It is interesting to note that on page 15 of the Massei report, it is admitted that the crime of sexual violence was purely a hypothesis (described as being jointly perpetrated by Amanda Knox and her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, drawing Rudy Guede into the scheme when they randomly encountered him on their way to commit the deed - even though they barely even knew who he was, having no real acquaintance or any way of knowing whether he might be more interested in participating in such a crime or more likely to report it if he knew what was intended). The idea is absurd, yet nonetheless was doggedly carried forward so they were charged with this crime. The same was true for the kitchen knife which it was imagined they brought with them from from Raffele's kitchen, and thus purported to be the murder weapon even though it was clearly shown to be incompatible with the wounds on the body, or the bloody knife print left on the bed.
Further, it was suggested that Amanda and Raffaele were the ones who stole Meredith's two cell phones, her two credit cards, and a sum of money. This too is extremely far-fetched. There was absolutely no evidence to tie either of them to taking these things and no reason for it either. Remember, neither had ever stolen anything or committed any kind of a crime before, or shown the slightest evidence of having an angry or aggressive personality. Amanda's family was not wealthy, but she had more than plenty for her own needs, and only had a job for something to do and not because she needed the money. Raffaele, the son of a wealthy Italian doctor, certainly had no need to steal money or credit cards from a young college student. He drove an Audi and had a very nice apartment. Also, both Amanda and Raffaele were exceptionally brilliant students. Even if they did have some passing moment of anger toward Meredith, both young people would have been well aware of the consequences if commiting these kind of crimes and were not stupid enough to take those kinds of risks. And in fact they had no reason to be angry with Meredith in the first place, much less mad enough to kill her. Amanda had no idea Meredith had any objection to her housekeeping habits, and even if she had, it is still a tremendous stretch of the imagination to suppose she would want to kill her for this. It is even more amazing that so many people all over the world would buy into this theory, just because it was in the judge's report.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
Some Simple Problems with Judge Massei's Report charging Amanda and Raffaele
The tragic murder of Meredith Kercher attracted international attention. Ultimately, the American honor student from Seattle, Amanda Knox; her wealth Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito who was also a college student and Computer Engineering major; and the drifter, a black resident of Perugia named Rudy Guede were all charged with and convicted of the crime. The report issued by Judge Massei covering the hearing is comprised of nearly 400 pages, painstakingly translated into English by many qualified volunteers who desire justice for the young murdered girl.
The first simple problem however, is that all these parties accepted without question that everything in Judge Massei's report must be the gospel truth. And probably the judge did his best to present the complete story of what he believed to be the truth, but however that may be, conclusions were drawn from incorrect facts that spread worldwide leading to the erroneous assumption that Amanda Knox was the lead perpetrator of said crime, and she and her boyfriend Raffaele were certainly guilty of this murder. For those who desire justice for young Meredith it should be of supreme importance that the correct person or persons guilty of snatching away her life of promise and only those persons should be the ones conviced of her murder. Meredith is described as a compassionate young woman of great integrity and it seems certain she would not want it any other way.
To accept the case against Amanda and Raffaele as Massei presents it, several rather fantastic leaps of the imagination are required.
1)That Amanda Knox, who was at her boyfriend's house and answered the door to one of his friends at 8:45 p.m. appearing friendly, normal, courteous, and not under the influence of drugs or alcohol - somehow within the next 30 minutes or so flew into an inexplicable drug-fueled rage directed toward her friend and flat-mate Meredith Kercher. Even though no one had ever seen Amanda quarrel or even have a strong disagreement with Meredith ever before during the 6 weeks they had lived in the flat. Or for that matter, even though no one had ever seen Amanda angry at anyone. Even though Amanda had absolutely no history of displaying an angry or violent temperament anywhere to anyone in her entire young life. Suddenly, on this evening, according to Judge Massei's report, she must have flown into a rage so intense she was willing to commit murder. And that her reason for this violent anger toward Meredith was supposed to be that Meredith wished Amanda were a little more tidy in her housekeeping habits. This was supposed to make Amanda so angry that she desired to force Meredith to have group sex at knife point (what does group sex have to do with housekeeping??). And was willing to kill her if she did not cooperate.
2)That Amanda, impressed with this sudden urge to force Meredith into group sex even though there was not one shred of evidence that Amanda had ever engaged any kind of group sex before or was remotely interested in such a thing - persuaded Raffaele to go along with her to the flat to teach Meredith some lessons.
3)That Raffaele - also a brilliant student, who likewise had never been in any kind of trouble in his life before, never shown anger or violence toward anyone, and no shred of evidence that he had ever engaged in any kind of group sex or might like to - was eager and willing to go along with this plan, fully understanding they intended to kill Meredith if she did not cooperate with their plans.
3)That along the way to the flat, by chance they encountered Rudy Guede - someone whom that had only ever even seen perhaps once or twice before when he was visiting the young men who lived in the basement apartment of the flat - and that both young people were immediately intent on roping this practical stranger into their scheme of group sex and murdering Meredith.
4)That with this scheme in mind, they took from Raffaele's kitchen a large knife with which to commit this crime. And that Amanda must have used this knife to slash her friend's throat because her DNA was on the handle (she had used it to cook with in Raffaele's kitch several times) and supposedly Meredith's DNA was on the tip. Even though tests proved inconclusively that this particular knife was too large to have made the wounds from which Meredith died. Even though this knife did not match the clear bloody knife print on the bed where the murderer had laid the offensive weapon. Even though the DNA on the tip of the knife supposedly belonging to Meredith was in fact a "Low Level Copy DNA" reading, which is extremely inconclusive. The tests were conducted in a non-sterile lab where abundant other DNA from Meredith had already been processed, and the readings on this particular knife were so low, the testing system warned repeatedly the levels were too low for even the remotest possibility of accuracy, yet the tester plunged ahead anyway. And finally, that somehow having committed the murder with this knife that did not match the wounds on the victim's body, the two young people returned to Raffaele's in the middle of the night and returned it to his kitchen drawer, and subsequently went back to the crime scene, called the police and waited quietly outside for them to come.
5) That Meredith was assaulted sexually and suffered tortuous indignities of a sexual nature as Guede and "others" participated in the sexual assault - yet the coroner upon peforming the autopsy of Meredith's body was unable to find any conclusive evidence that she had been sexually assaulted at all, and no evidence that more than one person was involved in the attack.
