She is very different from the quiet and studious Meredith. While housemates, there is said to be tension over Amanda’s supposedly casual attitude to sex, money, housework, as well as, not having good hygiene.
A week later, on October 31, is Halloween, and in Perugia, like every other university town, it’s party time. It is one of Meredith’s favorite nights out and she is dressed as a vampire.
What happens on the night of November 1, 2007, has been the subject of three trials, three appeals and three Supreme Court rulings.
Everything starts at nine o’clock in the morning on November 2, when a local woman finds two mobile phones in her garden. She takes them to the postal police which handles crimes involving communication devices. They quickly discover one of the phones is registered to Via della Pergola 7, a small cottage, just 500 meters away. When police arrive here, they see two students in the driveway, Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito. They tell the police the front door is open and one room has been ransacked. Police go into the house. One bedrooms is a mess – clothes are all over the floor and a large rock is lying near the window. Shortly after the postal police arrive, around 12:51 p.m. Raffaele Sollecito calls the elite police force, the Carabinieri. He doesn’t mention that the postal police are already there and says nothing’s been stolen, details prosecutors would later claim are significant.
Raffaele Sollecito: “Hello. Someone entered the house and broke the window. They messed everything up. And there’s a locked door. The address is Via…” Amanda: “Via della Pergola.” Dispatcher: “Address?” Raffaele Sollecito: “Via della Pergola 7.” Dispatcher: “So break in and theft?” Raffaele Sollecito: “No, nothing’s been stolen.”
Meanwhile, Amanda says she’s worried about her friend Meredith. Her doors locked. She’s not answering the phone.
When the door is broken down, they discover a beige duvet on the floor. Beneath it, the battered and bloody body of Meredith Kercher.
It looks like a sexual assault.
Over four days, investigators collect more than 400 items from the apartment, photographing and filming their work. Meredith’s bra has been sliced off. But when police bag it for evidence, they noticed something is missing. It’s been torn off. The hooks are missing. It has blood spray. She clearly had this on when she was killed. Somehow the investigators leave without it. A critical error that will haunt the prosecution case.
The autopsy shows Meredith has been strangled and stabbed on two sides of the neck, possibly with two different knives. The second, fatal stab, severed her thyroid artery. There are 40 wounds. Meredith was trained in karate and must have encountered overwhelming force, police believe. It is strange that there are very few defensive wounds.
The behavior of Amanda Knox and her boyfriend attracts attention. Meredith’s friends tell police that far from appearing distraught Amanda and Raffaele have been seen laughing and joking. A vigil is held for Meredith, but Amanda and Raffaele don’t attend. They go for dinner at a friend’s instead. And the prosecutor Guiliano Mignini recalls why he was concerned by Amanda’s behavior: “When the girls were brought to see the knives that were in the kitchen, reaction of Amanda… It was a reaction – she put her hands on her ears, as if you were trying to block out a terrible sound she was hearing. It was like she was having a nervous breakdown.”
November 5, four days after the murder, Raffaele Sollecito is called in for questioning. Amanda goes with him and once again her behavior seems odd. She does yoga and splits in the waiting room. At this point the couple’s alibi appears to fall apart. Amanda had told police she’d spent the night of the murder at the Raffaele’s apartment. They cooked, watched a film, made love, smoked marijuana and went to bed. But separately, Raffaele’s story begins to change. He’s no longer sure if Amanda was with him all night. Amanda’s called in for more questioning.
As she is only a witness at this stage, an interpreter is present. But she has no legal representation. What happens next is crucial and one of the most controversial twists in the story. Police ask Amanda Knox about text messages on her phones, in particular a message from her boss, Patrick Lumumba. He wrote: “Don’t come to work tonight.” There weren’t enough clients. She replayed: “See you later.” She says she just meant “see you around”, but police now want to know had Amanda arranged to meet Lumumba later that evening, and taken him to her house. At 1:45 in the morning, Amanda breaks down. She says she had entered the house with him because he was attracted to Meredith, and wanted to be with Meredith. And she stayed in the kitchen and heard Meredith screams. He was the assassin. That’s what she says.
