Amanda Knox has once again been found guilty by an Italian court for the 2007 murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher. Despite an Italian court’s findings earlier today, which call for Knox to be imprisoned for 28 years, a man named Rudy Guede went to trial for the same murder after a large amount of forensic evidence tied him to the crime scene. He was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in jail. In addition to the strong DNA evidence against Guede, he confessed to his cell mate that he committed Kercher’s murder. His sentence has since been reduced to 16 years in jail and Guede now says he is innocent.
According to all parties involved in the incident, including Guede, he was present at Knox and Kercher’s apartment shortly before, and in some versions of the story, during, the murder. There is also strong DNA evidence tying him to the crime itself, including his bloody hand prints and DNA found all over the crime scene and inside Kercher’s body. His bloody fingerprints were also found at the scene.
Guede was already a known criminal and had several burglary convictions under his belt by the time he met Kercher. He has changed his story so many times about whether or not Knox is the real killer, it’s difficult to keep all the versions straight. He has said he saw Knox and her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito leaving the crime scene shortly after the murder. He has also said that Knox and Sollecito were not present at the murder. He later said that they are guilty of the murder. More than one of his fellow prisoners has come forward to say he told them the real story is that Knox and Sollicito were not at the crime scene at all and that he is the real killer.
However, despite Guede’s conflicting statements and his latest assertion that Knox and Sollecito are guilty, not a trace of conclusive blood evidence was found that could implicate Knox in the crime. In fact, not one shred of hard evidence—DNA or otherwise, tied either Knox or Sollecito to the crime scene. The best evidence the prosecution could present was the fact that Knox was seen “acting strangely” after the murder and hugging her boyfriend. Police also managed to force a confession out of Knox after what she describes as repeated beatings and the absence of a lawyer. Prosecutors said she didn’t cry very much when she found out her roommate had been murdered and they used this as evidence against her.
So, to recap: Guede’s DNA was found all over the crime scene. Guede’s fingerprints in Kercher’s blood were found under Kercher’s pillow. Guede’s DNA was found inside Kercher’s body. After the murder Guede attempted to flee with his personal belongings to Germany and he was caught trying to get onto a train without a ticket. Guede’s cellmates have come forward to state that Guede made a full confession to them that he indeed was the murderer of Kercher. Guede was already a convinted thief and drug dealer by the time he met Kercher. Guede was convicted of Kercher’s murder and is now serving a lengthy jail sentence for his deeds.
Knox and Sollicito both told and maintained the same story: that they were not present at the scene of the crime and that they watched a movie at Sollicito’s apartment, then fell asleep the night of the murder. There is no hard evidence linking either Knox or Sollicito to the crime scene.
Amanda Knox has again been found guilty by an Italian court, but Rudy Guede confessed to the crime according to his cellmates, and was convicted back in 2008. There is much more to the case than can be described in a summary, and many books have been written about the case, but one thing is clear: Guede is guilty whether or not Knox had anything to do with the crime.
By: Rebecca Savastio
Zimbio
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46 Responses
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Badly researched article! It seems to be peppered with the common “great myths debacle” .
Rudy Guede did NOT have a previous criminal conviction contrary to popular belief.
There is DNA evidence tying Knox to the crime,- at least 5 different spots , most tellingly mixed blood evidence showing that Knox and Meredith were bleeding at the same time.
When prosecuting Guede they never thought he acted alone.
Knox and Sollecito changed their story more than once.
This whole article is badly researched , obviously someone couldn’t be bothered to read all the court transcripts.
Guede was not a drug dealer. He did not have any previous convictions. He did not ‘do a deal’ for a shorter sentence. The cellmate who claims that Guede confessed to him that Knox and Sollecito were innocent has been completely discredited.
There is a quite a bit of evidence that implicates Knox and Sollecito in the murder – oddly enough that’s why they were found guilty…
Personally, I do actually think that Guede acting alone is the most logical explanation of events – but this article is just full of misinformation.
Guede had cuts as he testified he was struck by the male attacker when he came out of the toilet and he defended himself by lifting his arms. Why would he have cut himself? That is also when allegedly Sollecito declared there is a black man in the house. Guede did not see Knox as she had already left but he had heard her arguing (innocently he thought) with Kercher when he was in toilet until he heard screams and quickly left the toilet. Knox then later implicated Muamba as she knew Sollecito said a black man was there and concluded on Muamba.
