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[Music] our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents if you feel at any
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time you need support please contact your local crisis center for suggested phone numbers for confidential support
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and for a more detailed list of content warnings please the show notes for this episode on your app or on our
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website the Russian poet Anna akava once said Italy is a dream that keeps returning for the rest of your
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life for British born Meredith ker this rang true from a young age Meredith first visited Italy on a family holiday
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when she was just 18 months old and again at the age of eight she loved the way the weight staff at restaurants
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treated her and her three siblings like young adults rather than children handing them the menus before anyone
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else in her childish eyes everything just seemed so sophisticated so fond were these early
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memories that in year n of high school Meredith began studying Italian her teacher noticed she had a natural flare
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for the language which was bolstered further by a two-e Exchange program to southern Italy later that
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year the experience was transformative and Meredith became enamored with Italian culture on the last day of the
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trip as her classmates wept with sadness over having to say goodbye their teacher
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noticed that Meredith was the only one who was smiling I'm not sad because someday when
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I'm older I know that I'm going to live here Meredith remarked I know that Italy
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is going to be a part of my life forever true to her word when Meredith turned 18
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she enrolled to study Italian and European politics at leed's University not entirely sure what she
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wanted to do with her life she contemplated working at the European Parliament in Brussels or following in
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her Father's Footsteps to become a journalist although Leeds was over 200 km from her home in South London and she
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didn't know anyone there this 4-year course was particularly enticing to Meredith as it the option of spending
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the third year studying abroad she spent the first two years knuckling down on her studies and
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working part-time to fund her upcoming travels until August 2007 when at the age of 21 the time finally came to pack
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her bags for Italy spoiled for Choice when it came to picking a beautiful location Meredith
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chose peruja a Cosmopolitan City located in the heart of central Italy's Umbria region
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known for its large international student population and medieval Town Center Meredith felt that staying in a
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smaller city with the just 160,000 residents would give her a better opportunity to interact with others than
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if she stayed in a major city like Rome or Florence it also had good airport links
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and an annual Chocolate Festival and Meredith adored chocolate she promised her sister
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Stephanie whom she was particularly close to that she'd make plenty of friends so the two would have places to
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stay when they traveled the country together once Meredith's studies were complete although the move was daunting
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Meredith's easygoing and enthusiastic personality ensured she made friends easily within 4 days of arriving in
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peruja she'd already secured a place to live number seven via Dela perala was a two-story whitewashed Cottage purged on
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a steep Hillside below the city on one side it overlooked a lush sweeping Valley dotted with cypress trees and
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Olive Groves on the other was a Ring Road that bordered the city's medieval walls and a multi-level car park
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overseen by a row of weathered Department buildings just a few minutes walk from
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Peru's University for foreigners it was a popular neighborhood for students the cottage had been subdivided
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into two separate dwellings the lower floor was occupied by four young Italian men while the upper story housed Two
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Italian law students fil Mena and Laura both aged in their late 20s the young women welcomed Meredith
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with open arms assigning her a small room at the back corner of the cottage the room next to Meredith's was
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vacant but it wouldn't be for long vill Mena and Aura informed Meredith that a 22 year-old American
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student would be arriving in a few weeks time and had already paid her deposit her name was Amanda
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[Music] [Music] Knox Meredith ker fully embra raced her new life in peruja through her language
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studies at the University for foreigners she befriended a group of British students who became a support network
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for one another as they navigated their new surroundings Meredith helped put her
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fellow Brits at ease not only were her Italian skills the strongest of the bunch her quick wit and infectious laugh
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made others feel welcome and included Meredith spent her days studying exploring the city and hunting
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down lowcost meal meals with her new friends always Keen to snag a bargain in the evenings they often met
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for dinner or drinks at one of the local bars where they share stories about their day-to-day experiences and laugh
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over linguistic mishaps by the time Halloween rolled around on Wednesday October 31 2007
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Meredith had been living in peruja for almost 3 months and was settling in nicely to celebrate Halloween she
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dressed up as a vampire and joined a group of her friends for a dinner party followed by a night on the town they
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stayed out until the crack of dawn dancing the night away the next day Thursday November 1
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was All Saints Day a national public holiday in Italy that honors the Saints of the Catholic
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Church an exhausted Meredith dragged herself out of bed after midday the fake blood from her vampire costume still
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staining her chin Laura and fil Mena were away for the holiday so the house was quiet only Meredith's American
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housemate Amanda KNX was home she and her Italian boyfriend Raphael solito were sitting in the common room eating
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pasta when Meredith arose the trio chattered briefly before Meredith had jumped in the shower threw a load of
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laundry into the washing machine and then headed to a friend's place it was a mellow night for Meredith
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and her British girlfriends the group ate pizza and watched The Notebook pausing the film halfway through to eat
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homemade apple crumble for dessert by 8:30 p.m. Meredith was tired she borrowed a textbook from one of her
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friends and made plans to meet her for a class at 10:00 a.m. the following morning Meredith then light-heartedly
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said that 10:30 was more realistic it was a running joke among Meredith's loved ones that she was
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notoriously l late for everything and terrible at keeping time Meredith and her friend Sophie said
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goodbye to the others and began the short walk to their respective homes when they reached the turnoff for
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Sophie's Place they made plans to catch up the following evening before hugging each other goodbye and going their
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separate ways the following morning of Friday November 2 peruja Resident of elizabetha
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Lana braved the bitterly cold air to step outside it had been a strange evening for
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elizabetha overnight she'd received a phone call warning that someone had placed a bomb in her
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toilet although the bomb threat turned out to be a prank elizabetha was left feeling
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shaken as she tended to her roses she heard a ringing sound coming from a bush in her garden and followed it it was a
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mobile phone still on edge from the prank call elizabeta contacted the postal police a
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special division of the State Police dedicated to crimes involving communication
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devices at their request elizabetha brought the discarded phone to the nearby police
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station it didn't take long for officers to identify its owner the Italian SIM card was
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registered to Fila romanelli who lived at number seven via DEA pergola roughly half a kilometer from Elizabeth's
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home V Mena no longer used the SIM card in question she'd given it to her housemate Meredith ker so that Meredith
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could make cheap local calls during her time in Italy filena had spent the previous
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evening out of town with her boyfriend but was back on the outskirts of peruja attending a festival for All Souls
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day the annual celebration was a day to commemorate and pray for love ones who had passed
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away oblivious to the fact that Meredith's phone had been found Thea's own mobile phone rang just after
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midday it was her American housemate Amanda Knox Amanda told Fila that she'd spent
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the night at her boyfriend's house and had just returned to Via Dela pergola to find some strange
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occurrences Amanda said that when she arrived home at around 11:00 a.m. the front door was open open but nobody
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appeared to be home she went to take a shower in the small bathroom she shared with Meredith only to find what looked
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like some drops of blood in the sink and smeared on the bath mat Amanda showered
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regardless she then went to dry her hair in the larger bathroom at the other side
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of the house she glanced into the toilet and saw it contained unflushed feces knowing that no one in the house
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would forget to flush after themselves Amanda told Fila she was scared Fila asked where Meredith was
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Amanda said she didn't know she was currently walking back to her boyfriend Raphael's place and fil Mena was the
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first person she'd called Fila told Amanda to go back to the house and check that everything else
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was in order they then ended the call Fila was worried that Meredith might have cut herself and gone out to
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seek medical care accidentally leaving the front door open behind her she tried calling both of Meredith's mobile phone
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numbers her local Italian one and her British one Meredith always kept both phones
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with her using the Italian SIM for local Communications and the British one to stay in contact with friends and family
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back home both numbers rang out this set off alarm bells for filamenta she knew that Meredith was incredibly
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close to her mother arene who was battling a serious illness back in England the two spoke numerous times
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every day and Meredith always kept her phones close in case she received an urgent call regarding her mother's
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health in fact she never turned her British one off Fila called Amanda back panicked
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Amanda said she'd just reached Raphael's house and the two were going to go check
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on the cottage together filam Mena waited roughly 10 minutes before calling Amanda
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again this time Amanda told her someone's been in your room they smashed your window but it's bizarre it doesn't
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look like they've taken anything meanwhile half a kilometer away a second mobile phone was found at the
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bottom of Elizabeth Alana's Garden this one contained a British SIM [Music] card at 1235 p.m. two officers from the
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postal police arrived at number seven via Dela pergola to ask about the discarded
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phones they found Amanda Knox and raphaela solito standing outside the couple told the officers
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there had been a break-in and they couldn't get hold of Amanda's housemate Meredith they tried her room but the
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door was locked and there was no response when they bashed on it or called her name Raphael said they'd
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contacted the caribiner Italy's National military police force and were waiting for someone to
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arrive the postal police officers told them about the two mobile phones that had been found nearby one of which was
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registered to a resident of this address Amanda said it couldn't be fila's phone because the pair had just
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spoken she led them into the house and showed them fila's bedroom her window had been smashed and shattered glass
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littered the room clothing was scattered across the floor in what looked like a ransacking but strangely valuable items
