Seattle Crime Reports : Seattle Crime Blog : Seattle, Washington

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It seems we will never know what really happened to Meredith Kercher.

After months of media and court reports detailing how Kercher had been sexually assaulted and probably killed while fending off that assault, a court-appointed expert testitified today that there was "not enough evidence to conclude" that Kercher had been sexually assaulted.

"When no traces of sperm are found, when there are no traces of physical violence," it is difficult to determine that there was sexual violence, Giancarlo Ronchi, the court-appointed expert said.

Yea, that sounds like perhaps a solid indication of no sexual assault.  The questions now becomes:  why did everyone so quickly accept the sexual assault theory when there was no evidence of such?

They also could not conclude whether or not she had been strangled, another damper to the murdered by a passionate lover theory.  

When it comes to handling of the Amanda Knox case, the only thing we can depend on is that what we know as truth, probably isn't. 

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...nowhere. The West Seattle college student turned internationally known murder suspect won't be leaving Perugia anytime soon, a court ruled today:

The Court of Cassation rejected a defense request for the release of University of Washington student Amanda Knox of Seattle; her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito and Ivory Coast national Rudy Hermann Guede.

"All three requests have been rejected," said Marco Brusco, a lawyer for Sollecito.

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For those who followed the blog during its early days, you know the Amanda Knox situation has been a popular subject for us.

Well, she's back in our lives.

Rudy Guede, the Ivory Coast immigrant who is one of three being held for Meredith Kercher's murder, has implicated Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito as being present at the time of the murder.

Six months ago, this may have been a significant development. Now this just seems to be another ploy by the Italian police and court systems to hold Knox and her boyfriend behind bars.

I am one of the many who believes that Knox was involved in this in some way. But every day and every "convenient" development (Italy's Supreme Court was about to hold a hearing determining if there was enough evidence to keep Knox in custody) just makes this case lose any credibility.

I think it's fairly clear that neither Knox or her boyfriend are not breaking at this point. I think it's also pretty clear that Mr. Guede is guilty of something, judging by his fleeing to Germany after the murder and his willingness to change his story as often as he wants. Both of these facts point to us never really knowing what happened that night.

And now with Knox's parents becoming vocal, the mainstream media is only helping to dumb down this investigation. Do we really need to hear over and over that these parents don't believe their child is a sadistic, sex-crazed murderer. What parent would admit to that?

On top of that, why has no one ever talked about the poor girl who got killed? Know and her sleaze-looking boyfriend get all the press, when we really know very little about the victim.

This is going to continue for years. We'll most likely never be able to tell what happened that night, but there is one thing we can count on.

The "Amanda Knox" show is no where close to being cancelled.

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We saw a huge upswing in traffic last week, after Amanda Knox's parents were featured on 20/20 defending their daughter. Remember Amanda? The UW student caught up in an Italian murder case, who we wrote about ad nauseum after the case broke last November? Well she's still in jail, but the press - both local and national - seems to be expressing a new-found interest in the case as of late.

Yet instead of focusing on Knox as a suspect, they're painting her as a victim. In the 20/20 interview, her mother complained that "jail's not easy," as if forgetting why her daughter is there in the first place; meanwhile, Knox's sister says the suspect "cares about everyone else before herself." We're sure Patrick Lumumba would agree.

Of course, as the Honest Blogger notes (rather obscenely), this outpouring of support from family and friends is not surprising:

Her parents may be firmly behind her, but in truth who's parents would turn round and say, "Yeah I think she did it - I've always thought my daughter could be a murdering little bitch." - GET FUCKING REAL.

It would never happen, nor should it...families have an obligation to defend their own, and I think you'd be hard-pressed to find parents anywhere who love their child and would be willing to admit their faults, even if there was a mountain of evidence suggesting otherwise.

Now other voices, those not bound by family ties, are coming out and painting a different picture. This week's edition of The Stranger has got an in-depth piece on the case: Charles Mudede, author of philosophical musings that have drawn the ire of cranky SLOG commenters but whose "Police Beat" column is the best thing in the weekly paper, traveled to Perugia to write about the case from a first-hand perspective. The most revealing quotes in his piece come not from Perugia, but the World Cup cafe in Seattle's U-District, where Knox used to work.