Guede was wrong to try and save Kercher but then leave her in fear that he would be the suspected. And rightfully he should have gone to jail for that. But I believe Sollecito and Knox are the killers – drug induced frenzy.
are you serious??? are you a troll?
Unfortunately it’s much easier and convinient to arrest a black male in most white societies
Is it standard law in Italy to be tried for the same crime. I’m confused can someone clarify.
I think both guily & not guilty verdicts can be appealed..crazy system. They must have forgotten that it was Guede that had cuts across 3 of his fingers. There is still no evidence she was in that room & therevis no way to be involved in such as brutal crime without hair, dna, sweat, blood, fingerprints or something. The US is going to have a field day if they ask for extradition.
He had cuts as he testified he was struck by the male attacker when he came out of the toilet and he defended himself by lifting his arms. Why would he have cut himself? That is also when allegedly Sollecito declared there is a black man in the house. Guede did not see Knox as she had already left but he had heard her arguing (innocently he thought) with Kercher when he was in toilet until he heard screams and quickly left the toilet. Knox then later implicated Muamba as she knew Sollecito said a black man was there and concluded on Muamba.
Guede was wrong to try and save Kercher but then leave her in fear that he would be the suspected. And rightfully he should have gone to jail for that. But I believe Sollecito and Knox are the killers – drug induced frenzy.
I thought I had already responded to this but do you really believe Guede? The cuts on his hands were consistant with someone who’s hand had slipped on the knife as he was stabbing someone. There was never any proof that Amanda nor Raffael stabbed anyone, there is not one shred of evidence of Amanda in that room and the only thing tying Raffaele there is a bra clasp the inept investigators didn’t bother picking up for 47 days which gives it a good possibilty to be contaminated.
Meredith was not a friend of Guedes yet his seman was found on and in her body plus the bloody handprint on the wall and the hair he dropped in the room, there is nothing on or around her body that belongs to either Amanda or Raffaele. The only “drug” they used that night was pot and it doesn’t cause a frenzy like that, it’s more likely to cause someone to be mellow.
There is evidence on the knife, there is mixed blood evidence on at least 4 different locations showing Knox bled at the same time as Meredith, ( the knife was tested again last year – Knox’s DNA on handle and Meredith’s on the blade).There was the clean up which show’s Guede left the flat by a direct route but someone else was walking around barefoot into the staged break in and Knox’s room.Knox’s lamp was found locked in Meredith’s room ( Meredith wouldn’t have borrowed it , they were barely on speaking terms by that point !.
Knox gave descriptions of Merdith’s body and how she died to Meredith’s friends even though she was in the kitchen when the door was broken down and they were all ordered out of the flat.
There’s lots more , you just need to read the case files and court transcripts not the whole rumour warmongering which seems to be going on.
Dealing in facts rather than myths would help – bit of a lazy journo….eg Guede did NOT cut a deal. That doesn’t happen in the ‘joke’ Italian system….just the US/UK ones :). He got the fast track standard that was reduced in appeal in line with the reduced ones AK and RS got. Lots of other flat out inaccuracies here too.
It is entirely typical that this American newspaper should take such a biased view in favour of an American citizen, especially a photogenic female citizen. US media outlets will inevitably publish what it knows it citizens wants, because to do otherwise risks opprobrium , sales and advertising revenue. If she is as innocent as she claims, then Knox should return to Italy and get the justice she deserves.
two things I’ve never found any information about are
1. The police dismissed the phone call to Elizabetha Lana (where Merediths phones where found) as a hoax. I think they are linked. Where they ever investigated whose phone where they from. Theres a bomb in the toilet refers to the faeces left in the toilet at the Meredith cottage that Amanda had seen and possibly Raffaele if he was there also. A man ?Raffaele made the ‘hoax call. Leaving the phones in the garden was so the person in the house would answer them when Amanda rang them and be led to find Meredith at the cottage (but don’t flush the toilet directs the person to the toilet in the cottage but is also a joke.) As a nurse large faeces in loos when i worked in hospitals are refered to jokingly as bombs. After the murder they are still high and silly on Cannabis and the truth has not sinked in.