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such as a laptop gold jewelry a digital camera and designer sunglasses sat untouched out in the
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open everything else in the cottage aside from the mysterious drops of blood and un flushed toilet appeared to be
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completely normal at that moment fil Mena arrived home with her boyfriend and two of their
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friends she rushed into her room and confirmed that nothing appeared to be missing she also identified this second
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mobile phone found at Elizabeth Alana's house as belonging to Meredith ker during this entire Fiasco there had
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been no noise or movement from inside Meredith's room Amanda told the police that Meredith
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sometimes locked her door if she was going away or getting changed but fil Mena disputed this saying Meredith
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always kept her door unlocked becoming increasingly panicked Fila ordered break down the
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door the postal police didn't have authority to do so without a warrant and were concerned about causing any damage
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to private property fila's friend Luca didn't hesitate he backed up raised his leg and
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kicked the door several times before it finally flew open with the door off its hinges filena
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began screaming hysterically the officers shouted everyone out of the house [Music]
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now Meredith's bedroom was in disarray with splashes of blood streaking the walls and blood pulled on the tile
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floor a beige quilt had been taken off the single bed and thrown onto the floor to cover something up but there was
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little doubt as to what at the end of the quilt closest to the door a bare foot protruded out from
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underneath homicide investigators quickly arrived and qued off the scene under the quilt was the body of
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21-year-old Meredith ker naked aside from a long-sleeved top which had been pulled up to reveal her bare
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torso her jeans and underwear had been removed and sat crumpled by her feet along with her Blood Stained bra which
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had been cut off from her body postmortem a pile of blood soaked towels sat nearby dozens of cuts and bruises
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covered Meredith's body a majority of them on her face and neck her hyoid bone the small u-shaped bone at the base of
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her neck was fractured indicating either an attempted strangulation or a hard blow bruising to Meredith's nose
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nostrils and lips suggested someone had attempted to suffocate her by clamping their hands over her nose and mouth
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other bruising on her face and body indicated that she'd been forced to kneel down while her arms were pinned
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behind her back and her face forcefully crushed into the floor small cuts to Meredith's neck
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suggested she'd been threatened with a knife while forced into this submissive position and sexually
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assaulted her throat was then slit twice before her body was dragged closer to the
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bed the smaller of the slashings was 4 cm deep followed by a final 8 cm deep wound which severed Meredith's right
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thyroid artery although this final injury was fatal it wasn't an instant death the
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condition of Meredith's lungs indicated that she'd likely survived for several minutes before finally suffocating on
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her own blood back in England Meredith's mother arene was watching the news when she saw
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a bulletin reporting that a yet to be identified young British woman had been killed in
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Perugia Arlene told herself there was no way it could be her daughter the two had
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just spoken the previous afternoon and nothing about their conversation was out of the
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ordinary arene tried calling Meredith's phone there was no answer she then called Meredith's father
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her ex-husband JN and told him what she'd heard although JN was alarmed he assured his ex-wife that there were lots
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of British students in peruja and Meredith would surely be fine but when John tried calling
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Meredith himself his anxieties peaked every time her phone clicked to her automated message
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Bank John was a journalist and he decided to use his contacts to see if he could dig up any more information he
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dialed the number of the foreign desk for the Daily Mirror newspaper the person he spoke to said
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that they'd call back when they had any more information the wait seemed like a lifetime for John although meridith
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hadn't lived with him since his divorce from Arlene the two remained close speaking on the phone most
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days before she moved away for University Meredith visited her father every Friday night for dinner and the
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weekly screening of her favorite TV show The American sitcom Friends John had just seen Meredith a
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few weeks earlier when she'd made a quick return trip to England to buy some winter clothes and a warmer quilt she'd
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been her normal happy self and talked excitedly about her time in peria after an agony organizing half an
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hour John's phone rang his contact at the Daily Mirror said they had a name of the
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victim with great hesitation they said the name going around Italy is [Music] Meredith within hours of Meredith's body
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being discovered via Dela pergola was teeming with reporters although perua had its Fair sh
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of crime particularly when it came to drugs murders of this magnitude were entirely unheard of a foreign student
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being brutally killed in their own home was Major news and everyone wanted to be
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the first to break the story with all eyes on the investigation and the student population needing
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reassurance they were safe the pressure was on to solve the case fast there was no doubt that Meredith
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had been a victim of sexual violence but it also appeared that robbery could have
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been a motive two of Meredith's purses had been rifled through and her wallet house keys and both of her mobile phones
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had been stolen the keys had then been used to lock her bedroom door a check of Meredith's bank account
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revealed that 2 days prior to her death she'd withdrawn €250 from an ATM this coincided with her rent payment
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which was due at the start of the month but Meredith hadn't yet paid her landlord nor was there any sign of the
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cash anywhere on the property leading to the suspicion that this too was likely stolen during the attack the state of
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her room indicated that someone had been looking under her bed after the murder had
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occurred at first glance the broken window in fil Mena's bedroom appeared to have been the perpetrator's point of
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entry but for the first officers of on the scene this immediately raised some red
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flags for starters some clothing had been removed from one of filament's cupets and haphazardly scattered around
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in an apparent ransacking however the broken glass from the window lay on top of the clothing
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not under it as one would expect this implied that the clothes had been scattered around first and the
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window broken afterwards Not only was nothing of value stolen from fila's bedroom other
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cupboards drawers and boxes of hers hadn't even been touched if someone was ransacking the room looking for
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valuables why hadn't they searched the whole room a 4 kg Rock roughly the size of a
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human head was found underneath fila's desk having seemingly been used to smash the window from the
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outside fila's window on the second floor was fitted with wooden shutters which she insisted she'd left
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closed yet the shutters were found only slightly a jar and perfectly intact for the rock to have shuted the
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glass but not the shutters the shutters would have had to be opened but the only way to open them
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from the outside was to pry them open this meant the Intruder would have had to scale the wall once to open the
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shutters go back down to throw the Rock and then scale the wall again the problem with this scenario was
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that filan's window was roughly 3 and 1/2 M off the ground and there was nothing underneath to climb on scaling
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the wall would require what one investigator described as a superhuman effort and not just once but
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twice the ground outside was damp and muddy yet there was no evidence on the outside wall such as shoe marks or
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traces of Earth to indicate such a climb had occurred about halfway up an old nail
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could have theoretically been used as a foothold had it been used as such investigators were sure the nail would
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have fallen out or at the very least become bent but the nail showed no such damage furthermore there were no
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Footprints or signs of disturbance in the vegetation underneath the window the rocket itself also raised
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questions at 4 kg it would have been incredibly difficult for someone to heave it so high into the air when a
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smaller lighter Rock could have just as easily done the trick the top portion of filament's
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window pane was still intact indicating the rock had been thrown at low speed from a short distance away broken glass
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lay on the internal window sill but strangely there was none on the floor directly underneath
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if the Intruder had pulled themselves in via the window investigators believed at
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least some of the glass would have fallen down if not naturally the Intruder would have had to move some of
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it out of the way to avoid being cut as they pulled themselves in it also didn't make sense that an
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intruder would Target fila's bedroom over one of the others in addition to being difficult to reach it was in full
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view of the Main Street and lit up by the headlights of any passing cars the rear windows were not only out of
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sight but one had a table and chair underneath it which could have been climbed upon to scale the broiler and
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reach the window with all these inconsistencies and no other signs of forced entry
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investigators quickly became convinced that the window had actually been broken from the
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inside the brake and enter was completely staged whoever killed Meredith had likely attempted to derail the
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investigation when the truth was much more simple they had come in through the front
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door this meant that either Meredith knew her killer and to let them inside or they had a
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key bolstering this theory was the belief that a random Intruder would have been desperate to flee the scene as
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quickly as possible they wouldn't stick around to lock Meredith in her bedroom and fake a robbery it also seemed
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unlikely that they go to the effort of stealing both of her mobile phones only to dispose of them a short distance
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away blood marks on the quilt covering Meredith's body indicated it had been placed there after she was already
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dead in criminology this is typically known to indicate remorse and is usually done when a killer knows the
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[Music] victim investigators immed immediately honed in on those in Meredith's Social
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Circle her friends told the police there was a young Moroccan man named ham who had a bit of a crush on Meredith in the
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weeks leading up to the murder they'd all been out dancing together when heam started acting inappropriately pulling
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his pants down in front of Meredith police tracked Hisham down but could find nothing to tie him to the
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crime they started Gathering all the photos that had been taken from the Halloween party Meredith had attended
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the night before she was killed scrutinizing each one for potential Persons of Interest the police learned that
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Meredith had been casually dating one of the downstairs tenants 22-year-old jaamal
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cenzi although the relationship was still very new Meredith had agreed to do a favor for jamoo while he was out of
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town for the public holiday he'd been growing a couple of cannabis plants in his room and Meredith
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agreed to water them for him even though she was nervous about doing so investigators forced their way into
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the lower floor of the cottage inside nothing appeared to be out of place but there was something of Interest several
00:28:14