Yet, supporters who seek justice for Meredith seem truly astounded by the suggestions of retired FBI agent Stephen Moore that the evidence in fact proves Amanda and Raffaele could not have committed this crime, and they do not understand how he could be so uninformed since Judge Massei's report makes very clear how this happened (if you have no problem making the above imaginative leaps.) Understandably they want Meredith's attackers to be duly punished. In which case we need to look at the facts logically and honestly, and not presume that the Perugia legal system and those associated with it are completely infallible and incapable of error, whether deliberate or unintentional.
Further, on p. 16 of the translated report, it states that the crime (of Meredith's murder) was committed in Perugia between Nov 5 and 6. This alone is a very obvious error as Meredith died on the evening of November 1 - according to the autopsy, the time of her death was narrowed to sometime about 3 hours after her last meal, which would have made the time of death to occur around 9:30 pm, and which death was anticipated to have occurred some 10 minutes after the slashing of her throat, which transpired after a violent struggle lasting at at least several minutes. All of which means that, if Massei's report were accurate, Amanda must have flown into a rage, something she had never before done in her whole life, a rage so intense she was willing to kill over an exceedingly trivial reason, almost immediately after answering the door to Raffael's friend at 8:45 p.m. and appearing friendly, courteous, and perfectly normal. Raffaele at the same time immediately and with no resistance was willing to go along with the bizarre plan she supposedly presented and the two hastened without delay to Amanda's flat - at least a 10 minute walk. And along the way encountered Rudy Guede whom they barely knew but whom they eagerly accosted to join in their plan, and he too immediately and enthusiastically agreed, and they must have arrived at the flat by 9 p.m. and laid in wait for the unsuspecting Meredith although they had no idea if or when she would be home that night.
Meredith in turn, did not depart from her friends until 9 pm, and for her also, it would have taken at least 10 minutes to arrive at the flat, and instead of having the bad luck to surprise a burglar who might simply have slashed her throat in the process of his crime, the three immediately pounced on the poor girl who struggled mightily, and orchestrated the group sex and murdered her, all within a matter of ten minutes or so.
And all the while, Amanda and Raffaele kept careful track of the blood, and which of them touched what, so that after the crime was done and Rudy fled the country, they were able with unerring precision to eradicate every smidgen of evidence of their own DNA, hair samples, skin cells, bloody handprints, fingerprints, and footprints, not leaving a single molecule behind, and at the same time carefully leaving every bit of Rudy's evidence in place. This is a feat that the most seasoned and crafty murderer would find utterly impossible, much less two young people who had never in their lives been remotely involved in any kind of violent crime before. Yet because Judge Massei's report says this is so, people all over the world have blindly and unquestioningly accepted it as fact.
The first simple problem however, is that all these parties accepted without question that everything in Judge Massei's report must be the gospel truth. And probably the judge did his best to present the complete story of what he believed to be the truth, but however that may be, conclusions were drawn from incorrect facts that spread worldwide leading to the erroneous assumption that Amanda Knox was the lead perpetrator of said crime, and she and her boyfriend Raffaele were certainly guilty of this murder. For those who desire justice for young Meredith it should be of supreme importance that the correct person or persons guilty of snatching away her life of promise and only those persons should be the ones conviced of her murder. Meredith is described as a compassionate young woman of great integrity and it seems certain she would not want it any other way.
To accept the case against Amanda and Raffaele as Massei presents it, several rather fantastic leaps of the imagination are required.
1)That Amanda Knox, who was at her boyfriend's house and answered the door to one of his friends at 8:45 p.m. appearing friendly, normal, courteous, and not under the influence of drugs or alcohol - somehow within the next 30 minutes or so flew into an inexplicable drug-fueled rage directed toward her friend and flat-mate Meredith Kercher. Even though no one had ever seen Amanda quarrel or even have a strong disagreement with Meredith ever before during the 6 weeks they had lived in the flat. Or for that matter, even though no one had ever seen Amanda angry at anyone. Even though Amanda had absolutely no history of displaying an angry or violent temperament anywhere to anyone in her entire young life. Suddenly, on this evening, according to Judge Massei's report, she must have flown into a rage so intense she was willing to commit murder. And that her reason for this violent anger toward Meredith was supposed to be that Meredith wished Amanda were a little more tidy in her housekeeping habits. This was supposed to make Amanda so angry that she desired to force Meredith to have group sex at knife point (what does group sex have to do with housekeeping??). And was willing to kill her if she did not cooperate.
2)That Amanda, impressed with this sudden urge to force Meredith into group sex even though there was not one shred of evidence that Amanda had ever engaged any kind of group sex before or was remotely interested in such a thing - persuaded Raffaele to go along with her to the flat to teach Meredith some lessons.
3)That Raffaele - also a brilliant student, who likewise had never been in any kind of trouble in his life before, never shown anger or violence toward anyone, and no shred of evidence that he had ever engaged in any kind of group sex or might like to - was eager and willing to go along with this plan, fully understanding they intended to kill Meredith if she did not cooperate with their plans.
3)That along the way to the flat, by chance they encountered Rudy Guede - someone whom that had only ever even seen perhaps once or twice before when he was visiting the young men who lived in the basement apartment of the flat - and that both young people were immediately intent on roping this practical stranger into their scheme of group sex and murdering Meredith.
4)That with this scheme in mind, they took from Raffaele's kitchen a large knife with which to commit this crime. And that Amanda must have used this knife to slash her friend's throat because her DNA was on the handle (she had used it to cook with in Raffaele's kitch several times) and supposedly Meredith's DNA was on the tip. Even though tests proved inconclusively that this particular knife was too large to have made the wounds from which Meredith died. Even though this knife did not match the clear bloody knife print on the bed where the murderer had laid the offensive weapon. Even though the DNA on the tip of the knife supposedly belonging to Meredith was in fact a "Low Level Copy DNA" reading, which is extremely inconclusive. The tests were conducted in a non-sterile lab where abundant other DNA from Meredith had already been processed, and the readings on this particular knife were so low, the testing system warned repeatedly the levels were too low for even the remotest possibility of accuracy, yet the tester plunged ahead anyway. And finally, that somehow having committed the murder with this knife that did not match the wounds on the victim's body, the two young people returned to Raffaele's in the middle of the night and returned it to his kitchen drawer, and subsequently went back to the crime scene, called the police and waited quietly outside for them to come.
5) That Meredith was assaulted sexually and suffered tortuous indignities of a sexual nature as Guede and "others" participated in the sexual assault - yet the coroner upon peforming the autopsy of Meredith's body was unable to find any conclusive evidence that she had been sexually assaulted at all, and no evidence that more than one person was involved in the attack.