Th other ? is there where lots of hairs seen in Merediths hands at the crime scene. What was the result of testing on these?
rubbish
testing
This was a VERY biased and incorrect article. You should never claim anyone said something in a legal case UNLESS you can find the quotations of it. Here is some quotes from Rudy Guede’s mouth on these claims from a more professional newspaper who’s name i’ll leave out.
“I want to point out that whoever committed this terrible crime is still free,”
Guede urged the judges to ignore evidence from “people like Mario Alessi”, a child killer who previously testified that Guede had told him in a prison exercise yard Miss Knox and Mr Sollecito were innocent of the murder.
“Unfortunately the truth has still not been revealed and never will be if you continue to listen to people like Mario Alessi and others like him,” Guede said in his letter.
Hey here is a thought – what if Guede was telling the truth? He said the Italian man said, “let’s go, there is a black man in the house” – Guede said he heard Amanda and did not see her. Also Sollecito had never met Guede so could not have said it was Guede (supposing he was the Italian) – so imagine if Amanda made a stab in the dark and said it was Patrick as she knew there was a black guy in the house and at the time she thought it made sebse to frame him? I have heard reports that the autopsy reveled there was sign of manual penetration but not forced – what if Guede was truthful in saying they had consensual sex? Maybe Knox and Sollecito had not expected Guede to be there and were surprised when he emerged from the toilet. Guede said he confronted the Italian man and that he has cuts of his hand from the knife the Italian was weilding – photographs at Guede’s arrest in Germany show this to be true that he had healing cuts on his hands. He said he heard a housrmate but did not see her – and Amanda must have heard Sollecito say there is a black man and maybe under pressure she implicated Patrick. Guede’s story has stayed consistent – I wonder why more weight is not given to his claims when they make some sense…
This is the worst piece of Journalism I have seen in a long time. Amanda’s story has changed several times so what on earth are you talking about!!
An article at The Examiner puts it well: “The thing is, no matter how many times you say something, if it’s not true, it simply is not true. DNA evidence tied her and her lover to the crime scene and a knife that was found all the way at Sollecito’s home was found to have Amanda’s DNA on one end and Meredith Kercher’s on the blade end. It had been scrubbed with bleach. Meredith Kercher’s bra clasp had Sollecito’s DNA on it, along with the DNA of other men. There were also globs of blood found that had both Meredith Kercher’s DNA and Amanda Knox’s DNA mixed together.” And that’s only part of it!
I am shocked at this shoddy reporting whereby the journalist has clearly not looked at the facts of the case. Knox changed her story many times and Guede confessed to being there that night and not to killing her. The cellmates were discredited and one was even allegedly set up by Solecito’s friend – so look at the facts of the actual case before falsely reporting which does a huge disservice to the legal system as a whole.
“To those upset I did not mention Lumumba, as I said at the end there is a lot more to the story than can be included in the space I have.”
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Sure, but you also said “Knox and Sollicito both told and maintained the same story,” which, at best was only true part of the time. Knox’s original confession, her accusation of Lumumba, etc. are certainly examples of her maintaining very different stories.
I’m sad to be the same species as some of you. Amanda Knox is 100% innocent. Rudy Guede is the one and only murderer of Meredith Kercher.
Because so many in the press and public choose to support a wildly fantastic scenario where Amanda Knox and Raphael Solecitto kill Meredith Kercher for fun and then magically erase themselves from the victim’s bedroom, Rudy Guede will be free within a short time.
He’s still young and unapologetic and might very well murder or at least rape again. The blood and suffering of that victim will be on everyone who supported the prosecution’s absurd narrative.
this article is just a lie LOL, These guys write news without reading the evidence, typical of american media!
Amanda knox did not ONLY act strangely she DEFINITELY lied, changed statement in several occasions, and accused an innocent man of the murder. this in itself IS CRIMINAL!
Sollecito’s DNA was linked to Meredith, it was found on Meredith bra and evidence at the tribunal categorically exclude contamination!
YOU can read the real evidence and conclusions at : themurderofmeredithkercher site that contains ALL ORIGINAL transcripts from the trials and english translataion.