small drops of blood jakamo and his housemates were quickly tracked down each claimed to
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have been out of town visiting family at the time of Meredith's murder these iers
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were confirmed ruling all of them out as suspects the blood in their apartment was determined to have come from a stray
00:28:36
cat they'd been caring for who had injured a te Meredith's Italian housemates Fila
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and Laura also had airtight aliis having been out of town on the night in question this left just one resident of
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number7 via Dela pergalo who was in peruja at the time Meredith was killed Amanda
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Knox the postal police officers who had first arrived at the crime scene had been suspicious of Amanda from the
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moment they arrived for starters they thought that Amanda and her boyfriend Rafael solito
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had seemed startled nervous and embarrassed by the police presence secondly Amanda's story that
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she'd showered despite finding the front door open and blood in the bathroom just
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seemed bizarre Amanda told one detective she thought one of her housemates might have
00:29:32
simply left the door open while they went to put the bins outside the detective noted this as odd
00:29:40
the bins were clearly visible from the front porch and Amanda would have been able to see this wasn't the case as for
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the drops of blood in the bathroom sink Amanda said she'd recently had her ears pierced and had been taking her earrings
00:29:53
out over the sink to clean them she assumed that's what caused the blood Amanda said she'd been more
00:30:01
concerned about the smear of Blood on the bath mat but thought it might have been menstrual blood that Meredith had
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forgotten to clean up it was only when she noticed the unflushed feces in the other bathroom that she started to get
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the feeling that something wasn't right when she returned to the house with raphaela she looked in the bathroom
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again and saw that the faces had since been Flushed Away according to a this led her to believe that the killer
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might still be in the house detectives checked the toilet for themselves the feces were still
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there but it wasn't just the investigators who were dubious about amander nox's Behavior within hours of
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Meredith's body being discovered Meredith's Italian housemates and British friends had gathered on the
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property to help with the investigation they stood outside waiting for their next next
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instructions as reporters milled around the police Cordon camera Crews honed in on Amanda and
00:31:04
Raphael they didn't look like two people who had just discovered a horrific murder instead they appeared perfectly
00:31:12
composed embracing one another warmly and often leaning in to kiss each other on the
00:31:18
mouth unsure what to make of Amanda's claims police summoned Meredith's friends and housemates to the station
00:31:25
for questioning there raphaela and Amanda's odd behavior continued while Meredith's friends were
00:31:33
visibly distraught investigators noted that Amanda and raphaela seemed indifferent to the entire
00:31:40
situation while they waited for their turn to be questioned they were witnessed laughing kissing and pulling
00:31:46
faces at one another numerous times Amanda complained about being tired yet an officer saw her
00:31:53
doing what they described as stretches the split and a cartwheel the officer wondered how she
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could be behaving like this when a dead body had just been found in her house and told her
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off Meredith's friends were asking themselves the same question it seemed to them like Amanda was boasting about
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being the one who found Meredith's body as though it was something to be proud of they resented the fact that she
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complained about being tired and hungry when she was lucky to be alive Raphael seemed equally nonchalant
00:32:29
to the seriousness of the situation at one point he was overheard on the phone bluntly saying they've slit
00:32:37
her throat as though it was a normal occurrence one of Meredith's friends remarked that she hoped Meredith hadn't
00:32:45
suffered Amanda responded harshly what do you think she had her [ __ ] throat slit
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for investigators there was no doubt that Amanda knox's Behavior was out of the ordinary but there were no immediate
00:33:04
reasons to suspect her of the crime on paper Meredith kircher and Amanda Knox were quite similar the Seattle born and
00:33:13
bred Amanda had grown up in a middleclass family with divorced parents and was particularly close with her
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sister she was a keen and athletic student at her Catholic High School with a particular love for soccer and rock
00:33:27
climbing as a teenager her family tripped to Italy sparked Amanda's love for Italian culture and she eventually
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enrolled to study Italian German and creative writing at University when Amanda told her parents
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she intended to spend one year studying abroad they weren't entirely pleased they considered Amanda to be book smart
00:33:51
but not necessarily street smart she was also two trusting of people and could be
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incred incredibly naive regardless they supported the decision recognizing it as an
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opportunity for growth and maturity Amanda saved for her trip by working multiple jobs and arrived in
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peria a few weeks after Meredith had already settled in Meredith took Amanda under her Wing
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showing her around town and introducing her to her friends while they got along fine
00:34:23
Meredith confided in her friends and family that she found some of Amanda's Behavior off
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pudding in comparison to her British friends Amanda was very extroverted and energetic mid conversation she'd
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sometimes jump up and start doing yoga poses or play her guitar Meredith thought Amanda liked to
00:34:44
show off to get attention one night when Amanda joined Meredith and her friends at a restaurant
00:34:51
the Brits were taken aback when Amanda suddenly stood up and started singing loudly at the top of her voice
00:34:57
voice as Amanda described on her Facebook page I don't get embarrassed and therefore have very few social
00:35:05
inhibitions I love new situations and I love to meet new people the bigger and scarier the roller coaster the
00:35:15
better Meredith told her friends and family that Amanda's quirks irritated her as did her hygiene habits she
00:35:23
complained that Amanda didn't do her fair share of the housework and some times forgot to flush the
00:35:29
toilet Amanda had also left a cosmetic case in the bathroom with an adult toy and condoms out on display and had
00:35:36
brought some strange men back to the house which made Meredith uncomfortable while the two maintained
00:35:43
an amicable relationship and sometimes hung out together around the house they mostly did their own
00:35:50
thing as Amanda told Meredith she was more interested in spending time with Italians so she could immerse her
00:35:56
herself in their language Amanda had an American boyfriend back home but the two had
00:36:03
decided to open their relationship while they both studied abroad Amanda didn't consider herself to be particularly
00:36:11
experienced with the opposite sex and she viewed Italy as a chance to be a bit more
00:36:17
adventurous in her first few weeks in Italy she had a few casual dates before meeting rapael
00:36:24
solito one week prior to Merida murder Amanda was attending a concert at the University when she locked eyes with the
00:36:31
23-year-old a bespectacled computer science student originally from Southern Italy Raphael's father was a prominent
00:36:40
urologist and his mother had recently passed away described by France as quiet and studious Raphael had a somewhat
00:36:49
different take on himself on social media he wrote that he was honest peaceful and sweet but some times
00:36:57
absolutely crazy Raphael also kept an online blog in which he wrote about his disappointing college experience and his
00:37:06
desire to find bigger Thrills although Raphael was shy and not used to getting much attention from the
00:37:14
opposite sex when he saw Amanda Knox smiling at him at the concert he struck up the courage to approach her the two
00:37:22
immediately HIIT it off speaking in a blend of broken English and Italian they spent almost every night together from
00:37:30
that point on with Amanda returning to Via DEA pergola intermittently to fetch clean clothes and check in with her
00:37:38
housemates anyone who spent time around the couple could tell that Raphael was completely smitten with
00:37:45
Amanda his father noted that Raphael had never spoken about a woman the way he spoke about her when Raphael visited via
00:37:54
Dela pergola to cook Amanda dinner her housemates noticed that raphaela followed her around like a Shadow
00:38:01
kissing and cuddling her even while she did the dishes Meredith's friends told investigators that there had been some
00:38:12
friction between Meredith and Amanda but Amanda denied this while they hadn't been extraordinarily close she had
00:38:19
nothing but fond memories of Meredith the two did the grocery shopping together some bathed on the
00:38:26
Terrace while sipping espressos and borrowed clothes from one another Amanda claimed she'd last seen
00:38:33
Meredith on the afternoon before her body was discovered Amanda and raphaela had been hanging out in the cottage's
00:38:41
common area smoking a joint when Meredith woke late after her big night out for Halloween she'd been her normal
00:38:48
self before leaving for her friend's place at around 400 p.m. an hour or two later Amanda said
00:38:56
that she and raphaela walked back to his apartment a one-bedroom bedset a 10-minute walk from via Dela
00:39:04
pergola Amanda had recently gotten a job working at a bar called leik and she'd been rosted on to work later that
00:39:12
evening to her Delight she received a text message from her boss saying she was no longer
00:39:18
needed the couple stayed in for the night watching the French movie Amal on Raphael's computer and having a late
00:39:26
dinner before going to bed sometime after midnight the next morning Amanda said they both slept in she decided to walk
00:39:35
back to Via Dela pergola to shower at home and get a fresh change of clothes she also needed to grab a mop because
00:39:43
the pipes under Raphael's kitchen sink had sprung a leak and he didn't have a mop of his own to clean it
00:39:50
up when Amanda noticed all the strange occurrences of the cottage she walked back to Raphael's apartment and he then
00:39:58
accompanied her back home to see what was going on Rafael's version of events was more
00:40:05
or less the same but investigators obtained the couple's phone records and discovered a strange
00:40:11
discrepancy when the postal police arrived at Via Dela pergola at around 12:35 p.m. rafhael told them he did just
00:40:20
called the Carabiner his phone records revealed he hadn't actually made this call until
00:40:26
12:51 16 minutes after the postal police were already on the scene he had however called his police
00:40:35
officer sister to tell her about the situation at the cottage and ask for her advice Amanda told the police that when
00:40:43
she returned to the cottage to find the strange occurrences she tried calling Meredith but both of her phones kept a
00:40:50
ringing out her phone records confirmed that she did try calling both of mar 's mobiles
00:40:57
but they only rang for a couple of seconds before she ended the calls while the hunt for evidence ramped
00:41:05
up covert intercepts were placed on both Amanda and Raphael's phones nothing incriminating was
00:41:12
captured yet the couple continued to seem oddly unaffected by the gruesome tragedy this too was noted by the owner
00:41:20
of a local clothing store Carlos D Renaldi who contacted the police to voice concerns on Saturday November 3 the day
00:41:30
after Meredith's body was discovered Carlos noticed Amanda and Raphael walking the aisles of his store he
00:41:39
recalled they were all over each other kissing and embracing their behavior was so exhibitionist that the other
00:41:46
customers were looking at them Amanda picked out some lingerie and brought it to the cash register Carlos
00:41:54
overheard Raphael say you can put these on at home and we can have wild sex the police had given Amanda and
00:42:03
rafella strict instructions not to speak with anyone about the case but on Sunday
00:42:09
November 4 Amanda sent a lengthy group email to her friends back home in Seattle in it she detailed her version
00:42:17
of events on the night of Meredith's murder and the day her body was found Amanda
00:42:23
explained I have to get this off my chest because it's pressing down on me and it helps to know that someone
00:42:29
besides me knows something she then wrote casually about her future plans saying she was looking
00:42:36
for a new place to live but quote it kind of sucks that we have to pay the next month's rant she continued I guess
00:42:46
I'll go back to class on Monday although I'm not sure what I'm going to do about
00:42:50
people asking me questions because I really don't want to talk again about what happened I've been talking an awful
00:42:56
lot lately and I'm pretty tired of it anyway that's the update feeling okay hope you all are
00:43:04
well one friend was so taken aback by the email that they forwarded it straight to the
00:43:14
police in an attempt to ascertain Meredith's time of death police looked at her phone records at 8:56 p.m. she to
00:43:23
tried calling her family in England presumably to check in before calling at a night but the call had gone
00:43:30
unanswered an hour later at around 10: the phone was used to dial Meredith's voicemail service but the call was
00:43:37
cancelled before it connected shortly after another call was made to Meredith's Bank in England but this
00:43:44
failed to connect because the mandatory foreign prefix hadn't been entered at 10:13 p.m. a 9-second
00:43:52
internet connection was recorded which was possibly related to an incoming multimedia message investigators
00:43:59
therefore concluded that Meredith was still alive at this time an elderly woman named Nara kazali
00:44:07
lived in an apartment overlooking the cottage at 7 via DEA pergola Nara told the police that she
00:44:14
went to bed early on the night of November 1 but woke up sometime at around 11: or 11:30 p.m. to use the
00:44:21
bathroom although she didn't look at the clock she assumed this to be the time because she was in the habit of waking
00:44:28
up at around the same time each night as Nara passed her dining room window she heard what she described as
00:44:36
an agonizing woman's scream coming from the direction of the cottage it made her skin crawl but what
00:44:44
Nara found most unsettling was that it didn't seem like a cry for help she recall it was just a scream and then
00:44:54
nothing Nara said she looked out the window but couldn't see anything a few seconds later she heard the sound of
00:45:02
gravel and leaves crunching under someone's feet as they ran up the cottage's driveway this was followed by the sound
00:45:10
of footsteps as they ran up the iron stairway leading from the car park across the
00:45:15
street there was only one set of footsteps but moments later Nara heard another person Scurry up the driveway
00:45:22
and run in the opposite direction CCTV footage was obtained from the car park but the only detail of
00:45:30
Interest was an unidentifiable shadowy figure that was captured around 8:41 p.m. nothing was captured during the key
00:45:38
time period where screams were heard between 11: and 11:30 p.m. regardless nar's statement LED