During a visit there before his departure to Italy, Mudede ran into "Matthew," an old college buddy who currently works at the World Cup. This man's testimonial contradicted the picture-perfect image that Knox's family and friends have been relaying so far:

"You know," Matthew said, leaning toward me, "a lot of people are saying she is a sweet girl and they can't believe she could have done such a thing. But, to be honest, I'm not surprised she is a suspect. Really. The first time I met her, when I got the job here, she asked me if I was Jewish. I told her I was. She then screamed: 'My people killed your people,' and began laughing hysterically. I didn't know what to say. She just kept laughing about her Germans killing my Jews. After that, I did not like her. She really freaked me out."

Charming. You're right, Mom and Dad...she sounds like a lovely girl.

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Can somebody explain to me how this interview from ABC News is the slightest bit newsworthy?

The article, which was first published December 14 and features four of Amanda Knox's UW friends espousing the virtues of their incarcerated pal, brings little to the table: the news it provides is largely available elsewhere already, and the bulk of it is - perhaps not surprisingly - light-hearted opinion. They paint her as a morally infallible, girl-next-door type who simply could not have been involved in the murder of Meredith Kercher. I don't know Knox, so I can't argue with the first part of this claim...but how it automatically leads to the second is beyond me.

To put it simply, this interview is something better suited for the UW Daily, or perhaps a "Free Amanda" blog. But ABC News? C'mon.

The money quote:

"The media took all these things off her MySpace, you know, very out of context, and applied them how they felt they could twist their story the way they wanted to," said Andrew. "You can do that with anyone's MySpace. You could take their pictures, their blogs and take different pieces here and there. And all of a sudden, you have this new person, that you've just created."

I'm not saying that Knox's friends don't deserve a chance to voice their feelings. Of course they do. But they are friends of the suspect, and it is fairly obvious the reaction that they're going to have. The fact that they claim to know any better than the rest of us whether Knox is guilty or innocent is obscene.

Nobody knows exactly what goes through another human being's mind. All the things that these people are saying, about a good friend who gave great hugs and loved "making people happy"...all this is good and fine, and could very well be true. But it doesn't mean she's automatically exempt from suspicion in a murder case that she has inexplicably found herself at the center of.

On a similar note: I should set the record straight on something I've been getting some flack about from readers. On one side, I've got Knox supporters chiming in and saying that I've painted her unfairly. On the other side, folks are bitter that I'm casting doubt on other witnesses or information that makes her look bad in an attempt to prove her innocence.

The fact of the matter is, neither of these claims are true.

Look. I'm a skeptic. I'm skeptical of everyone involved in this case, from the main suspects themselves to even the most unimportant witness. My job is to make calls on this case, and on the news surrounding it, as I see 'em. And the fact that I can't win with folks on either side of the debate in many ways reaffirms my belief that I'm doing my job right.

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The Times Online reports that the court which was to determine whether Knox and Sollecito could be released from custody as the investigation continues, has made a decision:

They can't. It's back to a jail cell for these two suspects.

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It appears that Amanda Knox has no problem answering questions, but the one issue she won't go near is the only one anybody wants to hear about: what happened the night Meredith Kercher was murdered. From this morning's P-I:

Thursday, Turin daily La Stampa published excerpts of a prison interview with Knox, who was visited by an Italian politician, Osvaldo Napoli, earlier this week.

According to the report, Knox said she did not want to answer any questions about "that night" because she did not want to be influenced by outside information. When she sees news about the murder case on TV, she changes the channel, Knox was quoted as saying.

But despite her unwillingness to clarify that flip-flopping story of what happened Nov. 1, the article claims, Knox - perhaps hoping to help sway the judge who will decide sometime today whether she remains behind bars - has expressed confidence in the Italian judicial system.

"What I have to say I want to say only to the judge. And to my attorney. We get along. He gives me a sense of security," Knox told Napoli. "I have faith in your justice system. I don't feel abandoned and I am not afraid, really. I have faith in Italy. I'm waiting. I'm serene. Everything will be clarified."

Meanwhile over at The Times Online, they've got a nice update on some of the details from the suspect's court appearance, which took place this morning.