But for the police Amanda Knox has now gone from witness to suspect. If she’s taken Lumumba to Meredith, she must have been at the house.
Waiting to be taken to jail, Amanda makes another attempt to tell police what happened with Lumumba, by writing out an explanation in English. She tells the police: “In my mind I saw Patrick in flashes of blurred images. I saw him near the basketball court. I saw him at my front door. I saw myself cowering in the kitchen with my hands over my ears, because in my head I could hear Meredith screaming. But I’ve said this many times, so as to make myself clear: these things seem unreal to me, like a dream. I want to make it clear that I’m very doubtful of the verity of my statements, because they were made under the pressure of stress, shock and extreme exhaustion.” But despite her uncertainty, she doesn’t retract her accusation. Lumumba remains in jail, pleading his innocence. In the city square members of the African community protest his arrest.
Patrick Lumumba: “The black man is always the thief… It was just because I was black. She was looking for someone in society who was credible.” There was a moment when she should have actually retracted that story. There’s a moment when she should have said ‘No, this is the wrong thing to do.’ He was thrown into jail for just over two weeks for something he did not do. And he lost his livelihood.
Meanwhile, the case against Patrick Lumumba, has outlined by Amanda Knox, collapses. A customer at the bar has given him an alibi and he’s freed. How did Amanda Knox come to mention Lumumba’s name to police? We can hear an audio tape of her explanation to the prosecutor. A transcript of this was presented in court, but not the audio. Accompanied by three lawyers and an interpreter on December 17, 2007, Knox is asked why she told police Lumumba committed the crime.
– Why? I was stressed, I was scared, it was after long hours in the middle of the night. I was innocent and they were telling me that I was guilty.
– What did the police say?
– The police were telling me that, “we know you were at the house; we know that you left the house.” And the moment before I said Patrick’s name they were put, someone was showing me the message that I was sent on the phone.
– What’s abnormal about the police insisting? They’re doing their job.
– I couldn’t understand why they were telling me that I was lying. They kept telling me that I was lying.
– Earlier you told me it could’ve been true.
– It means that in that moment that I had said Patrick’s name, I thought it could have been true.
So what’s the extent of the police evidence at this point? It includes the knife found after Raffaele Sollecito’s apartment that they believed could be the murder weapon. But they need more. So they return to the crime scene. 46 days after the murder they find Meredith’s bra clasp under a mat. Using rubber gloves they pick it up and inspect it. It will become the most controversial piece of evidence in the investigation. The defense will claim the delay in collecting it could have resulted in contamination. Investigators also for the first time use Luminol to look for invisible bloodstains. Three clear footprints appear plus other small bloodstains. More new evidence. But it will be controversial. In Seattle the campaign to prove Amanda is innocent is underway. Her family turned to a crisis communications firm and a group called “Friends of Amanda”. In Italy if you speak against the prosecution, you can be prosecuted. It’s a perfect storm of a potentially very unfair prosecution.
Amanda Knox’s DNA has been found mixed together with Meredith Kercher’s in five bloodstains in the flat. Tests show the bare footprints made in blood matched the size and shape of Amanda’s and her boyfriend’s feet. And the kitchen knife from Raffaele’s apartment shows Amanda’s DNA on the handle and a tiny trace of Meredith’s DNA on the blade.
The justice system is not fair no matter where you are because money’s gonna play a role.
The prosecution’s case is a tabloid editors dream. They say Amanda Knox, Raffaele Sollecito and Rudy Guede killed Meredith Kercher in a sex game gone wrong.
Guede denies this and pleads not guilty. His defense is that he wasn’t in the room when Meredith was murdered, he was in the bathroom. Meredith had invited him over, he said. When he got there Meredith was furious, because money was missing, and she was blaming Amanda. He says he comforted Meredith and things got physical, but they didn’t have full sex. He went to the toilet. Then, says, he heard Amanda into the apartment. He heard Amanda’s voice as she came in. He put on his headphone, listen to rap music at full volume. Then he heard a scream. He came out and came up against a male figure. Rudy Guede says this man lunged at him with a knife, cutting his hand. The attacker then yelled “black man found, black man condemned” and ran away. Rudy Guede found Meredith bleeding in the other room. He tried to stem the blood flow with towels and left a bloody thumbprint on the pillowcase. But the bleeding didn’t stop. Guede, says, he panicked. He ran away. He feels guilty for this.