00:45:46
investigators to believe that this was an accurate window for Meredith K's time of
00:45:53
death they were particularly interested in nar's claims of having heard two sets
00:45:57
of footsteps given that the two major wounds on Meredith K's neck varied in size it had been concluded that two
00:46:05
different knives had been used during the attack the bloody outline of one was visible on the bed sheet this led to the
00:46:14
question of how one person could have wielded two separate weapons while also maintaining control over Meredith and
00:46:21
inflicting the other injuries the evidence indicated that mer had struggled for her life yet there
00:46:28
were no skin cells or foreign DNA underneath her fingernails to suggest that she'd scratched or clawed at her
00:46:35
attacker for investigators this was a sure sign of a multi- perpetrator attack Amanda and raphaela both claimed
00:46:46
they hadn't left raphaela's apartment at any point their phone records revealed that they both typically kept their
00:46:53
mobile phones switched on until late at night night on the night that Meredith was killed however Amanda turned her
00:47:01
phone off at 8:35 Raphael turned his off 7 minutes later the couple claimed they' slept in
00:47:10
late the following morning Amanda's phone supported this remaining off until around midday but Raphael's was turned
00:47:18
back on at 6:02 a.m. a time he claimed to have been asleep with these inconsistencies in Raphael's
00:47:30
story he was summoned back to the police station to repeat his version of events
00:47:35
for the evening of November 1 Amanda arrived with him but was told to wait outside the two had barely left one
00:47:43
another's side since Meredith's body was discovered which prompted the question of whether they were staying close in a
00:47:50
bid to keep their stories straight investigators hoped that separated them might elicit some new
00:47:57
information and they were right rafhael told police that his earlier statement was
00:48:05
incorrect the truth was that he and Amanda had parted ways at around 9900 p.m. according to raphaela Amanda told
00:48:14
him she was going to leik the bar where she worked to meet up with some friends Raphael spent the evening in his
00:48:22
apartment alone where he smoked a joint spent the next few hours surfing the internet during this time he watched the
00:48:31
film amale and spoke to his father Amanda returned sometime around 1:00 a.m. Raphael couldn't recall anything
00:48:41
about their interaction only that they woke at around 10:00 a.m. the next morning and Amanda said she had to
00:48:47
return to her house to have a shower and change her clothes when asked why this version of
00:48:53
events differed from his original one Raphael replied I told you a lot of [ __ ] in
00:49:00
my earlier statement because Amanda had convinced me that her version of what happened was right and I didn't think of
00:49:06
the inconsistencies police checked Raphael's claims against Amanda's phone records
00:49:14
Amanda had previously told them that she never responded to her Boss's text message saying she didn't need to come
00:49:20
into to work on the night of November 1 but phone records revealed that she'd actually written back straight away
00:49:28
acknowledging the message and signing off with the Italian words Chi VOR in English this translates to we
00:49:37
will see each other later Amanda's boss was Dia Patrick lumba a congales immigrant who'd been
00:49:45
living in peruja since 1988 although his bar leik wasn't very successful Patrick himself was an
00:49:53
upstanding respected member of of the community involved in the local music scene he played in a reggae ban and
00:50:00
organized for other musicians to perform at the University although he had no prior
00:50:06
criminal record Amanda's text message combined with Raphael's updated story had investigators
00:50:13
wondering was it possible that Amanda had taken Patrick lumba back to Via Dela pergola from the waiting room Amanda was
00:50:23
called in for formal questioning but only as a witness under Italian law thism an attorney wasn't required to be
00:50:33
present over several hours Amanda maintained that she never left raphaela's apartment on the night of
00:50:39
Meredith's murder she explained that the text message to Patrick lumba was simply
00:50:45
being Lost in Translation Chi Vio was her way of telling Patrick goodbye like an American
00:50:53
would say see you later she didn't realize that the translation could be taken literally but as the police pressed on
00:51:02
they could tell that Amanda was beginning to crack one officer told her I want to
00:51:09
help you but you need to tell me who the murderer is you know who the murderer is
00:51:15
you know who killed Meredith Amanda began to sob uncontrollably Patrick she said it's
00:51:33
Patrick Amanda Knox signed a statement in Italian confirming that on Thursday November 1 2007 she left Raphael's
00:51:41
apartment at around 9:00 p.m. and walked to the basketball courts at Piaza Gana a
00:51:47
Town Square just around the corner from via DEA perala there she met her boss Patrick
00:51:53
lumba and the two walked back to Amanda's house Meredith ker had just returned from her friend's
00:52:01
place at some point Meredith and Patrick disappeared into Meredith's bedroom while Amanda stayed in the kitchen she
00:52:09
wasn't sure how long the two were in there but she eventually heard Meredith screaming Amanda was so scared that she
00:52:16
covered her ears after that she couldn't remember a single thing that happened explaining I have a lot of conf conf
00:52:25
usion in my head I do not remember if Meredith screamed or if I heard any thuds because I was in shock but I could
00:52:32
imagine what was going on the police didn't believe Amanda's claim of memory loss although they
00:52:40
weren't sure whether Amanda was directly involved with Meredith's death they were
00:52:45
convinced she'd helped Patrick lumba in some way they also remained convinced that raphaela solito had played a
00:52:53
role by attracting Amanda's Alibi raphaela had essentially removed himself from the piter but his new version of
00:53:01
events had raised some new inconsistencies it also didn't Explain why both he and Amanda had turned their
00:53:09
mobile phones off at almost the exact same time on the night of Meredith's murder rafhael claimed that he'd watched
00:53:17
the film Amal alone after Amanda had left the apartment but her forensic examination
00:53:24
of his computer determined that the film had actually been watched at 6:30 p.m. after that the computer wasn't accessed
00:53:32
again until 5:32 a.m. at a time Raphael claimed to have been asleep Raphael also said he spoke to his
00:53:41
father and his mobile phone at around 11:00 p.m. phone records revealed they'd actually spoken on Raphael's landline at
00:53:49
8:42 p.m. his father had sent him a goodn night text message at 11 114 p.m. but Raphael's phone was already switched off
00:53:58
at this point and he only received the message when he turned his phone back on at 602 the next
00:54:05
day the suspicion against raphaela only intensified when a search of his pockets
00:54:11
turned up a jack knife with a 3-in blade Raphael explained he'd carried a knife with him since he was a kid as he liked
00:54:19
to make carvings in trees a search warrant was issued for Raphael's apartment opening the door
00:54:31
investigators immediately noted the smell of bleach several bottles of bleach were
00:54:37
found in his kitchen along with a receipt dated the morning of Sunday November 4 2 days after Meredith's body
00:54:44
was discovered in Raphael's Cutlery drawer one item in particular caught investigator's attention a black-handled
00:54:52
marietti brand knife with a 6 and 1/2 in Blade although this was a typical knife
00:54:58
of any Italian Kitchen it looked as though it had been recently cleaned the knife was subject to
00:55:06
forensic examination no traces of blood were found but there were several scratches on the side of the blade
00:55:13
consistent with what one investigator described as intense scrubbing on the handle were traces of
00:55:21
Amanda nox's DNA this was and unexpected Amanda had spent a lot of time at Raphael's place
00:55:29
and the two often cooked together but something significant was found on the blade Trace elements of Meredith K's
00:55:39
DNA given that Meredith had never visited Raphael's apartment before this raised the question how could her DNA
00:55:47
have gotten on it unless it was used during the attack in Raphael's bedroom police found
00:55:54
a collection of Japanese Manga comics they described as a mix of pornography and
00:56:00
horror some of them depicted extreme acts of violence with the storyline of one comic revolving around the killing
00:56:07
of female vampires on Halloween not only did this strike investigators as noteworthy given
00:56:14
Meredith had just dressed as a vampire for Halloween herself they also noticed similarities between some of the images
00:56:20
in the comics and the crime scene in Meredith's bedroom while these finds were all compelling
00:56:28
police still didn't have anything that linked Raphael to the crime scene they turned to the forensic
00:56:34
evidence in Meredith's bedroom a partial bloody Sho print had been found underneath the quilt that had been used
00:56:41
to cover her body it was determined to be a men's size nine with a pattern made up of numerous concentric
00:56:49
circles the print was compared to a pair of Raphael sneakers a pair of size 9 Nike Air Force
00:56:56
1es although the results weren't conclusive the initial analysis indicated a potential
00:57:03
match with all these details coming to light investigators theorized that Patrick lumba likely had a crush on
00:57:10
maredith and had asked for Amanda's help in getting the two together after being told she didn't
00:57:17
need to come to work Amanda texted Patrick to let him know she'd see him later she and Raphael then went to meet
00:57:24
him at the basketball courts at Piaza Gana before walking him back to the cottage on Via DEA
00:57:31
pergola there Patrick joined Meredith in her bedroom investigators couldn't be sure
00:57:38
exactly what unfolded next but they viewed amander as a seductress who had raphaela completely under her
00:57:46
spell both seeking excitement and adventure raphaela and Amanda likely intervened and the group tried to force
00:57:53
Meredith to do something sexual that she didn't want to do they likely threatened
00:57:58
her with one of the knives that Raphael admittedly always carried around forcing
00:58:04
her face into the floor and sexually assaulting her when Meredith screamed one of them panicked and slit her
00:58:12
throat the trio then desperately tried to clean up after themselves before staging a Breakin and fleeing the
00:58:21
scene but there was just one problem the bloody shoe print wasn't a definite match to Raphael and the police still
00:58:29
hadn't uncovered any physical evidence putting Amanda or Patrick at the crime scene nervous that Amanda might flee the
00:58:36
country they decided it was time to make their move regardless a cautionary arrest warrant
00:58:43
was issued for all three suspects at Patrick lum's home investigators found him warming milk for
00:58:51
his 18-month-old son appearing completely L shocked by the police presence he asked what was going on to
00:58:58
which one officer responded you know what you did but Patrick claims he had nothing to
00:59:05
do with Meredith K's death he said he'd only met Meredith a handful of times the
00:59:11
last being on Halloween when she'd showed up at leik in her vampire costume Patrick said he wasn't attracted
00:59:18
to Meredith nor had he flirted with her in any way as for the night she was killed
00:59:24
Patrick said he worked until closing time which was sometime after midnight and then went straight home at no point
00:59:32
did he see or speak to Amanda Knox following her arrest Amanda retracted her previous statement in its
00:59:44
place she submitted a handwritten statement of her own valtion claiming that her previous version of events had
00:59:50
been made under the pressure of stress shock and extreme exhaustion Amanda claimed it was the police who
00:59:58
suggested that Patrick lumba could have been involved she only went along with it after they told her they had evidence
01:00:04
proving she was at the cottage on the night of the murder and threatened to put her in jail for 30
01:00:10
years according to Amanda an officer had also hit her over the head when she didn't remember a fact
01:00:18
correctly Amanda wanted to set the record straight As she was worried that details were being lost in
01:00:25
translation she said her recollection of the night of Thursday November 1 was hazy because she'd been smoking cannabis
01:00:32
she and Raphael had also been doing a different version of the same thing every night that week and the days
01:00:39
blurred into one all she was sure of was that she and Raphael had eaten a late dinner after which Raphael washed the
01:00:47
dishes and his kitchen pipes began to leak the next thing she remembered with certainty was waking up the foll
01:00:54
following morning at around 10:00 after very little sleep and many hours of intense pressure from the
01:01:01
police Amanda said she started Imagining the scenario in which Patrick lumba had
01:01:06
come back to her house she wrote I am unsure if they are real things that happened or are just dreams my mind has
01:01:15
made to try to answer the questions in my head and the questions I am being asked but the truth is I am unsure about
01:01:23
the truth Amanda acknowledged that her confusion must be frustrating for the police but
01:01:30
stated I also want to tell the truth the best I can I know I didn't kill Meredith
01:01:36
that's all I know for sure the police firmly denied the allegations that Amanda had been
01:01:43
mistreated or coerced in any way but because she'd only been questioned as a witness her interrogation hadn't been
01:01:50
recorded therefore it was a case of Amanda's word against to theirs during Raphael Solo's arrest
01:01:59
hearing he distanced himself from Amanda but said that he too had cracked under pressure from
01:02:05
police he claimed the truth was Amanda had spent the entire night of Thursday November 1 with him at his apartment he
01:02:13
flat out denied that the shoe print found in Meredith's bedroom was his saying he'd had never entered her
01:02:19
bedroom and even if he had he wasn't wearing his Nikes on the day she was killed
01:02:26
Patrick lumba stuck by his story that he'd worked at Lasik all evening it had been a quiet night with only about a
01:02:33
dozen customers hence why he' texted Amanda not to bother coming in Patrick claimed there was at least
01:02:40
one person who could vouch for his Alibi a Swiss Professor whom he'd chatter to briefly while serving
01:02:47
drinks the only problem was he couldn't remember the professor's name Patrick claimed he'd opened to the
01:02:54
the bar sometime around 5:00 p.m. but a search of leiks Records revealed that the first receipt of the night was timed
01:03:01
10:29 p.m. Patrick explained this was because he'd only build the customers when they
01:03:08
left he stated I didn't go to Amanda's house I didn't kill Meredith I'm innocent and
01:03:16
God knows it it had been an incredibly difficult week for Meredith K's family not only
01:03:27
did they have to come to terms with the news of Meredith's murder and the subsequent arrests there were additional
01:03:32
hurdles to navigate given that the crime occurred in a foreign country they were
01:03:37
left feeling completely helpless the people of England rallied behind them leaving floral tributes and
01:03:44
notes for Meredith outside of her mother's home her former high school and online when granted permission to do so
01:03:53
Meredith's mother asked her Father John and sister Stephanie arrived in peria to formally identify
01:03:59
Meredith's body John couldn't bring himself to enter the morg he wanted his last memory
01:04:05
of his daughter to be the vibrant and happy young woman he'd had lunch with just weeks earlier her whole life ahead
01:04:12
of her arene and Stephanie made the identification instead to spare them the sight of
01:04:19
Meredith's injuries a crisp white sheet had been pulled up to her chin arene asked for permission to kiss her
01:04:26
daughter on the head the lead prosecutor present was so moved by this he had to remove himself from the
01:04:34
room Stephanie thought her sister looked peaceful but determined as though she was trying to express how hard she'd
01:04:41
fought to survive Stephanie said for that I am eternally grateful and love her more than she could ever
01:04:50
know it was from that moment that we knew we had to fight for her too Meredith's family agreed that more
01:04:59
than one person had to be involved with the slay Meredith had started studying karate at the age of 17 and had earned