Yet, supporters who seek justice for Meredith seem truly astounded by the suggestions of retired FBI agent Stephen Moore that the evidence in fact proves Amanda and Raffaele could not have committed this crime, and they do not understand how he could be so uninformed since Judge Massei's report makes very clear how this happened (if you have no problem making the above imaginative leaps.) Understandably they want Meredith's attackers to be duly punished. In which case we need to look at the facts logically and honestly, and not presume that the Perugia legal system and those associated with it are completely infallible and incapable of error, whether deliberate or unintentional.
Further, on p. 16 of the translated report, it states that the crime (of Meredith's murder) was committed in Perugia between Nov 5 and 6. This alone is a very obvious error as Meredith died on the evening of November 1 - according to the autopsy, the time of her death was narrowed to sometime about 3 hours after her last meal, which would have made the time of death to occur around 9:30 pm, and which death was anticipated to have occurred some 10 minutes after the slashing of her throat, which transpired after a violent struggle lasting at at least several minutes. All of which means that, if Massei's report were accurate, Amanda must have flown into a rage, something she had never before done in her whole life, a rage so intense she was willing to kill over an exceedingly trivial reason, almost immediately after answering the door to Raffael's friend at 8:45 p.m. and appearing friendly, courteous, and perfectly normal. Raffaele at the same time immediately and with no resistance was willing to go along with the bizarre plan she supposedly presented and the two hastened without delay to Amanda's flat - at least a 10 minute walk. And along the way encountered Rudy Guede whom they barely knew but whom they eagerly accosted to join in their plan, and he too immediately and enthusiastically agreed, and they must have arrived at the flat by 9 p.m. and laid in wait for the unsuspecting Meredith although they had no idea if or when she would be home that night.
Meredith in turn, did not depart from her friends until 9 pm, and for her also, it would have taken at least 10 minutes to arrive at the flat, and instead of having the bad luck to surprise a burglar who might simply have slashed her throat in the process of his crime, the three immediately pounced on the poor girl who struggled mightily, and orchestrated the group sex and murdered her, all within a matter of ten minutes or so.
And all the while, Amanda and Raffaele kept careful track of the blood, and which of them touched what, so that after the crime was done and Rudy fled the country, they were able with unerring precision to eradicate every smidgen of evidence of their own DNA, hair samples, skin cells, bloody handprints, fingerprints, and footprints, not leaving a single molecule behind, and at the same time carefully leaving every bit of Rudy's evidence in place. This is a feat that the most seasoned and crafty murderer would find utterly impossible, much less two young people who had never in their lives been remotely involved in any kind of violent crime before. Yet because Judge Massei's report says this is so, people all over the world have blindly and unquestioningly accepted it as fact.
Rudy Guede's lawyer upset by US FBI agent's conclusions
In recent weeks, a retired US FBI agent with more than 25 years of service became interested in the Amanda Knox case. At first, Stephen Moore presumed like others that the legal system had done its job and if the young people had been convicted of the murder, they must be guilty as charged. However, after delving into the case and examining the evidence at length he was increasingly shocked at how little real evidence there was to tie Amanda, and her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito to the murder - moreover, he declared, it was not simply a lack of evidence that they had committed the crime, but the evidence proved they could NOT have committed it. He felt that such an injustice to these young people had been committed, he must come forward and point out these discrepancies, and at one point even suggested what evidence there was had been manipulated to make Amanda and Raffaele look guilty.
Walter Biscotti, deeply offended by Moore's remarks, is the lead lawyer for Rudy Guede - the third person convicted in the murder of Meredith Kercher. Guede was the only person whose DNA, bloody handprints, fingerprints and footprints were all over the murder room and no such evidence for Amanda, Raffaele, or any other person could be found in the tiny room filled with so much blood it was an irrefutable impossibility that anyone could have been in there during the crime without leaving such evidence behind. In defense of Perugia's legal system, Biscotti pointed out that if you were in Italy and suggested investigators had manipulated evidence, you would be arrested in a minute . That may be true, but it still does not in any way prove there is no possibility that the Perugia legal system is incapable of making mistakes, or that is automatically a fact that every official working in that legal system is utterly incapable of error, deliberate or otherwise.
Biscotti successfully managed to get his client's sentence reduced from 30 years to only 16 years, despite the fact that Guede's DNA, bloody handprints, footprints etc were the only evidence left in the room with the murder victim and he has not been able to provide a satisfactory explanation for this. Nor have Guede's various versions of what occurred and how he came to be in the murder room at the time of Meredith's death without having committed the crime been either consistent or logical.
Walter Biscotti, deeply offended by Moore's remarks, is the lead lawyer for Rudy Guede - the third person convicted in the murder of Meredith Kercher. Guede was the only person whose DNA, bloody handprints, fingerprints and footprints were all over the murder room and no such evidence for Amanda, Raffaele, or any other person could be found in the tiny room filled with so much blood it was an irrefutable impossibility that anyone could have been in there during the crime without leaving such evidence behind. In defense of Perugia's legal system, Biscotti pointed out that if you were in Italy and suggested investigators had manipulated evidence, you would be arrested in a minute . That may be true, but it still does not in any way prove there is no possibility that the Perugia legal system is incapable of making mistakes, or that is automatically a fact that every official working in that legal system is utterly incapable of error, deliberate or otherwise.
Biscotti successfully managed to get his client's sentence reduced from 30 years to only 16 years, despite the fact that Guede's DNA, bloody handprints, footprints etc were the only evidence left in the room with the murder victim and he has not been able to provide a satisfactory explanation for this. Nor have Guede's various versions of what occurred and how he came to be in the murder room at the time of Meredith's death without having committed the crime been either consistent or logical.
Amanda - Background
Amanda Knox, a 23 year old University of Washington student from Seattle has spent her third summer behind bars in Perugia, Italy after her British roommate, Meredith Kercher was viciously murdered Nov 1, 2007. Amanda and her Italian boyfriend of a mere 6 days, Raffaele Sollecito, were accused, charged, and convicted of the murder in a sensationalist drama that was quickly snapped up by tabloids all over the world salivating for some juicy scandal, building a case so absurd it would not even be believable in a fiction suspense novel. Yet, due to the continual fueling of the media frenzy, the characters of these two young people were painted into some kind of hideous monsters as unlike who they really were as night from day.