As they did at Rudy Guede’s trial the prosecution again suggests the murder was the result of a sex game gone wrong. Again this is strongly denied. Amanda and Raffaele claimed they weren’t in the house that night.
To support their case, the prosecution produces evidence they claim places the couple at the scene of the murder. First there’s the DNA found in the bathroom. The prosecution says it shows the mixed blood of Amanda Knox and Meredith Kercher in the b-day drain, the sink drain and on a cotton bud box. There is also a large drop of Amanda’s blood on the bathroom tap. According to the prosecutor, this shows Amanda and Meredith were bleeding at the same time. Strong evidence there was a fight. The principal evidence was mixed blood traces from which were extracted mixed DNA of Amanda and Meredith. The only explanation for that mix is that Amanda was bleeding and touched objects that were covered in Meredith’s blood. But Amanda’s lawyers say this proves nothing. Two young students living together means it’s perfectly normal to find mixed blood and DNA in the bathroom. They say it’s possible Amanda’s DNA isn’t from her blood at all, but from her saliva. Then there was the kitchen knife found in Raffaele Sollecito’s flat. The prosecutors say this is the murder weapon which has been cleaned. They have found DNA of Amanda Knox on the handle and a miniscule amount of Meredith Kercher’s DNA on the blade. But the words “too low” are written on the DNA reports for the knife. The test should never have been carried out, say defense. There’s not enough reliable DNA. When questioned by journalists the prosecution stands by its forensic evidence. “It is not too little. The genetic profile is low but it is absolutely reliable. In fact, we were able to get it, which means there is no uncertainty about the attribution of that profile to the victim.” More DNA evidence is presented. This time on Meredith’s bra clasp. Police say Raffaele Sollecito’s DNA is on one of the hooks. This is the only evidence placing him in her bedroom. There is no DNA evidence that puts Amanda in the room.
David Balding, a DNA statistician at University College London, is recognized as one of the world’s leading analysts in 2012. He is asked by the Italian Forensic Association to study Meredith Kercher’s bra clasp and to give an independent view on whether Raffaele Sollecito’s DNA is present. His findings are not part of the court case. “When you just look at the evidence by eye you can see very strongly all of Raffaele Sollecito’s DNA types there. And that can’t be explained by any kind of just environmental contamination. And I calculate how likely is the evidence, under the prosecution assertion that, that DNA is there from Raffaele Sollecito and again how likely it is without him being present. And the former is much greater than the latter. So that’s when I say, that’s extremely strong evidence. Of course, the history of that bra clasp is a bit unusual, because it lay in the room for many days without being collected, and so people are worried about the possibility of contamination arising from that. I can’t say anything directly because I wasn’t there, and I don’t know the circumstances about the risk of contamination. But what I can say is that contamination of DNA from passers-by is not an issue and I’ve taken that into account – the chance of matching Sollecito’s DNA is extremely unlikely.”
But forensic experts representing the defense remain adamant that the bra clasp had been contaminated and is unreliable. The defense also uses the crime scene video to question the DNA evidence presented by the prosecution. “I have it at the crime scene the videos – bloody shoe prints, cleaned up, cleaned up, not saved a bra strap. I’m collected weeks and weeks and weeks after the initial collection that now supposedly connects Amanda, Raffaele and Meredith.”
The prosecution keeps producing evidence, they say, connects Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito to the crime scene. Amanda’s footprints which were revealed by the Luminol show DNA attributed to Meredith which means Amanda was walking in bare feet covered in blood. They argue this is proof the couple came back during the night to clean up and staged the break-in, leaving blood-stained footprints in the bathroom and corridor. The defense says there is no proof the prints actually were bloodstains. The Luminol may have revealed another substance, such as bleach. The prosecution also presents evidence to challenge the couple’s story of what they did that night and the next morning. They show Raffaele’s cellphone was turned on at 6:02 a.m. despite their claim they slept until 10:00. Then there was the telephone call to the Carabinieri, when Raffaele Sollecito knew nothing had been stolen and failed to mention the postal police were at the scene. They also questioned Raffaele Sollecito’s changing alibi and present eyewitnesses who contradict Knox and Sollecito’s stories. In court the prosecution accuses Amanda Knox of being the leader of a sexual attack on Meredith. They say this was payback for Meredith’s disapproval of Amanda’s lifestyle.