Amid dramatic scenes in court, Ms Knox broke down in tears as she insisted that she was not at the Perugia cottage when Ms Kercher, 21, had her throat cut.

She told the judge: “I am innocent, I was at Raffaele’s house the whole time.” Speaking in English she added: “I want to tell the truth.”

Crying to the judge? Sounds like that "faith" in the Italian justice system was lost somewhere between her jail cell and the courtroom.

Other notable court developments, as mentioned in the article:

• It was the first time Knox and her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, a Romeo & Juliet for the 21st century, have seen each other since their arrests earlier this month.
• Knox reportedly apologized to the judge "for the trouble" she brought on Patrick Lumumba, the Congolese bar owner she initially fingered as Meredith Kercher's rapist and murderer. I guess it's okay to lie to police, so long as you apologize afterwards? Please. The fact that Knox brought a presumably innocent man into the picture and ruined his life cannot be overlooked with a simple apology. Hopefully the judge has the common sense to realize it.
  
• Not surprisingly, attorneys for both of the suspects are working to place the blame on Rudy Hermann Guede, a drug dealer from Perugia arrested in Germany who was recently linked by DNA evidence to the crime scene.
  

In my mind, there's very little question that Guede is fucked. He has admitted to being at the scene of the crime and to having sex with Kercher (sex he claims was consensual, but which still places him closer to the victim at the time death than either of the other suspects currently behind bars). Now it's just a matter of who will take the fall with him.

It looks like Sollecito is the most likely candidate, The Times Online's article implies: Guede is now claiming that he heard Kercher muttering her killer's name in her final moments alive. Can you guess what she said?

His description of the man and his claim that Ms Kercher tried to name her killer by uttering the sound “af” with her dying breath appear aimed at pointing the finger at Mr Sollecito.

Guede, who is in Germany awaiting extradition to Perugia, had equally suggestive statements about Knox.

Mr Guede claims that while he was in the house he saw Ms Kercher discover that money was missing from her bedside table, and says that she accused Ms Knox (who he did not say was present) of stealing the cash to pay for drugs.

The plot thickens. No wonder attorneys for Sollecito and Knox are so aggressively pointing the finger at Guede...it's part of the never-ending blame game.

But, as I pointed out in an earlier post, authorities are saying that Kercher didn't die immediately - it took time for her to slowly bleed out. Did Guede sit with her during that time, which has been estimated to be as long as an hour, instead of alerting authorities? That seems like the only way he could have been there to hear her "dying breath."

No updates yet on whether Knox and Sollecito will remain behind bars, but the article seems confident that the judge will make a decision sometime today.

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Today a commenting reader linked us to this gallery at la Repubblica.it. According to our tipster, the poster pictured above is being plastered around Perugia.

The website seen on the poster is for an organization called Forza Nuova. According to Wikipedia, they are New Force, an "Italian nationalist and neo-fascist movement" that is strongly against immigration.

While I'd guess the words on this poster have something to do with immigration opposition, I'm interested to find out exactly what they say. I typed "Contro ogni droga/dio patria famiglia" into an online translator, and in English the message appears to read: Against every drug. God native land family.

I'm sure the real slogan is much more elegant. Anybody speak Italian who can decipher for us?

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It seems like everybody in Perugia has something to say about Amanda Knox and her boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito.

Today, two English newspapers are reporting on an extremely unimportant "development" in the case: that Knox and Sollecito supposedly went shopping for lingerie the day after the murder.

First off...who cares? It has already been reported by one of Kercher's close friends that Knox didn't appear particularly distraught after the killing. Some people would say this is cause for suspicion; others - myself included - don't find her lack of emotion to be particularly worthwhile one way or another.

People handle death differently. What some express through tears and visible distress, others internalize and deal with on their own. To try and make a determination of a person's guilt or innocence simply based on their external emotional response to a crime, no matter how heinous the circumstances surrounding it, is absurd.

Working from this perspective, it shouldn't be at all surprising if Knox went shopping for lingerie with her boyfriend so shortly after the incident occurred. For all we know, shopping - or sex - could be their way of handling the newfound stress.