THE AMERICAN MEDIA IS A BIASED DISGRACE, you guys should be ASHAMED you yourselves.
You cannot commit rape and murder as a novice criminal without leaving DNA everywhere. How can you rape someone without your DNA, fingerprints, semen, saliva, sweat get all over the victim? You can’t rape someone from another room. And how can you stab someone 40 times without sweating, your hair falling somewhere, hand prints, touching the person, touching blood… Impossible. There would be LOTS of DNA, not a minute amount. They did not clean the crime scene, they aren’t trained killers to know what DNA to remove and what to leave behind.
Even if they had tried to clean the crime scene, chlorine bleach does not remove the blood where it couldn’t be picked up by luminal. There is simply no evidence to put the 2 college students in the room. It’s ridiculous to think that tiny bit of blood on the bra clasp was anything more than transfer from something else, the idiot investigators had let it lie there for 47 days before even retrieving it then they handled it with filthy gloves, more than likely the bra was cut off of her and no one touched it that night anyway. And the claim of Amandas blood mixing with Merediths in a bathroom they shared is also totally ridiculous since no one seems to know where Amanda would have bled from, and to think their dna wouldn’t be mixed in a bathroom they shared is ludicrous. There should have been as much evidence in that room of the college students as there was for Guede but the investigators had to twist and turn to see if they could find something linking them there. Hopefully they will be rightfully exonerated by the higher court otherwise good luck trying to extradite her with this totally lack of evidence. She has a ton of support here by people in high places watching this Italian fiasco. I feel very sorry for RS who’s own country is going to imprison him for a crime he’s clearly innocent of and I feel sorry for the family of Meredith Kercher who simply want justice so they can grief their beloved daughter/sister and get on with their lives but are continually being yanked around by this ridiculous kangaroo court.
Didnt you know? Amanda and Raffaela have magic eyes, they can spot dna which is invisible to everyone else. Anyone with half a brain knows that it is impossible to remove themselves from a crime scene like that and chlorine bleach does not remove blood. There was not one piece of reliable evidence to tie them to the room.
The DNA evidence against Knox and Sollecito was proven inconclusive. To those upset I did not mention Lumumba, as I said at the end there is a lot more to the story than can be included in the space I have. Entire books have been written about the case. Knox’s accusation of Lumumba is totally circumstantial and does not do anything to prove her guilt. The fact remains the prosecutors have no conclusive DNA evidence against Knox or Sollecito, and Geude is guilty because a jury found him so. I take great offense to being falsely accused of being a racist just for pointing out that Guede’s DNA was all over the crime scene, that he confessed to the murder and that he has been found guilty.
“Knox and Sollicito both told and maintained the same story: that they were not present at the scene of the crime and that they watched a movie at Sollicito’s apartment, then fell asleep the night of the murder.”
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You seem to have forgotten that Knox blamed it on someone else that was completely uninvolved. Also, she and her family were sued for libel and/or slander for claiming the police beat a confession out of her, and in at least one case, they lost. That, and you completely ignore that there WAS DNA evidence tying Knox and her beau to the crime scene. But hey, you know exactly what happened.
Interesting that you put an image of this black dude when this had nothing to do with him! Amanda was found guilty but since this is a murder story, you put the black guy’s face on her crimes. Bloody racist!
Surely it would be best to ship that evil witch Knox back to Italy so she can face her punishment – she is an evil murderer
Changing stories and false accusations are suspicious but are by no means proof or evidence of guilt. Nobody should ever be locked away for life based on suspicion !
The nature of the crime dictates that there would be a lot more undeniable evidence if Knox really was involved.
Per the forensic analysis mor e than one person was involved (see wiki).
This is article is pretty much inaccurate. Just to name 1 missing aspect: Patrick Lumumba, that Amanda Know accused inventing the allegations.
Italian criminal procedure seems pretty thorough, certainly more exhaustive than Anglo-Saxon. We have a single trial and most appellate procedures do not involve detailed reconsideration of the evidence. Knox’s story-changing is evidence of guilt, absent a plausible explanation for it. Newspapers are always partisan and never present the facts in an objective manner. Knox’s implication of bar owner Lumumba seems to me like an attempt on her part to cover up Guede’s involvement. Now, if Knox hardly new Guede and therefore had no motive based on friendship to protect him, why would protect Guede? Perhaps because if Guede were caught, it would lead to her and Sollecito.
