Merideth’s killer was no expert at murder. It was amateur work. There were bloody fingerprints and footprints all over the apartment, and the killer even defecated in the toilet and forgot to flush. But that wasn’t the worst of it. Whoever murdered Meredith Kercher didn’t know how to use a knife.
The first two wounds weren’t deep enough to do fatal damage, the knife catching on bone. On the third attempt, the killer plunged the knife into a soft spot in her throat. The attacker then pulled the weapon from left to right several times in a sawing motion, then up and back, leaving a gash more than three inches long and three inches deep. It was evident from the savagery of this final blow, that the intent was to kill. But since the blade missed the carotid artery, Kercher’s agony lasted as long as ten minutes. An experienced killer would have known better.
After the stabbing, the killer’s behavior was unusual, displaying an attitude rarely evident in a crime scene: remorse. Three white towels were used in a frantic effort to staunch the bleeding. When that failed, the killer removed the comforter from Kercher’s bed and laid it over the corpse. Investigators would wonder whether the killer had ever seen a dead body before. Then, the the killer ran out through the front door, leaving a trail of bloody shoe prints.
When an attractive young woman from a privileged British family is murdered in Italy, you’ve got a crime story. When the person suspected of killing her is an attractive, privileged American woman, you have a sensational tabloid story.
Amanda Knox has returned to the United States after four years of incarceration in Italy – released after her acquittal won on appeal for the murder of Meredith Kercher. Raffaele Sollecito, a former boyfriend also accused in the killing, won his appeal too and was set free. The court’s decision, fueled by doubts over DNA evidence, stunned the victim’s family and angered the prosecution, which insists that she was among three people who killed 21-year-old Meredith Kercher.
Many people believe Amanda was a naive kid from Seattle coerced into confessing to a brutal murder and wound up sentenced to 26 years in an Italian jail and a victim of the Italian court system and a media frenzy. I have watched programs on this story and must admit the evidence is confusing. In her 13-hour interrogation, Amanda was asked by investigators to try and think of a “vision” of what might have happened. That’s when Amanda stepped into the trap or messed up her story – depending on what you believe. Being the crime show junkie I am, I have seen many stories where innocent people get railroaded into confessing for crimes they did not commit. Thus far, only the killer(s) really know the truth.
Amanda Knox returned to her hometown of Seattle on Tuesday with four years in an Italian prison behind her, the stabbing death of her roommate still a mystery and the media frenzy surrounding her case as strong on U.S. soil as it was in Europe. We may never know what really happened that fateful night.
Sources for this story came from: The New York Times, Europe and The Washington Post National.