So why am I writing about it? Well, though the news doesn't strike me as being largely important, one article in The Daily Mail features some hilarious quotes from the shop owner who claims he witnessed the suspects' so-called "strange" behavior.

Knox, 20, who calls herself Foxy Knoxy, and doctor's son Sollecito, 23, were overheard by a shopkeeper as they browsed through underwear in a clothes shop selling fashion items.

Carlo Maria Scotto di Rinaldi spoke to police two days after the couple were arrested on November 6, after recognising them on the television news. "They came into the shop and were there for about 20 minutes," he said. "The girl bought a camisole and G-string.

"I heard her as she was choosing the underwear - particularly the G-string - and as they were ready to pay, in front of the till, she whispered, 'Afterwards I'm going to take you home so we can have wild sex together'."

The report at The Times Online, meanwhile, gives a slightly different quote from the shopkeep. This one, equally lame, is attributed to Sollecito.

Mr di Rinaldi said that they stayed for half an hour, and that Ms Knox bought two thongs. He overheard Mr Sollecito say to Ms Knox: “You can put these on at home and we’ll have wild sex.” He said that they spoke in English, “but I know the language and had no difficulty in understanding”.

Let's assume for a minute that these quotes are legit. For someone who attempts - albeit lamely, as The Stranger's Christopher Frizzelle has pointed out - to exhibit creativity in her writing, Amanda Knox sure has no idea how to talk dirty.

"Afterwards I'm going to take you home so we can have wild sex together"?

I've never been good at sex talk myself...but even I could think of something better to say than that.

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Hope you all haven't filled up on pumpkin pie, because this evening, those tireless reporters from across the pond bring us a late night Thanksgiving treat: Rudy Hermann Guede, the convicted drug dealer and YouTube buffoon recently arrested in connection with Meredith Kercher's slaying, has been officially linked to the victim's body.

And it gets better. According to reports from The Times Online, DNA found on Kercher's corpse offers definitive proof that Guede had sex with the victim the night of her death.

Someone better stick a fork in Guede: like so many other turkeys on this fourth Thursday in November, he's done.

There seems to be little argument against his presence in Kercher's bedroom that night, judging by the evidence as reported:

Last night’s results showed Mr Guede’s DNA matched that found on a tampon which indicated that Ms Kercher had what was described as “violent” sex on the night she died. It also matched the DNA found on toilet paper in the bathroom.

The article claims that Guede has admitted to being in the house when the murder occurred, but that  an unknown "Italian man" committed the crime. The only Italian man I've seen mentioned so far in connection with this case is Raffaele Sollecito. Is that who he is referring to? Or is it someone else entirely? One way or another, the simple fact that Guede admits presence but denies any wrongdoing makes it clear that like Sollecito and Amanda Knox, this suspect has joined in the never-ending blame game.

When speaking to a German judge, the Times Online reports, Guede even went so far as to claim that he was in the bathroom when the actual crime was committed and (valiantly, no doubt) attempted to resuscitate the victim after finding her throat slit.

But wait...don't earlier reports say it took Meredith Kercher an excruciatingly long time to die? I'm no doctor, but I'm almost positive that you can't resuscitate someone who is still alive and conscious.

Judging by their response in the article, Guede's lawyers are desperately trying to keep this new DNA link from sinking their case:

One of Mr Guede’s lawyers, Vittorio Lombardo, said the test results did not mean his client was guilty. He said: “These results need to be carefully looked at. Rudy has not denied being in Meredith’s house, and the tests do not say that the sex was not consensual.

“Rudy maintains he was in the bathroom when Meredith was killed, and these tests do not show anything which contradicts that.”

Keep on working for that paycheck, Vittorio. We'll see whether the sex was consensual - and whether "Rudy" was actually in the bathroom at the time of the attack - as more details are revealed.

Meanwhile, the featured story at CNN.com this evening relates to Amanda Knox's recently released jailhouse note (which we reported on earlier today). Nothing too exciting about this piece, although it does give a little more of the text from Knox's note regarding why she initially placed blame on her employer Patrick Lumumba:

In her statement, Knox said she saw Lumumba in "flashes of blurred images."

"I saw him near the basketball court. I saw him at my front door. I saw myself cowering in the kitchen with my hands over my ears because in my head I could hear Meredith screaming," she wrote.