01:05:07
three belts they'd seen her take on grown male opponents if she was attacked by just one person her family felt
01:05:15
confident that Meredith could have held her own Meredith's murder and the subsequent
01:05:21
arrests were major worldwide news at a press conference following the identification members of the media
01:05:28
gathered from Italy the UK and us as Stephanie described her little sister as one of the most beautiful intelligent
01:05:36
witty and caring people you could ever meet her family took comfort in knowing that Meredith died while pursuing her
01:05:44
dreams and during one of the happiest periods of her life Stephanie stated we love her then we love her
01:05:53
still and and she's still very much a part of our family forever with the three suspects Behind
01:06:01
Bars investigators had to build their case against them before any official charges could be made they turned their
01:06:09
focus onto the forensic evidence given that Amanda lived at the cottage and Raphael had visited several
01:06:15
times before it stood to reason that their fingerprints Footprints and a DNA would already be present therefore
01:06:23
investig s needed to find something indisputably tying them to the crime scene numerous bloody fingerprints had
01:06:31
been found in Meredith's bedroom but many of them were smeared to a point of being
01:06:36
unidentifiable of the bloody fingerprints that were found none were a matched to Amanda noox Raphael solito or
01:06:44
Patrick lumba no blood from anyone other than Meredith was found anywhere in the
01:06:51
cottage the blood in the bathroom was determined to be merediths indicating that someone had used the bathroom after
01:06:58
committing the crime the stain on the bath mat was determined to be a bloody footprint although it lacked the
01:07:05
characteristics needed to make a definitive match it was compared to the three suspects and provided a probable
01:07:12
match to Raphael solito luminol a chemical that reacts to traces of blood invisible to the naked
01:07:20
eye was sprayed throughout the cottage several areas lit up revealing partial bare Footprints in Amanda's room
01:07:28
the bathroom and the hallway outside of Meredith's bedroom testing determined them to be a
01:07:34
probable match to both Amanda and Raphael luminol testing of fila's bedroom also revealed two drops of blood
01:07:43
which carried the DNA profiles of two individuals Amanda noox and Meredith Kar while this was deeply incriminating
01:07:53
evidence against both Amanda and Raphael investigators couldn't find a single piece of physical evidence to suggest
01:08:00
that Patrick lumba had ever visited the property at all but there was an even more troubling
01:08:06
detail when Meredith's body was found a blood soaked pillow had been placed underneath her body on it was a bloody
01:08:14
handprint that didn't match either of the three suspects police ran the fingerprints
01:08:20
through their database there was a match 20-year-old Rudy guer was known to be a bit of a hanger on of Peru's
01:08:33
student scene having immigrated to Italy from the Ivory Coast at the age of five
01:08:39
Rudy's father eventually returned to Africa leaving a teenaged Rudy in the care of a wealthy perian family who put
01:08:45
him into school studying hotel management but Rudy was a habitual liar with no drive when it came to work or
01:08:53
study disappointed with his behavior the family kicked him out Rudy worked odd jobs to get by but also started dabbling
01:09:02
in petty theft and selling cannabis the week before Meredith K's murder the owner of a preschool arrived
01:09:10
at her workplace out of hours to find Rudy guer on the premises she called the police who
01:09:16
discovered that Rudy had stolen a knife from the school's kitchen a search of his backpack also
01:09:22
revealed a laptop and cell phone that had recently been stolen after a break-in at a local LW office along with
01:09:28
a gold watch that had been stolen during a break-in four days prior when the tenants of s via Dela
01:09:36
pergola had been questioned after Meredith's death they'd each been asked to provide a list of all the recent
01:09:42
visitors to the property the young men who lived downstairs had mentioned an African man
01:09:48
with whom they sometimes played basketball they knew him from around town but only by his nickname the
01:09:56
baron Amanda Knox had mentioned him too she and Meredith had met him when they joined the downstairs neighbors to smoke
01:10:03
a joint one night according to the downstairs tenants the baron had asked them whether
01:10:10
Amanda had a boyfriend and mentioned he wanted to sleep with her later on he fell asleep on their toilet drunk when
01:10:19
he woke up he left the house without Flushing able to ignore the similarity between the unflushed toilet at the
01:10:27
crime scene detectives had been eager to track of the baron down but had so far been
01:10:33
unsuccessful little did they know that Rudy guer and the baron were one and the same with the bloody handprint on
01:10:42
Meredith's pillow confirmed to belong to Rudy gader investigators raided his apartment there was no sign of him there
01:10:50
or anywhere across town an international arrest warrant was issued and his name and face were splashed across the
01:10:58
news witnesses came forward to report that they' seen Rudy dancing at a perian nightclub at around 2:30 on the night of
01:11:05
Meredith K's murder no one had noticed any blood on his clothing but they did recall he was
01:11:12
acting strange and smelled terrible he'd also mentioned to some friends that he was thinking of going to
01:11:20
Milan as efforts to locate Rudy guer ramped up a friend of his contacted the police to let them know that they just
01:11:27
received an email from Rudy in which he claimed to be in Germany the friend agreed to work with
01:11:34
police to lower Rudy back to Italy he contacted Rudy via instant messaging on the Telecommunications app Skype asking
01:11:42
where he was and what was going on Rudy claimed he was in the city of dorf flat broke and sleeping on trains
01:11:51
he said he'd seen the news and and the police had it all wrong he wasn't involved with Meredith's death but he
01:11:58
had been there on the night she was killed he also said Amanda doesn't have anything to do with
01:12:06
it Rudy agreed to speak to his friend over the phone he explained that he'd run into Meredith at a Halloween party
01:12:14
on October 31 and the two had arranged to meet at her house the following night when he got there Meredith was the only
01:12:22
one at home the two talked for a while during which Meredith mentioned that some money was missing from her
01:12:28
underwear drawer and she suspected Amanda might have taken it Meredith was fired up accusing Amanda of being a drug
01:12:36
addict she apparently said when Amanda comes back I have to talk to her Rudy claimed that after Meredith
01:12:45
calmed down the two of them began making out they engaged in oral sex but stopped
01:12:51
things there after realizing neither th of them had a condom at around 9:30 Rudy went to the
01:12:57
bathroom to use the toilet his stomach feeling upset from a bad Kebab he put his iPod on and over the
01:13:05
sound of the music he heard the doorbell ring after listening to about 2 and a half songs he heard Meredith
01:13:13
screaming Rudy Clint he rushed out with his pants down only to find a man he didn't recognize standing over Meredith
01:13:21
with a bloody knife it was too dark to see much of the man's appearance but he was shorter than
01:13:27
Rudy and had chestnut colored hair the man tried to stab Rudy swearing at him in what sounded like a local Italian
01:13:35
accent before faying the scene realizing that Meredith had been stabbed Rudy claimed he ran to the
01:13:42
bathroom to grab some towels he packed them into the wounds in Meredith's neck to try and stop the bleeding but it was
01:13:49
too late she died in front of him terrified of being wrongly implicated he too fled the
01:13:58
scene Rudy's friend offered to wire him some money for a train ticket back to Italy where they could get him a good
01:14:04
lawyer and figure everything out Rudy agreed but before he could collect the money a ticket inspector caught him for
01:14:11
fair evasion and he admitted he was wanted for questioning in Italy detectives were sent to extradite
01:14:18
him back to peruja meanwhile the Swiss Professor who Patrick lumba claimed to have served on
01:14:29
the night of Meredith's murder came forward he confirmed that he was indeed at luik on the night in question eating
01:14:37
dinner and chatting to Patrick lumba from around 8:30 to 9:55 p.m. with this hair tied Alibi and no
01:14:46
physical evidence tying him to the crime scene Patrick was released after almost
01:14:50
3 weeks behind bars he told reporters that Amanda Knox had thrown him under the bus to derail the investigation when
01:14:59
quote Amanda hated Meredith because people loved her more than Amanda she was insanely jealous that Meredith was
01:15:07
taking over her position as Queen B with Patrick no longer a suspect investigators maintained their theory
01:15:15
about a group sex attack gone wrong they simply replaced Patrick's role with Rudy
01:15:21
guer what rud didn't know was that investigators had already obtained his DNA from a hairbrush found in his
01:15:29
apartment testing confirmed traces of Rudy's DNA were inside of Meredith's body in blood stains on her underwear
01:15:37
and clothing on her purse that had been rifled through and in the unflushed toilet furthermore the partial bloody
01:15:45
shoe print Under Meredith's quilt that had been attributed to Raphael solito was compared to a pair of Nike outbreak
01:15:52
2 owned by Rudy guer while the treads on both Rudy and Raphael's Nikes shared remarkable
01:16:00
similarities the number of concentric circles differed while testing had only revealed a probable match to Raphael's
01:16:08
shoes it revealed a conclusive match to Rudy's back in Italy Rudy added some more details to his version of
01:16:18
evance he maintained that the window in fil Mena's bedroom hadn't been smashed while he was there and claimed that just
01:16:25
before the attacker fled the scene he'd warned you are a black man you will get the
01:16:32
blame as Rudy tended to Meredith's wounds she apparently tried to tell him something but he couldn't quite make it
01:16:38
out it sounded like f Rudy said he wanted to stay in help or call an ambulance but he didn't have his
01:16:47
mobile and also feared that he'd get the blame instead he ran home and changed his clothes but the smell of Meredith's
01:16:56
blood was nauseating and he needed to get away from it he went to a friend's house and out clubbing trying to act as
01:17:03
normal as possible while inside he was feeling extremely confused and traumatized Rudy said if I had been a
01:17:12
man I would have stayed and tried to save Meredith according to Rudy's lawyer this
01:17:19
story explained why his client's DNA was found throughout the the crime scene but
01:17:25
quote it does not mean that he is the killer investigators begged to differ in their view the forensic evidence didn't
01:17:35
just prove that Rudy guer was at the crime scene it proved that he was involved with the crime
01:17:42
itself furthermore they already knew that Rudy was lying about having pre-arranged plans to meet up with
01:17:49
Meredith in contradiction to his claim that the two had met at a Halloween party Meredith's friends confirmed they
01:17:57
had been at a completely different party and that at no point did they cross paths with Rudy guer Meredith had never
01:18:05
mentioned Rudy to anyone nor had anyone ever seen her with him outside of the one time they shared a joint at the
01:18:11
downstairs flat friends of Rudy's also T police he had a habit of acting inappropriately
01:18:18
towards women when he was under the influence and that he'd been accused of moles girls
01:18:27
before as the story continued to dominate headlines the media showed little interest in Rudy gader they were
01:18:35
much more interested in Amanda Knox as daily maale journalist Nick paer later explained to
01:18:43
Netflix Meredith was a terribly attractive woman and now we've got Amanda Knox involved as well a pretty
01:18:50
blonde girl 20s something it had that sexual Intrigue girl on girl crime if you like day after day new headlines came
01:19:01
out about Amanda in which she was portrayed as quote sex obsessed a she devil and a witch of
01:19:08
deception viewed by many as the Puppet Master behind Meredith's murder some Outlets labeled her Amanda the
01:19:16
Maneater but it was when Amanda's online Myspace page surfaced that things really
01:19:22
heated up there Amanda had listed her nickname as Foxy noxy this was a childhood nickname given
01:19:31
to her by her soccer teammates who deemed her quick like a fox the English-speaking media took it
01:19:38
as a sign of Amanda's opinion of herself as some kind of seductive Vixen and the
01:19:43
nickname quickly sought to infamy it didn't help that Amanda had recently posted a photo of herself on
01:19:51
MySpace from a visit to a Nazi History Museum where she posed behind a giant machine gun with a maniacal laugh on her
01:19:59
face this picture was quickly spread by the media as was a photo Raphael solito had shared on his own blog in which he
01:20:07
was dressed like a mummy brandishing a giant meat cleaver and holding a bottle of
01:20:13
bleach videos of Rudy guer also surfaced of him dressed as Dracula and looking into the camera as he said I want to
01:20:21
suck your blood tabloid headlines accompanying these provocative images screamed orgy of
01:20:28
death and Amanda was a drugged up [ __ ] Amanda's reputation as an immoral sex crazed temptress only got worse when
01:20:37
CCTV footage was published of her buying underwear with raphaela the day after Meredith's body was found tabloids
01:20:45
printed the photos alongside headlines like one from the standard which read pictures of the moment foxy kn went
01:20:53
shopping for sexy lingerie the day after Meredith's murder these along with the images of
01:20:59
Amanda and rafhael hugging and kissing outside of the crime scene were viewed as not only indifference to Meredith's
01:21:06
murder but possible arousal what the tabloids didn't mention was that Amanda and her housemates had
01:21:14
been forbidden from returning to their Cottage while it was an active crime scene and therefore had no access to
01:21:20
their clothes a wasn't shopping for sexy lingerie but the Bare Basics nor had she been doing cartwheels
01:21:29
and the splits at the police station as one officer reported but yoga according to Amanda she had got up to stretch
01:21:37
after sitting hunched over for so long and another officer had asked her to show him how flexible she
01:21:44
was adding further fuel to the fire diary entries Amanda made whilst in prison were leaked to the
01:21:51
Press tblo reported that Amanda kept the details of her many lovers and expressed
01:21:56
her fears that she might have contracted HIV her entire stay in Italy was portrayed as one drug fueled sexual
01:22:04
encounter after the other bolstered by photos that surfaced of her partying back home in
01:22:11
America journalist Nick paer said that as these photos and tidbits emerged members of the press were
01:22:19
thinking wow great she's a complete turned out a nut job you just couldn't ask for any better material to
01:22:27
illustrate a story with I don't think I've ever had so many front pages just story after
01:22:35
Story for Meredith K's family the focus on Amanda Knox added insult to injury as
01:22:41
she became the center point of the tragedy in which Meredith was often pushed to the
01:22:46
sidelines Meredith's Father John resented the foxy noxy nickname saying it would quote
01:22:53
come to define the case and shift its focus entirely from Meredith and the other
01:23:00
suspects 4 weeks after the crime more than 500 people crammed into the cuden Parish Church on the grounds of
01:23:07
Meredith's former high school for a memorial service a floral tribute had been made
01:23:13
to spell out her nickname MZ Meredith soer brother Lyle light-heartedly told the congregation
01:23:21
that Meredith would prob be looking down at the flowers happy that her family had
01:23:25
used her nickname as it was cheaper than spelling her name in full Lyle reminded those gathered that
01:23:32
it was important to remember Meredith for her endearing qualities such as her quick wit and fantastic sense of
01:23:44
humor 46 days after Meredith K's murder on Tuesday December 18 investigators were doing another sweep for evidence in
01:23:52
Meredith's bedroom when they lifted up a rug about 5 ft from where her body had been
01:23:58
found underneath was the broken clasp from Meredith's bra the clasp was tested and revealed
01:24:05
some faint traces of male DNA although weak there was no denying who it came from Raphael
01:24:15
solito given that it had already been determined that the bra had been cut from Meredith's body postmortem this
