to live among the people she wrote about.

New Orleans and Alexander Mazakela

In 1993 she became involved with Alexander Mazakela, an older street musician in New Orleans. Accounts differ: Mazakela described himself as a friend and mentor; others accused him of manipulating, drugging, or exploiting young women.
Ylenia split her time between places (Belize’s Hopkins is mentioned) and returned to New Orleans in late 1993 to research and live among street musicians.

Disappearance (timeline highlights)

December 31, 1993 — Ylenia called her family.
January 6, 1994 — The hotel owner gave the last confirmed sighting (other testimonies vary).
January 14, 1994 — Mazakela attempted to check out of a boarding house with traveler’s checks in Ylenia’s name and some of her belongings, prompting a missing‑person report.
An aquarium guard (Albert Cordova) later claimed he saw someone jump into the Mississippi shouting “I belong to the water.” His identification was unreliable and his statements changed over time.

Police favored a suicide theory, but there was no body and no definitive proof.

Aftermath and investigations

Albano and Romina searched extensively — from the French Quarter to TV appeals, consulates, and rumored private searches.
Over decades countless rumors and possible sightings circulated (Arizona, monasteries, rehab centers, trafficking victims, anonymous lives abroad).
Interpol checked a possible match in 2015; there was no DNA match.
In 2014 a court declared Ylenia “presumed deceased” at her father’s request; Romina has continued to insist she’s alive and to search.

Highlights, tensions, and recurring motifs

The “princess” framing and the repeated line “I belong to the water,” which fueled the river‑suicide theory.
A cultural clash between a conservative Italian father and a bohemian Hollywood mother, which helps explain Ylenia’s restlessness.
The enigmatic figure of Alexander Mazakela: charismatic, central to the family’s suspicions, but never legally tied to foul play.
Conflicting eyewitness timelines (hotel owner vs. other locals) and the aquarium guard’s shifting statements — illustrating how thin the evidence was.
The absence of a body and the practical reality of “no body, no case” for policing, which left the case unresolved and sustained decades of speculative, unverified sightings.

Tone and ending

The story reads like a melancholic modern fairy tale gone wrong: a gifted daughter who chose freedom, perhaps fell into addiction or danger, and vanished without closure.
Whether she ran away, was victimized, or died accidentally remains unknown. Her disappearance transformed the family and spawned endless theories; symbolically, even if she were ever found, the Ylenia who is missing would be gone.