"But I've said this many times so as to make myself clear: These things seem unreal to me, like a dream, and I am unsure if they are real things that happened or are just dreams my head has made to try to answer the questions in my head and the questions I am being asked.

Then, the quote of the century:

"But the truth is, I am unsure about the truth."

And that's what they used to hold Lumumba in custody for two weeks?

Jesus. Maybe the Italian judicial system really is fucked.

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They do things different in Italy.

Longer dinner hours. After-lunch naps in the office. And...police abuse of young foreign girls?

That's what murder suspect Amanda Knox claims in a recently-released jailhouse note, according to an Associated Press article reprinted in today's Seattle Times.

Not only that, the suspect writes. Her contradictory statements, and that ever-changing story? It's natural, she implies, due to "shock" and "exhaustion" in the days immediately following the murder.

From the note:

"I was told that I would be arrested and put in jail for 30 years. When I didn't remember things I was hit in the head, but I understand the stress of the police," Amanda Marie Knox wrote in the three-page handwritten statement the day of her Nov. 6 arrest.

[...]

Knox said she had "serious doubts" about statements made to investigators before her arrest because she spoke "under the pressure of stress, shock and because I was exhausted." She did not elaborate. [As usual, the Seattle Crime Blogger has added emphasis here - Ed.]

I don't know about you all, but I'm skeptical. Why?

• Knox claims police abuse her first day in custody, but that information doesn't reach the public until the statement is leaked to the media weeks later? Why wouldn't the suspect have reported this to a third party who could potentially do something about it, like the prison chaplain or her visiting mother? Amanda Knox isn't dumb. She knows how high-profile this case is and the media sensation it has created. Why would she not want to find some way to get the public on her side as early as possible?
• In the note, just after she makes a casual reference to being "hit in the head," she immediately says she "understands" that the police were under stress? Come on. If police hit you when you're in custody, you sure as hell aren't going to turn right around and show them support.
• And of course, when this information comes out almost 20 days after the supposed abuse, it makes it much more difficult to find any physical evidence to back up Knox's claim...

Does anybody know who exactly leaked this note? So far all parties involved remain tightlipped.

The letter also included some reference to Patrick Lumumba, the recently-released Congolese bar owner whose original arrest was based largely on the UW student's statements. As the Times article shows, Knox's note shows just how valid her recollection of Lumumba's so-called presence at the scene of the crime really is:

"I know I didn't kill Meredith. I see Patrick in flashes as the murderer, but I can't verify the truth the way it appears in my mind, because I don't remember with certainty if I was there," Knox wrote in the Nov. 6 statement.

Ah, yes. Ruin a man's life because you see him in hazy flashes from an event you admit you may not have even been at. How classy.

Claiming police abuse may work well for minorities in American cities, where the racial dichotomy between often all-white police forces and more-often-than-not black suspects creates an environment where such claims may be legitimate. But Mrs. Knox, you aren't a minority...and you're a long way from America. Plus, I find it extremely hard to believe that with a delicate case like this, the Perugian police force would risk it all to abuse a helpless young foreigner in their custody.

By the way readers...Happy Thanksgiving.

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It's about time.

Reports arrived this morning that Patrick Lumumba, the 37-year-old Congolese bartender arrested at the beginning the Meredith Kercher murder investigation, has been released from police custody.

This case continues to surprise me. At the beginning I was fairly convinced that Lumumba was somehow involved (largely because I believed Amanda Knox's claims of his lust for Kercher and presence in her room at the time of the murder).

But as developments continue to transpire, I've become more and more skeptical of just how much involvement - if any - this bartender had in the crime.

So far there has been sufficient evidence to suggest at least some level of involvement from each of the other three suspects; yet the suspicion leveled at Mr. Lumumba, it is now reported, was based almost entirely on Knox's story: no DNA, no (credible) witnesses, no motive.

From The Times Online:

The case against [Lumumba] largely rests on the testimony of Ms Knox, who told police she met him at a basketball court near the house on the evening of the murder, that he "desired" Ms Kercher, and that he went into Ms Kercher's bedroom and sexually assaulted and killed her. No trace of his DNA has been found at the cottage.