The case is troubling for the simple reason that any rational intelligent person capable of separating established fact from fabricated gossip could clearly see that Amanda and her boyfriend could not possibly have had any involvement in the crime. And all the while the real murderer, whose DNA, bloody handprints, bloody footprints, and hair samples were all over the very small murder room (while not a speck of such evidence could be found in the same small murder room for either Amanda or Raffaele), and who even confessed to having been there at the time the crime was committed - somehow managed to capitalize on the growing predjudice toward the two brilliant college students, and simply wove them into his inexplicable tale of how he happened to be there and leave his evidence all over the room when in fact (according to him) they and not he were the real guilty parties.
The case is troubling in the way it was handled by the Perugia authorities and prosecutor who continued to hammer home the scandalous theory that the American girl (implying that because she was American she was therefore beautiful, spoiled, and had loose morals) and her rich Italian boyfriend (implying that because his father was wealthy and he was dating the American girl, he also was spoiled and had loose morals) had contrived some plot for an opportunistic 4 way sex game between themselves, the drifter Rudy Guede whom they had only ever seen before perhaps once or twice when he was visiting the neighbors living in the basement of Amanda's flat - and the British girl who was murdered. There was not a shred of evidence that either Amanda or Raffaele had ever indulged in any such deviant sex - or for that matter, no evidence that Rudy Guede had ever indulged in multiple partner orgies either. The reason presented by the prosecution for this spur of the moment wild sex party resulting in Meredith's death was equally absurd - it was supposed to have been pre-meditated by Amanda because she was furious at Meredith for complaining that she, Amanda, did not do her fair share of housekeeping chores in the flat they shared with two Italian girls. Therefore, said the prosecution, the beautiful Amanda was able to manipulate her boyfriend and the innocent bystander Rudy Guede (who had several recent charges of theft, burglary, and using knives, and who on visiting the boys living in the downstairs apartment, had admired Meredith and wondered if she was available for sex) whom they happened to encounter on the street along the way from Raffaele's house to Amanda's flat - into going along and forcing Meredith into a foursome sex.
These were the stories going out in the tabloids and the newspapers, and of course since it came from the prosecuter's report it must be true and people all over the world were all too willing to believe in Amanda's guilt for apparently no other reason than they enjoyed gossiping about a scandal. The case is also troubling because it was so readily accepted by people all over the world without any basis of real fact, which is an insult to Americans in general. And America has made no effort as a country to stand up for this young lady, our own natural born citizen, who has been grievously wronged by this process. It is troubling because this could happen to any of our young people going to study in a foreign country, and as fellow American citizens we cannot stand by and allow this young lady's life to be destroyed and her good character ruined forever just because of the media's appetite for sensationalism.
Here are some of the facts leading up to the crime:
Scene, characters, and timeline: Perugia, Italy - a small flat in what was considered a not very safe neighborhood was rented first by two young Italian women in their late twenties, who worked in the same law firm. They put up flyers advertising for two more roommates to move in and help share the rent.
Amanda Knox, an honor student from University of Washington, Seattle, was the first to respond to this ad when she came to Perugia as a participant in the student exchange program, and she and her sister were looking for a place for her to live - her sister noticed the Italian girls putting up the poster and they went to inquire about the flat, which resulted in her agreeing to rent it and putting down a deposit.
Subsequently, Meredith Kercher - another college student from London and participating in a student exchange program arrived, and moved into the flat on September 10, 2007. Amanda returned with her things and moved in ten days later, on September 20th.
The personalities of the two girls were naturally different - Meredith, it seems, was more reserved, and dedicated to her studies. Amanda is an exuberant young woman, one whose nature was to express herself freely and to greet life with enthusiasm. She was also an excellent student, and enjoyed such activities as rock climbing, playing the guitar, composing poetry, writing in her journal.. Her habits and culture might well have been somewhat different from what Meredith and the Italian girls were used to. They may have been mildly annoyed at her habit of chattering about everything, or bursting into song when she felt like it, or perhaps not being as tidy in her housekeeping as they would like. However, evidence indicates all the housemates got along well and were friendly with one another. Although each girl had their own friends and activities, Amanda and Meredith became good friends and would often hang out together, Meredith for instance often choosing to read or study nearby when Amanda was playing the guitar.
Amanda was a typicall all-American college student, very active, a high achiever, an honor student with a long list of impressive accomplishments, of whom her teachers and professors were very proud and would predict great things for. She had never been in any kind of trouble in her life, her worst offense apparently being a party she threw before leaving for Italy, for which she hired a band that the neighbors complained the music was too loud and she was given a minor citation for. She did admit to occasional use of hashish, but this apparently was only a casual habit, shared equally by both of her Italian flatmates as well as by Meredith, the girl who was slain.
Amanda met her new boyfriend Raffiele at a concert just six days before the tragedy. The two quickly hit it off, and for the next several nights she would stay all night in Raffaele's private apartment a short distance away, and return to her flat in the morning to shower and change.
The evening of November 1 was the same. Except that most of the college students, including the young men occupying the apartment in the basement of the flat, were out of town for the weekend holiday. The two Italian girls were also elsewhere, which meant that Meredith would be spending the night in the flat completely alone -something which evidently had not occurred before. Meredith had gone out for the evening with some of her friends - Raffaele and Amanda had seen her that afternoon but she did not particularly say where she was going, and apparently nobody at that point thought anything about Meredith being left alone in the flat for the night or that this might be cause for concern, even though the neighborhood was known as not particularly safe and the front door latch was known to be faulty and often would come open of itself unless great care were taken in locking it.
Amanda was expecting to have to go to work that evening at Patrick's bar, but her boss texted her that business was slow and she need not come in - she was delighted to unexpectedly have the evening free. She had answered the door at 8:45 when a friend of Raffaele's came over - he had been going to drive this friend to the airport at midnight and then it turned out they didn't need to go after all. At that point, according to the testimony of the friend, Amanda appeared perfectly normal, calm, friendly and bore no evidence either of being drunk or high on drugs.
Meanwhile, some 15 minutes later, at 9 p.m., Meredith parted ways with her friends for the evening, the last she was seen alive, and returned to the flat. It was her habit to keep her cell phone with her at all times, and keep close touch with her mother, who suffered kidney trouble and was often hospitalized. The cell phone record indicated a call placed to her mother a short time later, about the time she would have arrived at the flat after leaving her friends... quite probably with the intent to let her mother know she had arrived home safely for the evening - but for unexplained reasons this call was cut short and never connected. The same phone was used a bit later in the evening in an attempt to call Meredith's bank.
