After nearly four years in prison and a decade-long legal battle, the American student was definitively cleared in a landmark 2015 ruling that exposed fatal flaws in a high-profile prosecution.
On November 1-2, 2007, British student Meredith Kercher was found stabbed to death in her shared apartment in Perugia, Italy, setting off one of the most controversial murder investigations in recent European legal history.
Amanda Knox, then a 20-year-old American exchange student, discovered blood in their bathroom and the locked bedroom door—and called police. What followed was a prosecution that would consume international headlines, upend three lives, and ultimately expose systemic failures in the Italian justice system.
Knox and her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were arrested and convicted in December 2009 on charges of murder, sexual violence, and conspiracy. Knox received 26 years; Sollecito, 25 years. Both maintained their innocence.
Mord an Meredith Kercher
Die 21-jährige britische Studentin wird in ihrer Wohnung in Perugia, Italien, erstochen aufgefunden.
Verhaftung von Amanda Knox
Die amerikanische Mitbewohnerin Amanda Knox wird festgenommen und des Mordes beschuldigt.
Rudy Guede verurteilt
Rudy Guede wird in einem Schnellverfahren zu 30 Jahren Haft verurteilt (später auf 16 Jahre reduziert).
Knox zu 26 Jahren verurteilt
Amanda Knox und Raffaele Sollecito werden des Mordes schuldig gesprochen. Knox erhält 26 Jahre Haft.
Erster Freispruch
Ein Berufungsgericht hebt das Urteil auf. Knox wird nach vier Jahren Haft freigelassen und kehrt in die USA zurück.
Freispruch aufgehoben
Italiens Kassationsgericht hebt den Freispruch auf und ordnet einen neuen Prozess an.
Erneute Verurteilung
Ein Appellationsgericht in Florenz verurteilt Knox erneut – diesmal zu 28 Jahren und 6 Monaten Haft.
Endgültiger Freispruch
Italiens höchstes Gericht spricht Knox und Sollecito endgültig frei und beendet damit das achtjährige Justiz-Drama.
Rudy Guede freigelassen
Der verurteilte Mörder Rudy Guede wird nach 13 Jahren vorzeitig aus der Haft entlassen.
Two years later, in October 2011, a Perugia appeals court overturned their convictions, finding a critical absence of evidence linking either of them to the crime scene or to Rudy Guede, the man actually convicted of Kercher's murder. The court's reasoning was straightforward: the prosecution had built its case on circumstantial evidence and procedural irregularities rather than forensic proof.
But the case was far from over. In March 2013, Italy's Supreme Court ordered a retrial, citing procedural flaws in the 2011 acquittal. A year later, in January 2014, a Florence appeals court reconvicted both Knox and Sollecito—Knox to 28.5 years, Sollecito to 25.
The final and definitive blow to the prosecution came on March 27, 2015, when Italy's Court of Cassation—the nation's highest court—acquitted both defendants with scathing language about the investigation itself. The court identified "stunning flaws" in the prosecution's case, found no credible evidence of their involvement, and pointedly criticized the "rush to judgment" that had characterized the original investigation.
Key findings in that 2015 ruling proved decisive: there were no phone or text communications linking Knox or Sollecito to Guede. Their alibis, though imperfect in minor details, were deemed consistent and credible. The evidence overwhelmingly indicated that Guede had acted alone.