01:24:21
placed Rafa in Meredith's bedroom with her dead body Raphael's lawyers acknowledged that
01:24:29
this finding wouldn't help Raphael's case but they argued that it wasn't definitive the DNA Trace was weak and it
01:24:36
could have gotten there prior to the murder investigators stuck to their initial theory that this was a sexually
01:24:44
motivated crime involving all three suspects they just couldn't be sure whether it was spontaneous or
01:24:50
premeditated or how exactly it spiraled so far out of control they considered multiple
01:24:57
scenarios before concluding it was most likely that Amanda and raphaela had met Rudy at the basketball courts in Piaza
01:25:06
ganana all three of them were under the influence of cannabis and possibly alcohol and decided to go back to seven
01:25:13
via DEA pergola Rudy had already admitted to friends that he wanted to sleep with
01:25:19
Amanda so he might have seen this as his opportunity either that or she might have promised
01:25:25
to help him hook up with Meredith Amanda and Raphael both turned off their mobile phones and the trio
01:25:32
then returned to the cottage sometime after 9:00 p.m. once inside Meredith confronted
01:25:39
Amanda about her missing rent money and her discomfort over Amanda bringing yet another strange man into their home an
01:25:47
argument broke out between them igniting a rage that Amanda had been harboring towards merid for some
01:25:53
time tired of her serious and prudish nature Amanda saw this as her opportunity to teach Meredith a
01:26:01
lesson while Rudy excused himself to use the toilet Amanda and raphaela confronted Meredith in her
01:26:08
bedroom their argument escalated until Amanda finally reached out and smacked Meredith's head into the wall rafela
01:26:16
eager to impress Amanda joined in on the physical altercation Rudy heard the commotion and
01:26:23
ran into the bedroom feeling a level of competitiveness against raphaela and wanting to earn Amanda's approval he too
01:26:31
joined in as the violence escalated things took a sexual turn when Meredith refused to
01:26:39
cooperate Amanda and raphaela each threatened her with a knife while Rudy started to sexually assault her the more
01:26:46
Meredith struggled the harder the knives were held to her throat until she began
01:26:51
screaming and one of the trio panicked and administered the fatal wound Amanda and raphaela then fled with
01:26:59
Meredith's mobile phones and ditch to them so she wouldn't be able to call for help Rudy momentarily tried to stop the
01:27:07
bleeding before fleeing himself and then going out clubbing in a bid to create an
01:27:13
alibi Amanda and Raphael returned to the cottage to clean up the scene and Stage
01:27:18
the Breakin in late January 2008 a new witness came forward with the startling Revelation 33-year-old huran kokani told
01:27:32
the police that on the night of Thursday November 1 2007 he was driving down via
01:27:38
Dela pergola when he noticed something sitting in the middle of the road it looked like a black garbage bag
01:27:46
huran beeped his horn but the object didn't move he got out only to realiz realiz it wasn't a bag at all but a man
01:27:54
and woman both of them appeared to be quote off their heads the woman took a knife out of a
01:28:02
bag and approached her Kuran with it threatening for him to leave a young black man then
01:28:10
emerged the woman told the two men to hide their faces but it was too late huran recognized the black man from
01:28:17
around town as Rudy guer he kept a driving and it was only when he saw the news about Meredith's
01:28:25
murder that he recognized the man and woman to be Raphael solito and Amanda noox huran claimed he'd been too scared
01:28:34
to come forward until he realized how significant this sighting could be huran kokani wasn't the only one
01:28:42
who'd been withholding important information in early February 2008 homeless man Antonio Kuro came forward
01:28:50
to report that at around 9:30 on the night of November 1 he was in Piaza Gana when he saw Amanda noox and Raphael
01:28:58
solito hanging out and chatting animatedly Antonio knew the area and its people well as he spent his days
01:29:07
loitering around and sleeping rough in a nearby park Antonio claimed he saw them in the
01:29:13
Square again at around midnight just before he left to sleep in the park for the
01:29:20
night this was a major breakthrough for investigators combined with huran kokam mani's reported sighting of the three
01:29:29
suspects it not only placed Amanda and Raphael near the crime scene but also debunked the couple Alibi that they
01:29:36
hadn't left Raphael's apartment the entire evening a local shop owner also came forward claiming that an exhausted
01:29:45
looking Amanda had come into his shop at 7:45 on the morning that Meredith's body
01:29:50
was discovered at a time time she claimed to have been asleep prosecutors now had DNA evidence
01:29:58
and witness statements linking all three suspects to the crime scene in early July 2008 after 8 months of gathering
01:30:06
evidence they finally felt they had enough to formally press charges Amanda Knox Raphael solito and
01:30:15
Rudy guer were each charged with Meredith K's sexual assault and murder back in the United States the Knox
01:30:28
family hired a public relations advisor and began their own media campaign in Amanda's
01:30:34
defense they alleged that Amanda had been treated unfairly by the Italian police who had interrogated her
01:30:40
unlawfully and used physical abuse to coerce untrue statements and a bid to solve the case quickly in total she had
01:30:49
been interrogated for a total of 53 hours over 5 days in a language she only had a beginner's grasp
01:30:56
of for the investigators Amanda's Behavior might have been typical but it had also been completely misinterpreted
01:31:05
and then regurgitated as fact comments made by one of the lead investigators also raised some eyebrows
01:31:13
he said we were able to establish guilt by closely observing the suspect's psychological and behavioral reaction
01:31:21
during the interrogation we don't need to rely on other kinds of Investigation the diary entries Amanda
01:31:30
had written about Contracting HIV had only been made after prison guards told her that her blood tests had come back
01:31:37
positive for the disease in response Amanda had written a list of all the men she'd ever slept with seven in total
01:31:45
trying to determine who she could have contracted the disease from a second blood test confirmed she
01:31:52
didn't have HIV at all the HIV threat was seen as a ploy to get Amanda to provide information about
01:32:00
her sexual history so that prosecutors could leak it to the Press thus supporting their portrayal of her as
01:32:07
morally loose prominent names in legal circles started jumping on the bandwagon in
01:32:13
support of Amanda vocalizing their opinion that Amanda and raphaela were simply scapegoats in a case where all
01:32:20
fingers pointed to Rudy many believed the prosecutors were only continuing to go after the couple because they'd
01:32:27
publicly displayed them as killers for so long that it would look bad to admit that officials had it
01:32:33
wrong as private investigator Paul calino told CBS News we know one thing for certain in
01:32:42
life that when you're dead the last guy who was with you is usually responsible for you being dead and the last person
01:32:50
that was with Meredith from the horse's mouth is Rudy the Italian justice system offers
01:32:59
defendants the option of what's known as a FastTrack trial this essentially means
01:33:05
that instead of going to trial before a jury the defendant can have their case decided by a judge alone during the
01:33:11
pre-trial proceedings given that this saves a considerable amount of time and money
01:33:17
the incentive for the defendant is that if they're found guilty they're typically given a shorter
01:33:23
sentence given the overwhelming evidence against Rudy guer including his own admissions that he was present at the
01:33:30
time Meredith ker was killed it came as no surprise when he chose to have a FastTrack
01:33:36
trial while the judge decided whether or not there was enough evidence to put Amanda and Raphael a to trial he'd also
01:33:43
be coming to a verdict regarding Rudy's involvement the pre-trial hearing commenced in September 2008 l ERS for
01:33:52
Amanda and raphaela argued that Rudy had acted in a lone wolf killing it should have been a fairly open and shock case
01:34:00
he'd likely broken in intending to rob the place thinking it was empty but came across Meredith
01:34:06
instead he sexually assaulted and killed her before fleeing with her rent money credit card and
01:34:13
phones knowing what he'd done he fled the country to evade detection Amanda and Raphael on the
01:34:22
other hand had no association with Rudy and were nowhere near the cottage on the
01:34:26
night of the murder any DNA evidence suggesting otherwise had likely been contaminated was inconclusive or
01:34:34
incorrectly tested the prosecution disputed this stating all three left traces of their
01:34:42
presence at the scene of the crime and were involved we are convinced of that after 12 hours of deliberation the
01:34:51
the judge concluded that several perpetrators had agreed to satisfy their sexual desires by launching some kind of
01:34:58
sex game on Meredith cure it quickly escalated in violence to the point that the only way to silence
01:35:05
Meredith's scream was to Slit her throat while the judge couldn't determine which of the attackers
01:35:12
administered the fatal wound the fact that none of them had stopped the attack or called for help meant they shared
01:35:19
equal responsibility the judge declared Rudy guer guilty and sentenced him to 30 years prison as for
01:35:28
Amanda nox and Raphael solito they would proceed to a full trial Meredith's family had mixed
01:35:38
feelings about the decision her Father John said we were not elated but we were at least satisfied that Justice was
01:35:47
progressing in the right direction it was difficult to say what you feel at a time like this it was
01:35:54
certainly not relief because I knew that this was in effect only the beginning The Joint trial of Amanda noox
01:36:14
and Raphael solito was one of the most highly anticipated events in Peru's recent history with several metor
01:36:21
Outlets touting it as the trial of the century it was expected that the forensic evidence would be sharply
01:36:28
contested while the prosecution would have to convince the jury of their circumstantial
01:36:34
evidence with the case continuing to make international news headlines and attract heated debate everyone had an
01:36:40
opinion as to whether or not the two defendants were guilty but they'd have to wait a while
01:36:46
for a verdict Amanda and Raphael's trial was scheduled to take place twice a week
01:36:53
3 weeks a month over several months Meredith K's family couldn't afford to stay in peruja for that long
01:37:01
so they made the decision to only attend when it came time to testify the proceedings were also held
01:37:08
entirely in Italian a language they didn't speak as the trial got underway the prosecution remained loyal to their
01:37:18
ongoing theory about sexual misadventure the defense argued that the prosecution
01:37:24
had put forward several different theories over the course of the investigation but not a single one had
01:37:29
produced evidence of any motive for murder Amanda and Meredith might not have been close friends but there was no
01:37:36
deep hatred or animosity between them Amanda might have been seeking adventure and Casual romance during her time in
01:37:44
Italy but she was far from the sex crazed party animal that the media made her out to
01:37:50
be similarly Raphael solito didn't have a perverse obsession with the occult and
01:37:56
neither of them had a history of violence they were simply two young people whose Behavior had been
01:38:02
misinterpreted by a prosecution team who refused to back down after vocalizing their Theory so early on in the
01:38:11
investigation no matter how hard the prosecutors tried to put the puzzle together the defense believed the pieces
01:38:18
simply didn't fit over the course of them investigation not a single piece of evidence had been found to prove their
01:38:25
clients ever had any interaction with Rudy guer beyond the one time Amanda had met him downstairs of the
01:38:32
cottage phone records didn't link them in any way and there was nothing to suggest Raphael and Rudy had ever
01:38:38
crossed paths at all as far as the prosecution was concerned there was physical evidence
01:38:45
that indisputably placed amander and Raphael at the crime scene such as their bare Footprints which had been tied to
01:38:51
the crime scene via luminol testing but as the defense pointed out luminol doesn't just react to blood it
01:39:00
can also react to certain acidic substances including some household cleaners certain types of soil rust and
01:39:07
even fruit juice in what has been described as a serious procedural oversight the
01:39:13
footprints were never tested to conclusively confirm that they had been made using Meredith K's blood even if
01:39:20
they had the fact that Amanda's DNA was also present didn't mean both samples were deposited at the same
01:39:28
time the two women had also shared a house for 6 weeks walking barefoot on the same floors it was only natural that
01:39:36
their DNA would be mingled over time prosecutors had determined that the bloody bare footprint on the bath mat
01:39:44
was a probable match to Raphael solito and that it was too small to have been made by Rudy
01:39:52
when experts for the defense inspected the print they found that it had been incorrectly measured and that it was
01:39:59
indeed compatible with the shape and size of Rudy's foot Raphael also had a distinctive
01:40:05
feature on his second toe known as a hammer toe which didn't match the prince the knife found in Raphael's
01:40:15
apartment which had been labeled the double DNA knife was put forward by the prosecution as being the murder weapon
01:40:22
yet this knife didn't fit the bloody outline of the knife that had been found on Meredith's bed sheets nor did it
01:40:28
match the size of either wound inflicted to Meredith's throat Meredith's autopsy
01:40:34
had determined that the murder weapon had been forcefully thrust into her neck as deep as the blade would
01:40:40
go according to experts for the defense the knife from Raphael as apartment would have caused a much deeper wound if
01:40:47
this had been the case prosecutors beli believed the knife had been cleaned which explained why
01:40:53
none of Meredith's blood was found on it this would also explain the smell of bleach in Raphael's
01:41:00
apartment but no traces of bleach were found on the knife nor did aluminol testing reveal any evidence of a cleanup
01:41:07
in Raphael's apartment as the defense pointed out if the knife had been cleaned so
01:41:13
extensively how had Meredith's DNA profile been retained not only didn't the so-called
01:41:21
double DNA knife match evidence found at the crime scene one expert testified that the traces of Meredith's DNA on the
01:41:29
blade was so low that they hadn't even been detected during initial testing the sample had to be Amplified
01:41:36
to a degree much higher than usual just to get the positive result given that the tests were done in
01:41:42
a lab where large amounts of Meredith's DNA was present it was suggested that the DNA could have been accidentally
01:41:49
transferred not only had this knife seemingly been picked at random from a drawer
01:41:55
containing many others control testing was never conducted on any other pieces of Cutlery from the drawer to compare
01:42:01
for background contamination furthermore the D samples attributed to Rudy gader were consistent
01:42:10
with him being the perpetrator of a violent crime yet the samples attributed to Amanda and Raphael were so minor and
01:42:19
none were present in the murder room itself except for the almost indecipherable trace on Meredith's bra
01:42:27
clasp Meredith's room was only small if all three suspects had participated in the frenzied crime why was Rudy's DNA
01:42:36
all over the place but Amanda and Raphael was not prosecutors posited that Amanda and
01:42:43
Raphael had cleaned up afterwards to the defense it seemed ludicrous to think that they could have cleaned away their
01:42:50
own prints and DNA while miraculously leaving only Rudy guz behind the scarce DNA samples linking
01:42:59
Amanda and Raphael to the crime could be explained by one thing contamination their strongest argument
01:43:12
in favor of contamination was the bra clas but that supposedly had Raphael's DNA on it when Meredith's body was first
01:43:20
discovered the clasp was found underneath her pillow but accidentally wasn't bagged as evidence instead it was
01:43:28
unknowingly moved around the room for 46 days before it was rediscovered during that time dust had