The original story of both Amanda and Raffaele was they remained at his apartment for the rest of the night and went to sleep, never going out, until Amanda arose sometime the next morning, left Raffaele still sleeping, and went back to the flat to shower and change.
On arriving, she noticed the front door open, but knowing the faulty latch this at first did not seem unusual. She knew the Italian girls were not at home, and Meredith's door was closed, so she assumed her still asleep and did not wish to disturb her. In the midst of her shower, she became aware of some blood on the bathmat - this was odd, and as she finished her shower, dressed and dried her hair, she noticed more drops of blood on the faucet. Growing increasingly uneasy, she began to check the house. She realized Meredith's door was locked and she did not answer her cell phone. The room of one of the Italian girls appeared to have been ransacked and there was a broken window. On checking the other bathroom, she was grossed out to find the toilet bowl unflushed and filled with feces - something she was sure neither Meredith or the Italian girls would do. Feeling very wierded out at this point she left hastily and hurried back to her boyfriend's to get him to come check it out with her.
Meanwhile, a lady on another street discovered two cell phones in her garden when she heard them ringing, and she called the Postal Police to come deal with the phones.
Raffaele and Amanda went back to the flat, and Raffaele observing Amanda's description of blood in the bathroom, Meredith's locked door and non-response to either knocking on the door or answering her cell phone, also became concerned and called the Carabinieri, equivalent to a 911 call. At that point Amanda became even more upset, noticing that someone had flushed the toilet full of feces, and it had not been either her or Raffaele and Meredith was still unnacounted for. The two went to wait outside for the Carabinieri to arrive, and while they were there waiting, two Postal Police showed up with the two cell phones found in the lady's garden which they discovered were associated with this address and belonged to Meredith. Amanda took them inside and showed them the Italian girl's room that had been ransacked and the broken window, the blood in the bathroom and expressed worry for the missing Meredith whose door was locked. Postal Police are not trained for investigating crime scenes and they were reluctant to break the door to Meredith's room, however they had opinions. From the first they decided that Amanda and Raffaele must be involved, sicne they were there, and promoted the idea that the two young people sitting alone together, quietly whispering, occasionally kissing, was certainly suspicious.
Much was made of this video on YouTube. Why this seemed so scandalous is hard to imagine except a completely different context of what was happening in the video was given to prime viewers into believing the two are conspiring over some plot and kissing in callous disregard for the fate of Meredith, as yet unknown. Yet the brief video seems clear - it is obvious the young Raffaele is merely trying to comfort and reassure Amanda whose expression and demeanor indicate she is worried about what has happened and the fear that something terrible may have happened to her roommate is beginning to take over. The Postal Police also made much of the theory that the break in was staged because the broken glass was on top of clothing in the room and therefore the window must have been broken from inside.
At some point the Italian girl whose room had been ransacked arrived; she was allowed to go through to check for missing things, never mind that she might contaminate the crime scene. She also was concerned about Meredith and insisted she would not be without her phones due to her mother's illness, and permission was given to break down the door. A scene of blood and horror emerged as the slain body of Meredith was discovered beneath her duvet, her bare foot poking out. The young people were made to wait outside and in the chaos that followed, judgements were made about Amanda in particular - if someone happened to observe her smiling in a brief moment of time, it was reported worldwide that she did not shed a tear on learning of her roommate's horrible death. This was not true at all - she did cry on learning the news and several times after, but the gossipmongers were increasingly watching her for innuendos of behavior and response that could be interpreted to support the theory that she was heartless, a cold-blooded killer.
Amanda, meanwhile, had no idea of the maelstrom that was brewing, her desire and intent was only to help the police and do everything she could to cooperate and help them discover what had happened to her roommate. She was also naturally shocked and frightened by the idea that she herself might just as easily have been the victim. In her trusting attitude, she failed to see the potential danger to herself, and saw no need either to obtain a lawyer or to heed the advice of her German aunt that she should go immediately to the American embassy for protection. Consequently she was completely unprepared for, and taken by surprise when the questioning by the police turned increasingly ugly and demanding, stretching into an interrogation that lasted from 10 pm until 5:45 a.m. the next morning, and during which time she was not allowed food, sleep, or even bathroom breaks. She was yelled at repeatedly, accused of lying, had words put into her mouth and her statements continually twisted, and even she claimed, struck repeatedly on the head when her answers did not please her accusers. Raffaele, in a separate room, was subjected to similar treatment, his requests for a lawyer, and/or to stop the questioning and call his father were repeatedly denied. At some point he finally broke and admitted that if he gone to sleep that fateful night, perhaps Amanda did go out..... And so Amanda was told her boyfriend had crumbled and she no longer had an alibi. They kept demanding that she give a name, and finally, sleep deprived and under extreme duress, she blurted the name of her boss, Patrick Lumumba, who owned the bar where she worked. The interrogaters were making much of the text message she had sent him after he told her not to come in to work, to which she had replied, "see you later - good evening". This was repeatedly twisted into the idea that she had somehow intended to meet her boss with the idea of going back to her flat and murdering her roommate (whom she did not even know if or when Meredith would be at home). Between the pressure brought to bear and Amanda's bad Italian and the liberal interpretations of the interrogators of what she did say, they finally came up with a confused story that she had left her boyfriend's house, met her boss - who had never been to her flat before, who was happily married to his own wife, and who barely knew Meredith as being a roommate of his employee - and the two of them contrived to go there, while Patrick went into Meredith's room and assaulted her, and Amanda, who must have been in the kitchen, covering her ears so she could not hear Meredith scream, must have been just as guilty for not preventing the crime.
Amanda thought, evidently, in giving her boss's name she was merely presenting a possibile person they could check out - and she was given the impression that she herself would be allowed to leave and the interrogation would be over. Instead she found herself, Raffaele, and Patrick all three were immediately arrested.
To Amanda's credit, once she had some food and rest and thought about the story they had extracted from her, she tried immediately to correct it.
Things went, however, from bad to worse. Investigation of the crime seen was very poorly handled from the beginning. Meredith's tiny room was a sea of blood and bloody handprints, fingerprints, and distinctive bloody shoeprints from a Nike shoe with concentric circles were everywhere, and from all this evidence it should have been fairly easy to eliminate suspects who were not involved. It was presently admitted the bloody handprint belonged to neither Raffaele, Patrick, or Amanda (nor did any of the other DNA or evidence). But, rather than eliminating them as suspects, it was merely presumed that a fourth person must have been involved, and these brilliant college students who had never committed a crime before, much less exhibited any kind of behavior of so violent and deviant a nature, had miraculously managed to remove all traces of their own DNA, fingerprints, footprints etc, and leave those of the mysterious fourth person intact. This is a simple and clear factual impossibility and should be more than enough evidence rest the case, but amazingly the bizarre and twisted tale the prosecutors presented continued to go forward.