Congratulations on your reclaimed freedom, Patrick Lumumba (looking particularly relieved in the above post-release photo from The Daily Mail). Let's hope, as more details come out on the true culprits, that your name is not among them.

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The big news in the Amanda Knox/Meredith Kercher saga this morning: a fourth suspect exists, folks, and police have reportedly issued a warrant for his arrest.

So who is this mystery man?

We don't know. Local news sources show that police have thus far declined to identify him - perhaps because doing so might make executing said warrant a bit more difficult - but he is, according to the AP article reprinted in the Seattle P-I, "believed to be a [N]orth African linked to drug-dealing who lived near the cottage where Kercher was killed."

Upon news of this development, Charles Mudede at SLOG said it best: "The plot thickens."

It sure does. I can't wait to see A) who this individual is; B) what explanation he has for being in Kercher's bedroom; and C), most importantly, which of the other suspects he points an accusatory finger at first.

Meanwhile, a journalistic aside: for their coverage of these developments, both The Seattle Times and the P-I reprinted the same Associated Press article (written by Frances D'Emilio). But each presented the piece a bit differently from the get-go. A couple of major differences stuck out in my mind.

First, look at how they both begin. Here's the opening paragraph from The Times...

New fingerprints have been discovered on the pillow of a British student found slain in her bedroom in the Italian university town of Perugia earlier this month, a lawyer for the victim's family said Saturday.

...and here it is in the P-I.

New, bloody fingerprints have been discovered on the pillow of a British student found slain in her bedroom in the Italian university town of Perugia earlier this month, a lawyer for the victim's family said Saturday.

While the Times eventually brings up the "bloody" issue, they don't do so until the third paragraph.

[The lawyer] said he did not know whether the prints, described as "bloody," belonged to a potential new suspect in the case but said they did not belong to any of the three suspects now jailed in the probe.

Notice that it's just one word - "bloody" - but it definitely has an impact on how the story reads. Not only does including it in the first paragraph work in the sensationalist angle (which devotee readers will know I'm all for), but it also makes a stronger suggestion that whoever those fingerprints belong to is involved in Kercher's murder. Is the P-I going for shock value, or is The Times just playing it cautious? Or is something else entirely going on here?

Second point of note: The Times completely leaves out any reference whatsoever to the North African suspect! Their article proceeds like this:

The Milan daily Corriere della Sera reported that one of the prints on Kercher's pillow was that of a man's thumb, but Maresca said he had no details about the prints, including whether they were believed to be those of a man.

Knox, 20, and her 23-year-old Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, are being held in a Perugia jail as suspects in Kercher's sexual assault and fatal stabbing.

The P-I, meanwhile, has loads of additional information sandwiched between the two paragraphs cited above. I've put this content in bold italics below to further illustrate my point.

Milan daily Corriere della Sera reported that one of the prints on Kercher's pillow was that of a man's thumb, but Maresca said he had no details about the prints, including whether they were believed to be those of a man.

"One step away from (finding) a fourth" suspect, was the headline on the Turin newspaper La Stampa's story about the fingerprint development.

Meanwhile, the Sunday Times of London reported that Italian authorities issued an arrest warrant for a fourth suspect, "believed to be a north African linked to drug-dealing who lived near the cottage where Kercher was killed."

Kercher's 20-year-old American roommate, Amanda Marie Knox, a University of Washington student from Seattle, and Knox's 23-year-old Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, are being held in a Perugia jail as suspects in the woman's sexual assault and fatal stabbing.

Granted, these differences are largely explained at the end of the P-I article, where it reads that "Seattlepi.com staff contributed to this report." But you'd think that if The Times wanted to provide up-to-date coverage, they'd at least have included more on the "fourth suspect" angle.

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A potential huge break in the Amanda Knox case, which was first reported to me by a commenting reader this morning (and has since even been picked up by tight-lipped Seattle papers).

Word on the street is, DNA belonging to Amanda - and murder victim Meredith Kercher - was found on a knife owned by Raffaele Sollecito. Sollecito, for those newcomers to the site, is Knox's Italian boyfriend (also sitting in a Perugian jail cell, suspected of playing a role in the crime).

