7 Plot Twists in the Infamous Amanda Knox Case
On Nov. 2, 2007, American foreign exchange student Amanda Knox returned to her shared apartment in Perugia, Italy, only to discover the worst — her British roommate Meredith Kercher had been brutally murdered, her throat slit. Shortly after, authorities arrested Knox, her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, and their acquaintance Rudy Guede and charged them with murder. And so began the sequence of events that would capture the attention of the world — the Amanda Knox case. Let's revisit seven of the most shocking twists in this college roommate murder trial.
Twist 1: The crime scene looked like a 'lake of blood' — yet also showed signs of remorse.
Some described the crime scene in the apartment as so brutal that it looked like a "lake of blood." Kercher had been sexually assaulted and stabbed repeatedly. Her throat had been slit, and she was partially clothed.
However, someone had cared enough about Kercher to cover her with a blanket and try to stop the bleeding. Some authorities agreed this could indicate a female murderer or an inexperienced killer — like Knox herself.
Twist 2: Knox contradicted herself.
Originally, Knox told police she had spent the night of the murder at Sollecito's apartment. However, when police questioned Knox and Sollecito three days after the murder, she changed her story, saying she was in her own apartment when the murder happened. She later retracted this statement, saying it was forced out of her, without her lawyer present.
Twist 3: Knox accused her boss of the murder.
After hours of being questioned, Knox decided to point the finger at her boss, Patrick Lumumba, who owned the bar where she worked. Lumumba had an alibi, though, so authorities instead convicted Knox of slander.
Twist 4: Was this all a weird intimate activity?
According to the prosecution, yes.
When the Knox/Sollecito case went to trial, the prosecution team had one big problem: the couple had no apparent motive to kill Kercher.
To plug the hole in his case, criminal prosecutor Giuliano Mignini made the argument that Knox, Sollecito and Guede killed Kercher during an illicit four-way sexual encounter while under the influence of drugs.
He referenced finding Sollecito's DNA on Kercher's bra, an incriminating piece of evidence.
Prosecutors and the British tabloid press even started calling Knox "Foxy Knoxy," to promote the image of Knox as a "she-devil" with a murderous sexual motive.
Twist 5: Were Knox and Sollecito convenient scapegoats for a mishandled investigation?
According to the defense, they were.
The defense argued that Guede acted alone to kill Kercher. Police found his footprints and DNA at the scene, and Guede even admitted he had been there, but denied committing the murder.
The defense claimed investigators had grossly mishandled and contaminated the DNA evidence, making Knox and Sollecito convenient scapegoats for a crime they didn't commit.
It's true that when police originally arrived at the murder scene, the team that arrived had little experience handling DNA evidence and murder cases — instead, they typically handled minor theft and internet fraud.
Twist 6: An eyewitness contradicted an alibi.
Knox and Sollecito claimed they were at Sollecito's apartment during the time of the murder, watching the movie "Amelie." However, an eyewitness came forward to testify that he saw the couple at a piazza close to the scene of the crime on that day.
However, the eyewitness was a homeless heroin addict, so perhaps not the most credible source. Still, this key piece of testimony cast doubt on their alibi.
Twist 7: They were convicted then acquitted — twice.
After a high-profile trial, Knox and Sollecito finally both received convictions and long prison sentences, despite a lack of physical evidence connecting them to the murder. Guede also received a conviction in a separate trial.
However, in 2011 an appeals court overturned the couple's convictions.
Then in 2014, both were shockingly re-convicted. Not surprisingly, the American legal system pushed back on this, citing the double jeopardy law protecting Americans from being tried for the same crime twice.
Finally in 2015, Knox and Sollecito both received full acquittals by Italy's highest court.
The Amanda Knox case continues to captivate the public, worldwide — so much so that while awaiting the final appeal, Amanda Knox signed a $4 million book deal to write a memoir about the case, telling this horrifyingly fascinating story with all its twists and turns from her own perspective.
References: A Brief Guide to the Amanda Knox Legal Saga | Timeline: Meredith Kercher murder case | Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Justice: A Comparative Legal Study of the Amanda Knox Case | Final Arguments Given in Amanda Knox Trial | The Amanda Knox Case: A Chronology | Amanda Knox | 14 Crazy Facts About The Amanda Knox Trial And The Murder Of Meredith Kercher