Patrick was presently cleared and released, but the injury to his business and character were nonetheless permanent. He blamed Amanda for the unjustified slander of his good name, and without any consideration for the pressure that had been brought to bear on this young woman and the language barriers she faced in the all night interrogation, brought his own suit against her for slander, of which she was convicted and ordered to pay him $60,000. Amanda and Raffaele continued to remain behind bars, as they were considered dangerous, deviant and extremely high risk. A year-long trial finally culminated in 2009 with both being convicted of murder and sexual assault - Amanda to 26 years and Raffaele to 25 years. Rudy Guede, meanwhile, the drifter, and the only person whose DNA and bloody prints were all over the murder room, and who confessed to being there - was given 30 years, and later successfully got his sentence cut in half based on the idea that Amanda and Raffaele were somehow much more guilty than he. Rudy's lawyers are outraged by the recent statements of retired US FBI agent Stephen Moore, who has come out to declare the evidence certainly proves Amanda could not have committed the crime and that the investigation was handled badly and some of the evidence may have been planted. The indignant lawyers whose client was the only person the evidence irrefutably shows was there when Meredith died - rise in defense of the Perugia justice system, and point to the fact that it was in existence before Christopher Columbus discovered America as clear evidence that it could not possibly have any innacuracies, corruption, or mishandling.
Here are some simple facts:
*Rudy Guede had been to the flat at least once since Meredith had moved in, when he was visiting the boys in the downstairs apartment. At that point he expressed interest in Meredith and wondered if she were available (meaning could he get her to sleep with him).
*Rudy Guede had been in trouble with the law on numerous occasions, including several in the weeks leading up to this tragedy which involved breaking into someplace by a window, and stealing cell phones and knives
*Immediately after the murder, Rudy fled the area, remained out of contact with his friends and laid low
*It was eventually discovered that the DNA, bloody handprints, and bloody footprints in the murder room were made by him and him alone. There was no trace of Raffaele or Amanda in the murder room, and with the amount of blood around it would be simply impossible for them to have been in that room and participated in any way without leaving evidence.
*Rudy further confessed to being present while Meredith was dying and admitted the bloody footprints were his, but presented a series of illogical explanations for how he happened to be there and uninvolved. One of these involved his sitting on the toilet for some time listening to his iPod (he did not know when telling this story about Amanda's complaint of finding the toilet full of feces when she went over the shower the next morning). In this version, Rudy claimed a fourth man, an Italian man, was there and had somehow murdered Meredith while Rudy was on the toilet and he bolted off the toilet with his pants around his knees when he heard her screaming and exchanged words with the assailant but was unable to save her.
If indeed, Rudy were not guilty of the murder, he would be in an extremely difficult position to prove it, and this, supposedly, was his excuse for running. Regardless, the evidence is clear that neither Amanda nor Raffaele were present in any capacity, and have been done a great wrong in being falsely imprisoned and having their characters destroyed by the media.
The case is troubling for the simple reason that any rational intelligent person capable of separating established fact from fabricated gossip could clearly see that Amanda and her boyfriend could not possibly have had any involvement in the crime. And all the while the real murderer, whose DNA, bloody handprints, bloody footprints, and hair samples were all over the very small murder room (while not a speck of such evidence could be found in the same small murder room for either Amanda or Raffaele), and who even confessed to having been there at the time the crime was committed - somehow managed to capitalize on the growing predjudice toward the two brilliant college students, and simply wove them into his inexplicable tale of how he happened to be there and leave his evidence all over the room when in fact (according to him) they and not he were the real guilty parties.
The case is troubling in the way it was handled by the Perugia authorities and prosecutor who continued to hammer home the scandalous theory that the American girl (implying that because she was American she was therefore beautiful, spoiled, and had loose morals) and her rich Italian boyfriend (implying that because his father was wealthy and he was dating the American girl, he also was spoiled and had loose morals) had contrived some plot for an opportunistic 4 way sex game between themselves, the drifter Rudy Guede whom they had only ever seen before perhaps once or twice when he was visiting the neighbors living in the basement of Amanda's flat - and the British girl who was murdered. There was not a shred of evidence that either Amanda or Raffaele had ever indulged in any such deviant sex - or for that matter, no evidence that Rudy Guede had ever indulged in multiple partner orgies either. The reason presented by the prosecution for this spur of the moment wild sex party resulting in Meredith's death was equally absurd - it was supposed to have been pre-meditated by Amanda because she was furious at Meredith for complaining that she, Amanda, did not do her fair share of housekeeping chores in the flat they shared with two Italian girls. Therefore, said the prosecution, the beautiful Amanda was able to manipulate her boyfriend and the innocent bystander Rudy Guede (who had several recent charges of theft, burglary, and using knives, and who on visiting the boys living in the downstairs apartment, had admired Meredith and wondered if she was available for sex) whom they happened to encounter on the street along the way from Raffaele's house to Amanda's flat - into going along and forcing Meredith into a foursome sex.
These were the stories going out in the tabloids and the newspapers, and of course since it came from the prosecuter's report it must be true and people all over the world were all too willing to believe in Amanda's guilt for apparently no other reason than they enjoyed gossiping about a scandal. The case is also troubling because it was so readily accepted by people all over the world without any basis of real fact, which is an insult to Americans in general. And America has made no effort as a country to stand up for this young lady, our own natural born citizen, who has been grievously wronged by this process. It is troubling because this could happen to any of our young people going to study in a foreign country, and as fellow American citizens we cannot stand by and allow this young lady's life to be destroyed and her good character ruined forever just because of the media's appetite for sensationalism.
Here are some of the facts leading up to the crime:
Scene, characters, and timeline: Perugia, Italy - a small flat in what was considered a not very safe neighborhood was rented first by two young Italian women in their late twenties, who worked in the same law firm. They put up flyers advertising for two more roommates to move in and help share the rent.
Amanda Knox, an honor student from University of Washington, Seattle, was the first to respond to this ad when she came to Perugia as a participant in the student exchange program, and she and her sister were looking for a place for her to live - her sister noticed the Italian girls putting up the poster and they went to inquire about the flat, which resulted in her agreeing to rent it and putting down a deposit.