Check out the coverage from across the board:

• DNA from Knox and slain roommate reportedly found on boyfriend's knife [PI]
• Meredith suspect's DNA found on knife [Telegraph]
• Foxy Knoxy's DNA found on knife 'used to kill Meredith' [Daily Mail]

Tonight is the first chance I've had in front of a computer to sit down and check out the details. Looks like Knox's hole just got a little deeper.

From the Daily Mail:

The black-handled 7in knife is one of three found last week at the home of Knox's boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito in the Italian town of Perugia.

Police said that Miss Kercher's DNA was found on the tip of the knife, while Knox's was found near to the handle.

That's not all...turns out the knife isn't the only place our local celebrity left her genetic calling card, according to authorities:

Local flying squad chief Giacinto Profazio also said that DNA from both Knox and Sollecito has been found on rags at the scene of the crime.

Apparently someone had recently done a hell of a job cleaning out Sollecito's apartment. Cops say that the knife had been scrubbed down with bleach (which was also found all throughout the suspect's home), and that a "blood soaked sponge" was also discovered.

And, according to the Telegraph's coverage, the search also uncovered "several blood-soaked rags, sheets and towels, as well as a bloody blue sweatshirt" in Sollecito's residence.

None of this evidence, it should be noted, has been linked to Congolese club owner Patrick Lumumba. Was he dragged into this as the fall guy for someone else, as the DNA evidence so far seems to suggest? Or is there more to this man, supposedly a well-known figure in the Perugian bar scene, than meets the eye? Only time will tell.

Looks like the suspects are due back in court about 10 days from now. We'll be interested to see what other goodies are revealed between now and then.

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On my post analyzing Amanda Knox's MySpace page, commenter Travis Oberlander writes:

Hey, really great coverage on this story. I've been very interested in it since I'm a UW alumni. The company that I work for has also been following the story as it develops. We actually jumped on it really early and we were able to grab a screen shot of a revealing short story that Amanda wrote and posted to her Myspace blog in 2006. It's by no means a confession but it does give a little insight into her inner thoughts.

Travis has done what I neglected to do during the one day I had access to Knox's profile: he got a screenshot of her most notorious blog entry, which has since been cited in multiple media reports and web forums, detailing what The Telegraph describes as "the drugging and rape of a young woman." (The screenshot I've linked to above includes what appears to be about the first half of Knox's story...not the whole thing, but enough to give readers a glimpse at her writing voice and into her mind).

From The Telegraph's article on the rape story, published last week:

In [the story], an older brother Edgar, challenges his younger brother Kyle over a woman called Victoria.

His brother responds, laughing: "Icky Vicky, huh? Jeez, Edgar. You had me going there. A thing you have to know about chicks is that they don't know what they want," before attacking him.

As Travis points out, authorities obviously cannot consider this story a confession. But it is useful, even if as nothing more than another piece in the increasingly difficult Amanda Knox puzzle.

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The Telegraph reports today that Amanda Knox, the UW student studying in Italy suspected in the murder of her roommate Meredith Kercher, expressed little concern after discovering her friend's corpse.

The comments were made by a friend of Kercher's, which means that it is best to take them with a grain of salt: after all, it seems reasonable that people from the Kercher camp would be looking to demonize Knox in attempts to secure a guilty verdict in the case.

Still, if accurate, the claims shed a sinister light on a suspect whose MySpace page portrays her as no different than the thousands of other 20-something college girls from the Emerald City.

Robyn Butterworth, one of the last people to see Miss Kercher alive, told police in Britain that Amanda Knox, 20, "seemed proud" of being the first person to see the body.

[...]

Miss Butterworth, who was on the same university exchange programme as Miss Kercher, said she had run into Knox on the day Miss Kercher's body was found.

In a statement to the Northern Constabulary in Scotland, she said: "I went into the police waiting room. It was around 10.30pm. In the waiting room was Amanda, Meredith's flatmate.

"She kept talking about how she had found Meredith and seemed proud of being the first to find her. She behaved as if she was not upset." [As usual, emphasis in the above selection was added by the Seattle Crime Blogger - Ed.]

These are very vague statements. "Seemed proud"? "Behaved as if she was not upset"? Sounds fishy.