Millions worldwide watch her explanation of why she put the pub owner, Patrick Lumumba, in the frame. “They told me I was trying to protect someone, but I wasn’t trying to protect anyone. And they continued to put so much emphasis on that message I had received. And so I almost went crazy.” Her case is this: She was at Raffaele’s house when the murder happened, watching a movie and reading her emails. They stopped watching the film at 9:30 p.m. She can’t prove it because two of their three computers were damaged when police tried to search the hard drives.
When Knox family returns to Seattle they immediately start preparing her appeal. They draft legal, forensic and political consultants from the US and Italy to strengthen the defense team. It takes a year to get to the appeal. November the 24th 2010 by now Knox and Sollecito have been in jail for three years. This time there is a new judge and a new prosecutor, Giancarlo Costagliola. Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito’s defense teams decide to focus on Rudy Guede. They call prison inmates, convicted criminals to testify that Rudy Guede has confessed to them in prison. On June 27, 2011, Rudy Guede takes the stand. By now, after an appeal, his sentence has been cut from 30 to 16 years. He denies he made a jailhouse confession and is asked about a letter he has written, claiming Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito killed Meredith. The key focus of the appeal is on the DNA. Knox and Kercher’s DNA on the knife, Sollecito’s on the bra clasp. Is it enough to place the defendants at the crime scene or not?
The court appoints independent experts Carla Vecchiotti and Stefano Conti from the University of Sapienza, Rome to review the science. Their report is scathing about prosecution forensic methods. They cite US manuals and standards, highlighting errors made when the evidence was collected. They do find a new trace of DNA on the knife from Sollecito’s kitchen that hasn’t been tested. However, they argue it’s too small to be of use. This report helps the judge focus his decision on whether there is reasonable doubt about the DNA samples.
There is sufficient doubt for Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito to be released immediately. The media’s photos will be of Amanda Knox arriving home at Seattle Airport.
Amanda finds a home in Seattle’s international district and returns to the University of Washington to study creative writing. She starts writing a book about her experience. Reportedly receiving a full $ 1 000000 advance, although claims that all of the money goes on legal expenses back in Italy.
For a while this seems like the end of the story, but fate or the Italian justice system has another couple of twists in store. Now, it’s the turn of the prosecution to appeal and on March 26, 2013, Italy’s highest court known as the Court of Cassation orders a new trial, overturning Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito’s acquittals. They say the first appeal did not debate many of the 10,000 pages from the first trial, focusing too much on the DNA evidence.
Unlike in the appeals court, this judge orders a police forensics lab in room to test the new trace of DNA found on the kitchen knife. It’s a miniscule amount from where the blade meets the handle. The new test finds that the DNA matches Amanda Knox. Prosecutors say it further proves her involvement in the murder. But the defense says the most likely explanation is that Amanda used the knife when staying at Raffaele Sollecito’s apartment.
On January 30, 2014, six years and two months after Meredith Kercher’s murder, the second appeal of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito is coming to a close. The judgment watched by the world. Raffaele Sollecito doesn’t wait to hear the verdict, speeding off in a taxi. Amanda Knox stays in the United States.
Patrick Lumumba has been awarded 40,000 euros compensation.
On June 5, 2024 speaking in Italian in the same courtroom where she was convicted a decade earlier, Knox told the judge that she was “exhausted and confused” when she accused Lumumba of the murder. She said the police told her she “must have been involved in the horrible crime,” adding that they “yelled at me to remember, remember.” She also apologized for not appearing stressed at the time. “It was a statement made by a young woman in an existential crisis,” she said. Before her appearance, Knox wrote on X that she had hoped “to clear my name once and for all of the false charges against me.”