Subsequently, Meredith Kercher - another college student from London and participating in a student exchange program arrived, and moved into the flat on September 10, 2007. Amanda returned with her things and moved in ten days later, on September 20th.
The personalities of the two girls were naturally different - Meredith, it seems, was more reserved, and dedicated to her studies. Amanda is an exuberant young woman, one whose nature was to express herself freely and to greet life with enthusiasm. She was also an excellent student, and enjoyed such activities as rock climbing, playing the guitar, composing poetry, writing in her journal.. Her habits and culture might well have been somewhat different from what Meredith and the Italian girls were used to. They may have been mildly annoyed at her habit of chattering about everything, or bursting into song when she felt like it, or perhaps not being as tidy in her housekeeping as they would like. However, evidence indicates all the housemates got along well and were friendly with one another. Although each girl had their own friends and activities, Amanda and Meredith became good friends and would often hang out together, Meredith for instance often choosing to read or study nearby when Amanda was playing the guitar.
Amanda was a typicall all-American college student, very active, a high achiever, an honor student with a long list of impressive accomplishments, of whom her teachers and professors were very proud and would predict great things for. She had never been in any kind of trouble in her life, her worst offense apparently being a party she threw before leaving for Italy, for which she hired a band that the neighbors complained the music was too loud and she was given a minor citation for. She did admit to occasional use of hashish, but this apparently was only a casual habit, shared equally by both of her Italian flatmates as well as by Meredith, the girl who was slain.
Amanda met her new boyfriend Raffiele at a concert just six days before the tragedy. The two quickly hit it off, and for the next several nights she would stay all night in Raffaele's private apartment a short distance away, and return to her flat in the morning to shower and change.
The evening of November 1 was the same. Except that most of the college students, including the young men occupying the apartment in the basement of the flat, were out of town for the weekend holiday. The two Italian girls were also elsewhere, which meant that Meredith would be spending the night in the flat completely alone -something which evidently had not occurred before. Meredith had gone out for the evening with some of her friends - Raffaele and Amanda had seen her that afternoon but she did not particularly say where she was going, and apparently nobody at that point thought anything about Meredith being left alone in the flat for the night or that this might be cause for concern, even though the neighborhood was known as not particularly safe and the front door latch was known to be faulty and often would come open of itself unless great care were taken in locking it.
Amanda was expecting to have to go to work that evening at Patrick's bar, but her boss texted her that business was slow and she need not come in - she was delighted to unexpectedly have the evening free. She had answered the door at 8:45 when a friend of Raffaele's came over - he had been going to drive this friend to the airport at midnight and then it turned out they didn't need to go after all. At that point, according to the testimony of the friend, Amanda appeared perfectly normal, calm, friendly and bore no evidence either of being drunk or high on drugs.
Meanwhile, some 15 minutes later, at 9 p.m., Meredith parted ways with her friends for the evening, the last she was seen alive, and returned to the flat. It was her habit to keep her cell phone with her at all times, and keep close touch with her mother, who suffered kidney trouble and was often hospitalized. The cell phone record indicated a call placed to her mother a short time later, about the time she would have arrived at the flat after leaving her friends... quite probably with the intent to let her mother know she had arrived home safely for the evening - but for unexplained reasons this call was cut short and never connected. The same phone was used a bit later in the evening in an attempt to call Meredith's bank.
The original story of both Amanda and Raffaele was they remained at his apartment for the rest of the night and went to sleep, never going out, until Amanda arose sometime the next morning, left Raffaele still sleeping, and went back to the flat to shower and change.
On arriving, she noticed the front door open, but knowing the faulty latch this at first did not seem unusual. She knew the Italian girls were not at home, and Meredith's door was closed, so she assumed her still asleep and did not wish to disturb her. In the midst of her shower, she became aware of some blood on the bathmat - this was odd, and as she finished her shower, dressed and dried her hair, she noticed more drops of blood on the faucet. Growing increasingly uneasy, she began to check the house. She realized Meredith's door was locked and she did not answer her cell phone. The room of one of the Italian girls appeared to have been ransacked and there was a broken window. On checking the other bathroom, she was grossed out to find the toilet bowl unflushed and filled with feces - something she was sure neither Meredith or the Italian girls would do. Feeling very wierded out at this point she left hastily and hurried back to her boyfriend's to get him to come check it out with her.
Meanwhile, a lady on another street discovered two cell phones in her garden when she heard them ringing, and she called the Postal Police to come deal with the phones.
Raffaele and Amanda went back to the flat, and Raffaele observing Amanda's description of blood in the bathroom, Meredith's locked door and non-response to either knocking on the door or answering her cell phone, also became concerned and called the Carabinieri, equivalent to a 911 call. At that point Amanda became even more upset, noticing that someone had flushed the toilet full of feces, and it had not been either her or Raffaele and Meredith was still unnacounted for. The two went to wait outside for the Carabinieri to arrive, and while they were there waiting, two Postal Police showed up with the two cell phones found in the lady's garden which they discovered were associated with this address and belonged to Meredith. Amanda took them inside and showed them the Italian girl's room that had been ransacked and the broken window, the blood in the bathroom and expressed worry for the missing Meredith whose door was locked. Postal Police are not trained for investigating crime scenes and they were reluctant to break the door to Meredith's room, however they had opinions. From the first they decided that Amanda and Raffaele must be involved, sicne they were there, and promoted the idea that the two young people sitting alone together, quietly whispering, occasionally kissing, was certainly suspicious.
Much was made of this video on YouTube. Why this seemed so scandalous is hard to imagine except a completely different context of what was happening in the video was given to prime viewers into believing the two are conspiring over some plot and kissing in callous disregard for the fate of Meredith, as yet unknown. Yet the brief video seems clear - it is obvious the young Raffaele is merely trying to comfort and reassure Amanda whose expression and demeanor indicate she is worried about what has happened and the fear that something terrible may have happened to her roommate is beginning to take over. The Postal Police also made much of the theory that the break in was staged because the broken glass was on top of clothing in the room and therefore the window must have been broken from inside.
At some point the Italian girl whose room had been ransacked arrived; she was allowed to go through to check for missing things, never mind that she might contaminate the crime scene. She also was concerned about Meredith and insisted she would not be without her phones due to her mother's illness, and permission was given to break down the door. A scene of blood and horror emerged as the slain body of Meredith was discovered beneath her duvet, her bare foot poking out. The young people were made to wait outside and in the chaos that followed, judgements were made about Amanda in particular - if someone happened to observe her smiling in a brief moment of time, it was reported worldwide that she did not shed a tear on learning of her roommate's horrible death. This was not true at all - she did cry on learning the news and several times after, but the gossipmongers were increasingly watching her for innuendos of behavior and response that could be interpreted to support the theory that she was heartless, a cold-blooded killer.