01:43:36
gathered and many people had trampled around the house moving from room to room Meredith's mattress had even been
01:43:42
dragged around in the search for her missing belongings Rudy gu's DNA was found on
01:43:49
the fabric of the strap while Raphael was only found on the small metal clasp one of Raphael lawyers
01:43:58
asked how can you touch the hook without touching the cloth the defense suggested that
01:44:05
Raphael's DNA could have got honored in a number of ways Not only was he a regular visitor at the house he'd also
01:44:13
admitted to trying to break Meredith's door down before her body was discovered it was possible that his DNA had been
01:44:20
trans erred from the door to the room as more people came and went one expert testified that with each
01:44:27
visit by investigators to the crime scene the possibility of contamination increased another said that incorrect
01:44:34
procedures had been followed and weren't up to International standards the prosecution strongly
01:44:41
disputed this with several experts testifying that strict protocols were followed and contamination would have
01:44:48
been impossible the most important testimony came from Patricia stefanoni the lead
01:44:55
forensic expert who oversaw the collection and testing of DNA evidence in Meredith K's
01:45:01
case she testified that everything had been done to the highest possible standard and there was no chance that
01:45:08
any of the samples had been mixed according to stefanoni there hadn't been a single instance of
01:45:14
contamination in her lab in at least 7 years the defense team argued they hadn't been given enough documentation
01:45:23
to fully interpret the DNA data they requested specific information about certain procedures such as how often the
01:45:31
forensic team had changed their protective gear and exactly how the samples had been
01:45:37
collected these requests were denied but the judge did agree to a review the task was assigned to the head
01:45:47
of the scientific police the person who worked above Patria stefanoni they confirmed that everything
01:45:54
had been handled to the highest standard the defense requested an independent review of the DNA evidence
01:46:02
and forensic findings the lead prosecutor rejected the request arguing there is no need for a review as
01:46:10
the evidence was gathered in a very professional Way by qualified persons the judge
01:46:19
agreed in addition to the DNA evidence some questions were raised about the validity
01:46:25
of key witness testimony her Kuran kokani the only person who claimed to have seen Amanda
01:46:32
rafhaela and Rudy outside the crime scene on the night of the murder was put on the
01:46:38
stand over time his version of events had differed slightly he also testified that it had been raining on the night he
01:46:46
drove by it hadn't been raining on the night that Meredith was killed but it had been the night
01:46:53
before when pressed huran couldn't be certain whether this alleged incident had occurred on October 31 or November 1
01:47:03
2007 the defense argued that he was an unreliable witness and therefore there was nothing to prove Raphael solito had
01:47:11
ever come into contact with Rudy guer as one lawyer commented the only link between them is the charge sheet
01:47:21
Nara kazali the elderly woman who claimed to hear screams coming from via DEA pergola was also put on the
01:47:28
stand her account of hearing the screams around 11: and 11:30 on the night of Meredith's murder had been the key to
01:47:36
prosecutors believing this to be Meredith's time of death however the defense pointed out
01:47:42
that Nara never actually looked at a clock she had merely guessed the time based on her own personal
01:47:49
habits Rudy guer himself had timed the attack as happening at around 9:30 the activity on Meredith's phone at
01:47:59
around 1: p.m. didn't prove she was still alive at this time this activity could be explained by
01:48:06
someone unfamiliar with the phone trying to either use it or turn it off after all why would Meredith call her own voic
01:48:14
mail only to hang up before it connected and why would she call her British bank
01:48:19
so late at night but forget to add the foreign prefix the bank was the first number
01:48:26
listed in her phone it was therefore entirely possible that someone unfamiliar with the device had called it
01:48:33
by accident the prosecution's answer for this was that Meredith was likely just relaxing on her bed playing
01:48:41
absentmindedly with her phone but as the defense pointed out Meredith had been exhausted from her night out the
01:48:48
previous evening why would she just lie around fully clothed if she was preparing to go to
01:48:55
sleep they deemed it much more likely that Meredith had been killed around 9:30 at a time that the prosecution's
01:49:03
witness homeless man Antonio Kuro had put Amanda and Raphael at Piaza Gana the screams heard by Nara kazali
01:49:14
either didn't happen between 11: and 11:30 or didn't come from the cottage at all but one of the many other young
01:49:21
people or drug addicts who frequented the busy area around via Dela pergola the defense argued that it
01:49:29
didn't matter if there was no evidence to conclusively prove that Amanda and raphaela had spent the entire night at
01:49:35
raphaela's apartment because there was no evidence to prove otherwise their hazy memories and
01:49:42
conflicting time stamps were not proof of guilt as had been the case throughout the
01:49:53
entire investigation all lies were on Amanda Knox for the duration of the trial the Press reported on her every
01:50:01
move including the outfit she wore and the way she styled her hair when she first entered the courtroom the Press
01:50:09
reported that she was beaming with a reporter for the Daily Mail describing her as making an entrance like a
01:50:15
Hollywood Diva saching along the red carpet Amanda later explained that she'd only smiled because she saw her aunt and
01:50:24
uncle in the room and she was so grateful to see familiar faces Amanda caused a stir on
01:50:32
Valentine's Day when she wore an oversized t-shirt printed with the words all you need is
01:50:38
love many members of the media interpreted this to be a sign of disrespect and the fact that Amanda
01:50:44
wasn't taking the trial seriously some even believed it was a secret message to Raphael but according to Amanda it was
01:50:53
simply a line from her favorite Beetles song and she thought it would be appropriate given the
01:50:59
holiday in summing up the prosecutors called Amanda Knox an aggressive narcissist who manipulated others and
01:51:07
had a little empathy they claimed she dominated relationships and strongly disliked people who didn't share her
01:51:14
opinions as for Raphael solito the prosecution concluded he was cold emotionally unattached and dependent on
01:51:24
others they told the jury that this was a sexually violent murder carried out for futile motives and quote Meredith
01:51:33
will never go home again to hug her loved ones she was killed in a horrifying way and now her relatives can
01:51:40
only go to the cemetery and stand quietly in front of her grave you must give the accused what
01:51:46
they deserve a life sentence the defense reminded the jury that they were sealing the fate of two young
01:51:56
people when there was absolutely no motive and no reliable DNA evidence to connect either of them to Meredith's
01:52:04
murder they urged the prosecution to explain to them how the bra clasp came to be moved and if they couldn't do that
01:52:12
then they should quote have the courage to throw it away after 11 months of test testimony
01:52:20
the jury was finally left to deliberate at midnight on Saturday December 5th 2009 they reached their
01:52:29
verdict Court resumed despite the late hour with hordes of reporters and curious members of the public gathering
01:52:36
on the streets outside the verdict for both Amanda Knox and Raphael solito was the same for the
01:52:45
murder and sexual assault of Meredith ker both were declared guil guilty Raphael was sentenced to 25 years
01:52:54
in prison while Amanda was sentenced to 26 one additional year for also being found guilty of slandering her former
01:53:02
boss Patrick lumba the man she'd wrongly accused the verdict triggered mixed reactions Amanda collapsed forward and
01:53:12
began to sob her parents looking on in disbelief the blood drained from Raphael's face while his stepmother
01:53:21
collapsed some members of the press began to cry the cches weren't sure how to feel
01:53:29
at a press conference held immediately after the verdict Meredith's older brother Lyle told
01:53:36
reporters ultimately we are pleased with the decision and that we got a decision
01:53:41
but at the end of the day it is not a time for Triumph or celebration we are satisfied but we are
01:53:49
gathered here because our sister was murdered and brutally taken away from us arene said we are the ones who have
01:53:57
been given a life sentence we have to live with what's happened for the rest of our lives people say that time
01:54:05
heals but it doesn't news of the convictions sparked anger in the United States with many
01:54:14
believing that Amanda and raphaela had been victims of a miscarriage of Justice the senator of Amanda's home
01:54:21
state Maria kwell told the Press I am saddened by the verdict and I have serious questions about the Italian
01:54:29
justice system and whether an anti-americanism tainted the trial the prosecution did not present enough
01:54:36
evidence for an impartial jury to conclude Beyond reasonable doubt that Ms Knox was
01:54:42
guilty Donald Trump called for Americans to boycott Italy one Washington Superior
01:54:48
Court judge told the Seattle Post intelligence that Amanda's conviction quote borders on the
01:54:55
Diabolical to me it just proves that they didn't care whether she is guilty or innocent they just believe that
01:55:02
Amanda needs to be convicted I haven't been too sure of too much in my life but I'm totally
01:55:09
convinced that she is innocent another Washington lawyer accused the Italian prosecutors of
01:55:16
turning a straightforward murder into quote a fable with no precedent in the annals of
01:55:23
crime she called the evidence against amander and raphaela so ambiguous and compromised that it should have no place
01:55:31
in a fair [Music] trial in the Italian legal system those convicted of murder are automatically
01:55:41
given two rights of appeal with each appeal hearing similar to a retrial two weeks after Amanda and
01:55:49
Raphael's guilty verdicts Rudy gu's first appeal was held this time he directly identified
01:55:57
Raphael solito was being the man who killed Meredith he also claimed that when Raphael fled the scene another
01:56:05
person was standing outside he didn't see them but he heard their voice and recognized it as being Amanda
01:56:13
Knox both of Rudy gu's appeals were unsuccessful but his decision to undergo a far track trial was
01:56:21
rewarded his 30-year sentence was reduced to just 16 years almost half of his original sentence and 10 years less
01:56:30
than his co- accused Amanda and Raphael's first appeal began in late November 2010 by
01:56:38
which point they'd already spent 3 years behind bars addressing the cord in Italian
01:56:44
Amanda's voice shook as she said I am innocent ra f is innocent we did not kill Meredith I ask you to recognize that an
01:56:55
enormous mistake was made and that no justice is rendered to Meredith or her loved ones by taking our lives away from
01:57:03
us I am not the person the accusers say I am they say I am dangerous devilish jealous uncaring and
01:57:13
violent their theories depend on this but I was never that girl she offered an apology to Meredith's
01:57:22
family saying I can never know how you feel but I have little sisters and the idea of their suffering and loss
01:57:30
terrifies me Raphael told the court he did never hurt anyone in his life removing a
01:57:38
bracelet from around his wrist he said my bracelet says free Amanda and Raphael I think the time has come to
01:57:47
take it off their defense teams submitted another request for an independent review to be
01:57:54
done of the DNA evidence specifically the double DNA knife and Meredith's bra clasp this time their request was
01:58:04
granted two independent forensic experts were tasked with reviewing the footage of the crime
01:58:10
scene they couldn't believe what they were seeing various people came and went without wearing protective clothing or
01:58:18
changing their booties while key evidence including the bra clasp was handled without investigators changing
01:58:24
their gloves one expert described it as total chaos disorganization in every respect the independent experts
01:58:36
concluded that the bra clasp had been incorrectly collected handled and transported presenting numerous
01:58:43
opportunities for contamination in regards to the double DNA knife they disc discovered that when
01:58:50
this was collected from Raphael's apartment it was placed into an envelope that had been used to store new
01:58:56
gloves it was then handled by an officer who had been in Meredith's bedroom earlier that day and in a lab that
01:59:03
contained more than 50 items of merediths another officer later noticed the envelope wasn't properly sealed and
01:59:12
closed it up with tape while another then transferred the knife to a non-sterile
01:59:18
box there was no doubt that the DNA on the handle belonged to Amanda noox but the
01:59:24
sample attributed to Meredith was deemed to be so scarce that one expert concluded the likelihood of
01:59:30
contamination being so high that it should be rendered inconclusive the independent experts
01:59:37
found that anti-contamination procedures weren't documented basic errors had been
01:59:42
made and international DNA protocols ignored they rendered the evidence on both both the bra clasp and double DNA
01:59:51
knife as unreliable given the high likelihood of contamination key witness homeless man
01:59:58
Antonio Kuro was once again put on the stand having since been incarcerated for an unrelated
02:00:05
incident asked if he saw Amanda and Raphael at Piaza gamman Antonio responded yeah it was Halloween when I
02:00:14
saw them I know this because I saw the kids getting on the Disco buses all dressed up in costumes that's how I also
02:00:21
know what time it was in peruja shuttle buses were used to transport partygoers to different
02:00:29
nightclubs around town but barely any were running on the night Meredith was killed with Antonio now saying this
02:00:37
sighting occurred the night before Meredith was killed on Halloween he'd essentially cast doubt on the only
02:00:44
sighting that disproved Amanda and Raphael as alibi the prosecution suggested that Antonio
02:00:52
might be getting confused with any number of tourist buses or public transport operating on Thursday November
02:00:58
1 they also said this discrepancy was irrelevant given that Amanda had been at work on hallow KN and therefore couldn't
02:01:06
have been in Piaza Gano but when Antonio also admitted to being a heroin addict who was high at
02:01:14
the time of the sighting the judge ordered him out of the courtroom saying take him away I'm
02:01:25
done it was almost a year before the appeal verdict was announced on the evening of Monday October 3 2011 a crowd
02:01:34
of 4,000 people gathered outside the courthouse the air thick with anticipation inside judge cladio Helman
02:01:43
declared that the key evidence against Amanda Knox and Raphael solito was unreliable
02:01:49
and the first trial did not establish the appropriate standard of proof Helman agreed with the independent findings
02:01:57
that the DNA on the knife and Meredith's bra clasp was invalid thus there was nothing to conclusively place Amanda and
02:02:05
rapael at the crime scene he discredited witness testimony from Antonio Kuro and said that any
02:02:13
discrepancies in Amanda and Raphael's accounts of how they spent the night of Thursday November 1
02:02:19
2007 didn't mean that they'd provided false aliis in helman's view the evidence pointed to just one person being
02:02:29
responsible and that person was Rudy guer he concluded that the break-in hadn't been staged at all but was
02:02:38
genuine both Amanda and raphaela were declared not guilty of Merith K's murder and cleared of all related
02:02:47
charges Amanda sland conviction against Patrick lumba was upheld with her sentence increased from 1 year to three
02:02:56
with this time already served the judge ordered the pair's immediate release from
02:03:02
prison Amanda immediately began to sob she managed to hug her lawyers and sister before being whisked from the
02:03:10
courtroom Raphael gave a slight smile before his lawyer swept him into a warm embrace while the C's resp Ed the
02:03:19
decision they couldn't understand how something that had been so certain 2 years prior could suddenly be so
02:03:25
emphatically overturned to them it felt like they were straight back to square one England's Prime Minister David
