Amanda Knox: murder in Perugia, drama, and acquittal

Kercher's murder in 2007: Knox and Sollecito in focus

A brutal murder case shook the idyllic university town of Perugia, Italy, on a cold November day in 2007. Twenty-one-year-old British exchange student Meredith Susanna Cara Kercher was found murdered in her apartment at Via della Pergola 7, semi-naked with her throat slit. Her American roommate, 20-year-old Amanda Marie Knox from Seattle, USA, and her Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, soon became central figures in a lengthy trial that captivated the world's attention for years.

Kercher found: Knox's call and the crime scene

On November 2, 2007, at 12:35 PM, Amanda Knox alerted the police. She had found the door to Meredith Kercher's room locked and bloodstains in the bathroom. Shortly thereafter, a friend forced the door open, revealing a gruesome crime scene: Meredith lay on the floor under a duvet, the victim of numerous stab wounds and signs of sexual assault. A subsequent autopsy confirmed the brutality of the violence, including a fatal slit to the throat. The medical examiner concluded she had been restrained during a sexual assault, indicating rape.

Chaotic probe: Knox's grilling and Lumumba accusations

The subsequent investigation was marked by chaos. The Perugia police quickly focused on Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, allegedly due to their behavior at the police station. During a lengthy interrogation, which Amanda Knox later described as coerced and without access to a lawyer or interpreter, she mentioned bar owner Patrick Lumumba as the murderer in a kind of "dream-like state." This led to Lumumba's arrest, which later proved to be wrongful. Knox was subsequently convicted of slander for this statement.

2009 conviction: Knox and Sollecito guilty of murder

At the first trial in 2009, both Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were sentenced to long prison terms for murder. The verdict was based, among other things, on Knox's changing statements and a kitchen knife found in Sollecito's apartment. The prosecution claimed to have found Meredith Kercher's DNA on this knife. Prosecutors also pointed to a phone call from Amanda Knox to her mother, made shortly before the body was officially discovered, as a sign of guilty knowledge of the stabbing.

2011 appeal: Tainted DNA frees Knox and Sollecito

However, the case took a dramatic turn during an appeal in 2011. Independent DNA experts concluded that the presented DNA evidence was heavily contaminated. Specifically, the DNA allegedly linking Raffaele Sollecito to Meredith Kercher's bra clasp could have been contaminated during the initial, messy crime scene investigation. Based on this new assessment of the DNA evidence, the court in Perugia acquitted both Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, a decision that triggered strong reactions.

Legal chaos 2013-2015: Court clears Knox and Sollecito

But the legal saga was far from over. Italy's Supreme Court overturned the acquittals in 2013 and ordered a new trial. In 2014, Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were again found guilty by a court in Florence. However, this legal odyssey reached its final conclusion in 2015 when the Supreme Court definitively upheld the acquittal of the two. The court emphasized that there was simply "no objective evidence" to connect either Amanda Knox or Raffaele Sollecito to the murder of Meredith Kercher, leaving their part of the case as a potentially unsolved matter for many.

Rudy Guede: Sole conviction with DNA at the crime scene

Throughout this protracted legal process, Ivorian citizen Rudy Guede has been the only person whose DNA was definitively found in Meredith Kercher's bodily fluids and on her belongings at the crime scene, from which money and credit cards were also stolen. Rudy Guede admitted to being in the apartment at Via della Pergola 7 on the fateful night but maintained that Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito forced him to participate in the murder. He was convicted in a separate trial and is serving a 16-year prison sentence for his role in Meredith Kercher's murder.

Media frenzy: Press impact and Knox’s struggle in jail

The case of Meredith Kercher's murder quickly devolved into a global media circus, making it a high-profile affair. Journalistic coverage and media portrayals were intense. Amanda Knox was often depicted as a cold and calculating figure, caricatured with the nickname “Foxy Knoxy.” In contrast, Meredith Kercher was often described as the innocent, perfect student – a stark dichotomy that heavily shaped public opinion. Amanda Knox has since described these media portrayals as deeply distorted and harmful. Behind the sensational headlines, she struggled with isolation during her many years in an Italian prison, where literature became a refuge to maintain her mental health. The years-long legal battle and intense public scrutiny left deep scars on everyone involved in this complex murder mystery, one of the most talked-about murder cases in recent times, where ultimately only Rudy Guede was convicted for the stabbing and murder.

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