Amanda, meanwhile, had no idea of the maelstrom that was brewing, her desire and intent was only to help the police and do everything she could to cooperate and help them discover what had happened to her roommate. She was also naturally shocked and frightened by the idea that she herself might just as easily have been the victim. In her trusting attitude, she failed to see the potential danger to herself, and saw no need either to obtain a lawyer or to heed the advice of her German aunt that she should go immediately to the American embassy for protection. Consequently she was completely unprepared for, and taken by surprise when the questioning by the police turned increasingly ugly and demanding, stretching into an interrogation that lasted from 10 pm until 5:45 a.m. the next morning, and during which time she was not allowed food, sleep, or even bathroom breaks. She was yelled at repeatedly, accused of lying, had words put into her mouth and her statements continually twisted, and even she claimed, struck repeatedly on the head when her answers did not please her accusers. Raffaele, in a separate room, was subjected to similar treatment, his requests for a lawyer, and/or to stop the questioning and call his father were repeatedly denied. At some point he finally broke and admitted that if he gone to sleep that fateful night, perhaps Amanda did go out..... And so Amanda was told her boyfriend had crumbled and she no longer had an alibi. They kept demanding that she give a name, and finally, sleep deprived and under extreme duress, she blurted the name of her boss, Patrick Lumumba, who owned the bar where she worked. The interrogaters were making much of the text message she had sent him after he told her not to come in to work, to which she had replied, "see you later - good evening". This was repeatedly twisted into the idea that she had somehow intended to meet her boss with the idea of going back to her flat and murdering her roommate (whom she did not even know if or when Meredith would be at home). Between the pressure brought to bear and Amanda's bad Italian and the liberal interpretations of the interrogators of what she did say, they finally came up with a confused story that she had left her boyfriend's house, met her boss - who had never been to her flat before, who was happily married to his own wife, and who barely knew Meredith as being a roommate of his employee - and the two of them contrived to go there, while Patrick went into Meredith's room and assaulted her, and Amanda, who must have been in the kitchen, covering her ears so she could not hear Meredith scream, must have been just as guilty for not preventing the crime.
Amanda thought, evidently, in giving her boss's name she was merely presenting a possibile person they could check out - and she was given the impression that she herself would be allowed to leave and the interrogation would be over. Instead she found herself, Raffaele, and Patrick all three were immediately arrested.
To Amanda's credit, once she had some food and rest and thought about the story they had extracted from her, she tried immediately to correct it.
Things went, however, from bad to worse. Investigation of the crime seen was very poorly handled from the beginning. Meredith's tiny room was a sea of blood and bloody handprints, fingerprints, and distinctive bloody shoeprints from a Nike shoe with concentric circles were everywhere, and from all this evidence it should have been fairly easy to eliminate suspects who were not involved. It was presently admitted the bloody handprint belonged to neither Raffaele, Patrick, or Amanda (nor did any of the other DNA or evidence). But, rather than eliminating them as suspects, it was merely presumed that a fourth person must have been involved, and these brilliant college students who had never committed a crime before, much less exhibited any kind of behavior of so violent and deviant a nature, had miraculously managed to remove all traces of their own DNA, fingerprints, footprints etc, and leave those of the mysterious fourth person intact. This is a simple and clear factual impossibility and should be more than enough evidence rest the case, but amazingly the bizarre and twisted tale the prosecutors presented continued to go forward.
Patrick was presently cleared and released, but the injury to his business and character were nonetheless permanent. He blamed Amanda for the unjustified slander of his good name, and without any consideration for the pressure that had been brought to bear on this young woman and the language barriers she faced in the all night interrogation, brought his own suit against her for slander, of which she was convicted and ordered to pay him $60,000. Amanda and Raffaele continued to remain behind bars, as they were considered dangerous, deviant and extremely high risk. A year-long trial finally culminated in 2009 with both being convicted of murder and sexual assault - Amanda to 26 years and Raffaele to 25 years. Rudy Guede, meanwhile, the drifter, and the only person whose DNA and bloody prints were all over the murder room, and who confessed to being there - was given 30 years, and later successfully got his sentence cut in half based on the idea that Amanda and Raffaele were somehow much more guilty than he. Rudy's lawyers are outraged by the recent statements of retired US FBI agent Stephen Moore, who has come out to declare the evidence certainly proves Amanda could not have committed the crime and that the investigation was handled badly and some of the evidence may have been planted. The indignant lawyers whose client was the only person the evidence irrefutably shows was there when Meredith died - rise in defense of the Perugia justice system, and point to the fact that it was in existence before Christopher Columbus discovered America as clear evidence that it could not possibly have any innacuracies, corruption, or mishandling.
Here are some simple facts:
*Rudy Guede had been to the flat at least once since Meredith had moved in, when he was visiting the boys in the downstairs apartment. At that point he expressed interest in Meredith and wondered if she were available (meaning could he get her to sleep with him).
*Rudy Guede had been in trouble with the law on numerous occasions, including several in the weeks leading up to this tragedy which involved breaking into someplace by a window, and stealing cell phones and knives
*Immediately after the murder, Rudy fled the area, remained out of contact with his friends and laid low
*It was eventually discovered that the DNA, bloody handprints, and bloody footprints in the murder room were made by him and him alone. There was no trace of Raffaele or Amanda in the murder room, and with the amount of blood around it would be simply impossible for them to have been in that room and participated in any way without leaving evidence.
*Rudy further confessed to being present while Meredith was dying and admitted the bloody footprints were his, but presented a series of illogical explanations for how he happened to be there and uninvolved. One of these involved his sitting on the toilet for some time listening to his iPod (he did not know when telling this story about Amanda's complaint of finding the toilet full of feces when she went over the shower the next morning). In this version, Rudy claimed a fourth man, an Italian man, was there and had somehow murdered Meredith while Rudy was on the toilet and he bolted off the toilet with his pants around his knees when he heard her screaming and exchanged words with the assailant but was unable to save her.
If indeed, Rudy were not guilty of the murder, he would be in an extremely difficult position to prove it, and this, supposedly, was his excuse for running. Regardless, the evidence is clear that neither Amanda nor Raffaele were present in any capacity, and have been done a great wrong in being falsely imprisoned and having their characters destroyed by the media.
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