You believe Knox allegedly implicating Lumumba is sufficient “evidence of guilt” to justify a murder conviction? Knox was a young girl, detained in a foreign country, and being interrogated by police in a language she had spoken for only months. I am a criminal prosecutor who has absolutely no sympathy for criminals and I find your statement absurd.
Amanda Knox had an interpreter available all the time (her name was Anna Donnino). Please check the facts next time you make incorrect statements, Mr. Prosecutor.
Knox is a convicted felon, it is not evidence in itself, it is part of the evidence, and 3 out of her 28 years in jail will be because of that.
The fact that Knox, after immense pressure from police, gave them a fake suspect rather than the real one proves that she didn’t know who the real killer was. Had she known Guede was involved, it would have made perfect sense to give him up. The prosecution presented supposed evidence that Knox bought cleaning supplies the next morning and used them to clean up part of the crime scene. [Nevermind for a second how stupid this sounds, since Meredith’s door was locked and no attempt was made to clean up her room. Who would think that cleaning up outside while leaving a bloody mess in Meredith’s room would make any difference?] The only theory that really makes sense then is that Knox cleaned up any evidence that she and her boyfriend were there, but left all of this DNA evidence that Guede was there, including seeing his poop in the toilet and not flushing it. If this were true, she left all the evidence she needed to make it seem like Guede acted alone. The prosecution even thought that the crime scene was staged to look like a break-in. Guede was a convicted burglar. If Knox staged the scene, doesn’t that mean that she meant to finger Guede for the crime all along? The answer is no. Because she accused her boss of killing Meredith, not Guede. James, you are suggesting that Knox was covering for Guede. That’s ridiculous – they would have had to be really good friends, but there is no evidence they really knew each other.
Guede had prior burglary convictions, his DNA is all over the scene, and he confessed to being there. The most probable thing that happened is: Meredith knew Guede from the local social scene and used him to buy weed. That night, she arranged to buy some weed. Guede needed to go to the bathroom, however, and asked Meredith to let him into her house. He took a dump. While he was in the bathroom, he realized that he and Meredith were basically alone, so he decided to rape her. He raped her at knife point, but something went wrong, and he slit her throat. Blood got everywhere, including all over his hand, leading him to leave a bloody handprint. He freaked out that he had killed her and being a burglar, decided to stage a break-in, hoping that police would chalk this up as a simple robbery (and maybe not check inside Kercher for his DNA). Not the best plan – Guede isn’t the brightest. But he broke the window from the inside and threw Meredith’s phone out the window. And then he fled for Germany.
Yes, there is some really sketchy DNA evidence linking Knox and Solicito to the crime scene. There was a fleck of DNA found on the bra clasp, which was probably from contamination of the crime scene. The DNA was not collected for a month after the crime and investigators did not cover their shoes so they trecked DNA from the common area into Kercher’s room. Same problem with Knox’s DNA in the blood.
The tiny fleck of DNA on the knife blade from Solicito’s home is not large enough to prove anything. Knox and Solicito kept changing their stories because (1) they were both really really high that night (on marijuana) and (2) the police were interrogating them non-stop, they were really sleep deprived, and the cops told each of them that the other was saying they were guilty so they should say the other one did it. The police pushed so hard that Amanda even pointed the finger at her boss as the murderer. Not saying that these were smart things for Solicito and Knox to do or say. But there are non-guilty explanations for their inconsistencies.
The circumstantial evidence that Knox didn’t cry very much when she found out Kercher was dead and that she was “affectionate” with Solicito soon after learning of the murder are ridiculous evidence. People grieve in different ways and Knox had only recently moved in. She barely knew Kercher. Not crying is a normal “shock” response, especially given that she probably was more in shock than sad for Kercher. The trial documented that the two didn’t really like each other that much.