02:03:34
Cameron commented we should be thinking of the family of Meredith ker those parents had
02:03:40
an explanation for what happened to their wonderful daughter and that explanation is there no
02:03:47
more Patrick lumba the man Amanda falsely accused had struggled to find work in the wake of the allegation and
02:03:55
had since relocated to Poland he told reporters the only reason Amanda was acquitted was because she was American
02:04:02
and Rich commenting what Amanda did I don't know but I think she knows why Meredith
02:04:10
died newspapers accused judge Helman of cracking under pressure from the United States in response Helman admitted it
02:04:19
was still possible that Amanda and Raphael were guilty but the evidence simply didn't exist to prove it he told
02:04:27
the corer deera newspaper no one has been able to say exactly what happened the truth will
02:04:35
probably remain hidden for the people of peruja the news came as a great relief for 4 years their
02:04:45
city had been plunged into Global headlines sullying its reput reputation as a Charming Town filled with art
02:04:51
history and chocolate and instead portraying it as a notorious Party Town RI with sex and
02:04:58
drugs this reputation as a dangerous place impacted the student population the mayor of peruja said he
02:05:06
didn't care what the outcome was he just wanted it to be over commenting all of us have felt the hit
02:05:13
from this meteor attack against us 30 hours after her acquittal Amanda Knox returned to the United States at the
02:05:27
Seattle Tacoma International Airport a throng of reporters gathered to capture her
02:05:32
arrival a teor Manda told them she was feeling overwhelmed and unable to grasp the reality of the situation
02:05:41
commenting thank you to everyone who's believed in me who's defended me who supported my family my family's the the
02:05:48
most important thing to me so I just want to go and be with them Amanda's lawyer said that the KNX
02:05:56
family had endured a grueling 4-year nightmarish Marathon but above all they wanted the public to remember Meredith
02:06:03
and keep the CER family in their prayers Meredith's Father John said that while his family would never want to see
02:06:12
innocent people imprisoned quote we are left thinking the world cared about Justice for Amanda Knox and Raphael
02:06:21
solito but what about Justice for poor Meredith she was the kindest and most caring person you could imagine so why
02:06:30
was her life taken from her so cruy what was the reason will we ever know despite the findings of the appeal
02:06:40
Corp the controversy regarding the forensic findings continued the prosecution team believed
02:06:47
the entire process had been done under unacceptable media pressure and appealed the acquittals to Italy's highest
02:06:54
Criminal Court the case was reviewed by the Supreme Court of cation where it was
02:07:00
concluded that judge Helman had Ed in his acquittal by not ordering any new DNA testing to be conducted on the
02:07:07
disputed evidence the court also found that he'd failed to give waight to any of the
02:07:13
circumstantial evidence against amander and Raphael and that too many questions remained
02:07:20
unanswered in March 2013 the court of cassation set aside the acquittals and ordered another
02:07:28
retrial this went ahead in September the same year to much less Fanfare and media
02:07:34
attention than the previous proceedings especially given that amander and raphaela weren't required to
02:07:41
attend after several months of reexamining the available evidence and testimony in January 2014 presiding
02:07:49
judge alesandro nanini reinstated the convictions once again both Amanda noox and Raphael solito were declared guilty
02:07:58
of Meredith K's murder this didn't mean the two were automatically sent back to prison once
02:08:06
again the verdict needed to be confirmed by the court of cassation before it became
02:08:12
absolute Amanda was free to remain in the United States for the time being while raphaela had his passport taken
02:08:19
away to prevent him from leaving the country if the high court confirmed their convictions Italy could request
02:08:27
that Amanda be extradited and the two could be ordered to complete the remaining 25 years of their
02:08:37
sentences defense teams for both Amanda and Raphael argued that judge nini's findings were filled with clamorous
02:08:46
mistakes in an opinion piece for for the guardian British journalist Andrew Gumble wrote to read the new conviction
02:08:54
report in detail is to enter a kind of alternate reality where concrete facts appear ignored and Alternate facts are
02:09:01
seemingly plucked from the air K's murder is reduced to a par game and all roads lead to the inevitable if not also
02:09:10
forone conclusion that nox and solito are guilty by this point Meredith murder case had received three trials and two
02:09:21
high court hearings over the course of 7 years nini's verdict was sent to the Supreme Court of cation in Rome where a
02:09:30
panel had several options they could overturn the convictions for a second time in which case they could either
02:09:36
dismiss the case entirely or have the errors in judge nini's findings fixed alternatively given that Italy has no
02:09:45
Double Jeopardy rules they could order yet another another trial in March 2015 a supreme court
02:09:54
panel of Five deliberated for 10 hours before concluding that there was insufficient evidence to convict either
02:10:00
Amanda Knox or Raphael solito they ruled that the case against the two defendants had no foundation and
02:10:09
that the entire process had been marred by glaring errors and investigative Amnesia the court blamed flaws in the
02:10:17
investigation and the overwhelming media attention for creating a frantic search for
02:10:23
suspects it concluded that there were no biological traces linking Amanda or Raphael to the crime and that sloppy
02:10:31
police work and contaminated evidence made it impossible to do an unbiased review of The
02:10:38
Evidence the case was thrown out with the court definitively ruling that the pair be fully
02:10:46
exonerated Amanda was at home with her family when the news came through a shriek of excitement rang throughout
02:10:53
their home as Amanda immediately jumped on the phone with Raphael and congratulated him on their Mutual
02:11:00
Freedom speaking to reporters outside her home Amanda said right now I'm still absorbing what
02:11:07
all this means and what comes to mind is my gratitude for the life that's been given to
02:11:13
me Amanda knox's claims of police mistreatment went before the Europe Court of human rights in
02:11:20
France the Court ruled that there wasn't enough evidence to support her claims of
02:11:25
degrading police Behavior but agreed that her defense rights had been violated given she wasn't provided with
02:11:32
adequate legal representation or a professional interpreter during her initial interrogations the court declared that
02:11:40
these failures effectively derailed the fairness of the entire proceedings and ordered the Italian government to pay
02:11:47
amander 18 ,400 in Damages the equivalent of around $21,000 Amanda used this ruling to
02:11:57
challenge her slander conviction against Patrick lumba in an Instagram post she explained we are both victims of the
02:12:06
violation of my human rights during my interrogation without which I was helpless against the coercive pressure
02:12:13
of the police the outcome of that interrogation derailed the invest tigation into
02:12:18
Meredith K's murder and led to the wrongful imprisonment of three innocent people Patrick lumba suffered 10 days of
02:12:27
wrongful imprisonment and raphaela and I nearly 4 years in October 2023 the court of
02:12:36
cation in Rome accepted Amanda's appeal and ordered a new trial for the slander conviction as of February 2024 a trial
02:12:45
date has yet to be set Amanda shared the news on social media writing I am no longer a convicted
02:12:53
person and I will fight with my lawyers to prove my innocence once and for all 4 years after her release from
02:13:04
prison the paparazzi followed Amanda as she went about her life in the United States both her and Raphael have written
02:13:12
books about their experiences with Amanda's Memoir reportedly earning her around4 million us
02:13:19
do some have accused her of cashing in on the tragedy while her stepfather told the press that a majority of this money
02:13:26
went to paying off the exuberant legal fees and multiple mortgages her family had to take out to pay for her
02:13:35
defense in a letter to Guardian journalist Simon hattenstone Amanda discussed how the media helped shape her
02:13:42
into a villain by using decontextualized images She Wrote some people have made claims that I am
02:13:50
histrionic or autistic because it might explain strange Behavior I think people have exaggerated
02:13:57
how Strangely I reacted I was not concerned with what people were thinking I wasn't remotely concerned with how
02:14:04
people were looking at me now I take it more into consideration because I've had
02:14:09
people dissect everything I do in a way that makes me pause as for the kisses she and Raphael
02:14:17
shared out inside the crime scene Amanda told Simon that was a single 5sec moment
02:14:22
taken from hours of footage the media made it sound like I had no feeling whatsoever for what was
02:14:29
happening in the house she said I was actually sitting there devastated and traumatized and
02:14:37
shocked Amanda explained that any courtroom photos that captured her smiling were misconstrued into something
02:14:44
sinister when those smiles were only ever directed at her her family she said I didn't want them to see me scared I
02:14:53
wanted them to know I'm okay because they can't do anything about it they don't speak Italian they're just sitting
02:15:00
there worrying about me looking at the back of my head that was turned into Amanda makes the cat walk across the
02:15:08
courtroom because she loves all the attention I never made eye contact with those journalists they were just a bunch
02:15:15
of lenses yelling out or making comments about what I looked like Amanda is now a journalist
02:15:23
podcaster and activist for the wrongly accused who lives in Seattle with her husband and two young
02:15:29
children she has described herself as flipping between wanting to be invisible and wanting to clear her name in a
02:15:36
controversial move she returned to Italy in 2019 to speak at the country's criminal justice Festival where she
02:15:43
addressed the role the media played in the case against her through tears Amanda said on the world scene I wasn't
02:15:52
a defendant innocent until proven guilty I was a clever psychopath dirty and drug
02:15:58
addicted [ __ ] guilty until proven innocent it was a false and unfounded history that lit up people's imagination
02:16:06
because it fed fears and Fantasies despite this she continues to acknowledge that the media can also be a
02:16:15
force for good and if used those who prose uted her with empathy Amanda explained the real Justice happens when
02:16:23
we see the other people with compassion when we judge with moderation and when we come back to each other after the
02:16:30
pain with the courage of an open heart many believe the case only ever attracted the level of attention it did
02:16:39
because both Meredith and Amanda were considered to be conventionally attractive women who sat on different
02:16:45
sides of the good versus evil scale as journalist Jessica Bennett wrote In The New York Times M Knox became a kind
02:16:54
of vessel onto which society could project its fears and judgments as well as its pornographic
02:17:01
fantasies Ms Knox was perceived as an unsophisticated American loud and flamboyant ignorant of Italian culture
02:17:10
an exhibitionist and slob who brought strange men to the house she was a sexual deviant a Karen who had accused
02:17:18
an innocent black man of the crime despite Amanda and Raphael's official exonerations the case continues
02:17:27
to attract speculation and public interest with some still believing that the pair are
02:17:33
guilty journalist barie lanau wrote in her book angel face nothing in this case ever made
02:17:41
sense and no one it seems played by the rules Amanda Knox will always be remembered as someone who hung in the
02:17:48
balance between Sinner and Saint good and evil and Meredith's murder will always be a mystery that was blurred by
02:17:56
the headlines and Lost in [Music] Translation one CBS reporter noted that the irony of this case is that the
02:18:05
Italian authorities actually did a great job in that within 3 weeks of Meredith's
02:18:10
murder Rudy Gua was identified and Court it was when they refused to drop amander
02:18:16
and Raphael as suspects that the problems began private investigator Bob Graham agreed
02:18:24
responding the prosecution dug a hole so deep that they couldn't get out of it and pride vanity whatever it was ensured
02:18:33
they just kept digging Rudy guer was released from prison in November 2021 having served 13
02:18:42
years of his 16year sentence for Meredith K's brutal sexual assault and murder his lawyer told the press that Rudy had
02:18:50
been adequately re-educated while a lawyer for the ker family said the early release would renew the family's
02:18:56
unspeakable suffering Amanda voiced her opinion on Twitter writing guer holds a tremendous
02:19:05
power to heal others harmed by his actions he has the power to tell the truth to take responsibility to stop
02:19:13
blaming me for the rape and murder of Meredith ker which a wealth of evidence shows he committed
02:19:20
aan Rudy was free for just over 2 years when in December 2023 his 23-year-old girlfriend accused him of personal
02:19:29
injury ill treatment and violence he was charged with domestic assault given a restraining order and fitted with an
02:19:37
electronic tag Rafael solito who now works as a software engineer in Milan and has never
02:19:45
been compensated for his wrongful conviction commented to the Press I don't follow
02:19:51
gu's life but in light of what has happened it seems like he hasn't changed very
02:20:01
much in the Years following Amanda and Raphael's exonerations Meredith K's family mostly remained
02:20:09
silent throughout the lengthy legal proceedings they continued to feel that Meredith was being written out of her
02:20:16
own story testifying at the first trial Meredith's mother arene described her daughter's
02:20:22
death as quote unbelievable unreal in many ways it still is I still look for her it's not just her death but it is
02:20:33
the nature of it the brutality of it the violence of it and the great sorrow which brought
02:20:39
everyone it is such a shock to send your child to school and for them not to come
02:20:45
back we will never never get over it their frustrations over the medeor attention given to Amanda increased upon
02:20:55
finding out that a movie was being made about the case titled Amanda Knox murder
02:21:00
on trial in Italy at the time arene told the Press I don't understand why it was
02:21:08
called Amanda Knox when my daughter was the victim the CCH is focused on keeping
02:21:15
Meredith's memory alive no matter what leaving her room exactly as she'd left it her table stacked with books and
02:21:23
makeup every year they gathered on her birthday to raise a glass in Meredith's honor and share some of their favorite
02:21:30
memories prior to Meredith's death her Father John had bought the box set of friends so that the two could watch it
02:21:37
together on Meredith's weekly visit he watched it gather dust on the Shelf a constant reminder of their happy
02:21:45
evenings together as John explained to the Daily male it was easier for him to pretend that
02:21:52
Meredith had just gone away for a while he liked to imagine that quote someday soon she will ring me her voice bubbling
02:22:01
with laughter and enthusiasm to tell me about her latest [Music] Adventure in January 2020 John was found
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lying on the road near his home with two fractured legs a broken arm and a head injury after a suspected hidden run he
02:22:20
died from his injuries shortly after 4 months later Meredith's mother arene passed away from natural
02:22:28
causes the couple's three surviving Children released a statement saying that losing both of their parents so
02:22:34
quickly brought its own tragedy but quote we can take some solace in knowing that they are now United with Meredith
02:22:43
and no longer have to live with the grief which consumed them a poem Stephanie had written for her
02:22:50
sister held more power than ever before delivered at Meredith's funeral it read remember you are never alone I am
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always with you when you roam So Close Your Eyes I'm with you still I haven't left you I never
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[Music] will [Music]