In the United States, you need to be convicted by proof “beyond a reasonable doubt.” There is just so much doubt in this case. Knox is guilty of a lot of things, including smoking pot, a faulty memory, a young girl’s inability to stand up to police tactics, etc. But none of that is knew. Studies have shown that therapists have planted false memories in patients by suggesting they were raped as children. People remember false memories with vivid detail. In addition, there have been SO MANY documented cases in the US of young kids confessing to crimes that they didn’t do because of police pressure. Nothing that Knox did or said surprises me, given the fallibility of human nature, fortitude, and memory.
The prosecution theory is subjected to too little skepticism by Italians, who tried Knox in the court of public opinion. As your comment points out, Italians like to poke holes in Knox’s statements, rather than in the prosecutions. If Knox, Guede, and Solicito all killed Kercher, why did Guede run for Germany, while Knox and Solicito just went about their day like nothing happened? If they were all part of some weird sex game gone wrong, why was Guede the only one having sex with Kercher? Why not Solicito? What was the “went wrong” part? Really weird sex fantasies like that don’t come from nowhere. Why didn’t Knox have any forced sex fetish stuff on her computer? Why is there no evidence that Knox was a sexual deviant? Or the new prosecution theory that Knox killed Kercher because of a dispute over cleanliness. Then how does Guede having sex with Kercher fit into that? Also, if Knox killed Kercher, how come a friend of Solicito’s testified that he saw her at Solicito’s house that night? Why did she access Solicito’s computer at 5:30 am, if the murder happened so much earlier that night? And why did she only play an mp3? Why didn’t she Google “how to clean up a crime scene” or “how to get away with murder”?
Honestly, a dude that Solicito and Knox barely knew confessed to the murder and his DNA is all over the crime scene. Case closed. The only reason Guede mentioned Knox was because the media was having a firestorm over her alleged involvement and Guede wanted a reduced sentence, WHICH HE GOT for being so cooperative. If the conviction stands, Guede – the real murderer- will get 16 years in prison, while Knox will get 28. The Italian justice system is a joke.
Slightly biased! Knox and sollecito did not stick to their story! Sollecito later alleged that Knox left him at 9pm to go to work and returned at around midnight.
That’s a lie, under intense questioning Sollecito became confused (he blames part of that from smoking pot) and said it was possible that Amanda left during the night, when he became clear again he realized that wasn’t possible because Amanda didn’t have a key to his apartment and would have had to ring his doorbell to be let back in and that didn’t happen. Amanda didn’t go to work because Patrick had texted her and told her not too which brings up why his name came up that night. The police knew a black man was involved because of hair that was found, The police saw this exchange of texts between Amanda and Patrick, Amanda responded to Patrick by saying “OK see you later”, which in American jargan simply means good bye but the police took it literally to mean they were meeting up later and pressured her until she became confused enough to think maybe he had been there. Had they recorded the interrogation there would be proof of that.
One more thing, 9 times out of 10 when guilty co suspects are separated and interrogated they roll on each other and sollecitos interrogation was trying to get him to roll on Amanda (who’s behavior the police did not like) and that didnt happen only because they are both innocent.
“one thing is clear: Guede is guilty whether or not Knox had anything to do with the crime”
In this case nothing seems really clear, apart from the fact that media made a lot of profit by playing judge and leading to pre-condemnations from the beginning.
What if the first statements of all of the three accused young people, before they even got arrested, were right?
What if Knox and Sollicito, who first called the police, were just uninvolved.
What if Guede, who fled the police, were right by his first calls to friends before being arrested, to be just a shocked witness being afraid of not to be believed?
What if the contradictions in their afterwards statements (not only Guede´s but also Knox´s !!) were due to the pressure of investigatons VERY obviously full of mistakes? What role played media in all of this?
jack2014 – it is 100% impossible that there would be NO trace of dna, figerprints, palmprints, footprints or hair in that room where the murder happened if like you say – “she was there” . Or do you think that Knox and Sollecito forensically cleaned the place, somehow leaving only Rudy Guede’s dna ect ?
…A clear view of what happened? Amanda accused Lumumba because she didn’t want to betray Guede. She was there, like Raffaele. I guess the writer never read the case judgments, over 400 pages about it.
This is not a British newspaper.
Thank you. I am amazed and grateful that a British newspaper has such a clear view of what happened.