What would the suspect have to do to prove to Ms. Butterworth that she was upset? Obviously Knox's reaction to the death of her flatmate wouldn't be as severe as the reaction of one of Kercher's close friends. Is Butterworth saying that since Knox wasn't emotionally distraught or tearful at the death of her roommate, that immediately counts as a strike against her?

Just an observation...

Meanwhile, The Telegraph's coverage yesterday - while the Seattle Crime Blogger was temporarily out of commission - includes some new developments worth noting:

• Meredith murder suspect "caught on CCTV" - A closed circuit TV camera purports to show Knox entering the home where Meredith Kercher died on the night of the crime (apparently contradicting previous statements the flip-flopping suspect already made).
• Hair found in Meredith's fist may identify killer - Ohh, forensics! From the article: "A few strands of hair found in Meredith Kercher's clenched and bloodied fist may hold the clue to the identity of her killer, it has emerged," it says. "Dr Luca Lalli, the pathologist who conducted the autopsy on Miss Kercher, said he had discovered 'some hairs, some skin cells and some other fibres' on her body." If the hair belongs to one of the three suspects currently locked in a Perugian jail, I'd imagine this would just about clinch the case. How could you talk your way out of this one?

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The Daily Mail has the latest scoop this morning. They've published the photo above, which purports to show the crime scene Perugian police discovered after breaking down the door to Meredith Kercher's room on Nov. 2.

[Police] decided to break down the door to Meredith's bedroom after her other flatmate Romonelli Filomena said that it was strange that it was locked and that Meredith was not answering either of her mobile phones.

According to the report the room was a shocking sight.

The report says: "With the door opened there was a chilling scene in so far as the room was found in disorder with blood stains everywhere, on the ground and on the walls, and also under the duvet of the bed a foot could be seen."

Unfortunately the picture is pretty grainy, probably because, as the reporter notes, it is "photocopied from a police crime scene photo."

Her lifeless body is clearly visible in the centre of the image under a duvet next to the bed. Her foot can be seen from beneath the duvet.

Maybe it's just my eyesight, but I can't see the foot at all. Unless...is it the blurred portion just to the right of the letters "A" and "E"?

Meanwhile, The Seattle Times is reporting that Meredith's body has finally been returned to England.

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The Times Online has another great piece on the Amanda Knox case.

This one focuses less on the crime and more on Knox, and how she was supposedly consumed by the excesses of Italian life upon her arrival in Perugia. Just look at the headline: "All-American sweetheart who plunged into world of drink, drugs and easy sex." How could you not want to keep reading?

There are a number of interesting points brought up in this article. If half of the author's claims are true, the Amanda Knox being so aggressively defended by her UW peers may not be the wholesome person friends are claiming:

When she arrived in Perugia for a three-month stay, Ms Knox, 20, was seen as an all-American sweetheart, a soccer player of note and an accomplished rock climber.

But something happened to her in those three months, according to people within the university community of the Umbrian hill town. At some point, apparently quite early on in her stay, she lost control. In the town’s seedier bars, she soon became known as someone who was capable of intense jealousy and rage. She dedicated her free time to the drink, drugs and easy sex of Perugia’s nightlife. [...] One acquaintance said that Ms Knox had not been corrupted by any particular person because she was 'already up for it'. She had plunged fresh from Seattle into a world of vodka, marijuana and free-and-easy sex.

Some of the article's highlights:

• It continually comes back to claims that indicate erratic sexual behavior (that Knox slept with her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito on the first night they met; that she had a reputation for picking up men from local bars; and that she brought some of these "strange men" back to the flat she shared with murder victim Meredith Kercher).
• The author notes that Perugia is "Italy's Ibiza," a cosmopolitan city where immigrants and students mingle closely and where a lot of older men spend their free time hanging with college students in their 20s. " 'There are a lot of older men who hang around the student community,' said Mirko Palmesi, an Italian-Canadian who recently left Perugia after studying at the University for Foreigners. 'I used to ask myself all the time what these older types were doing with us.' " Good question.
  
• Italy's easy access to alcohol (which students of Knox's age in America do not experience), the piece notes, is dangerous for foreigners - especially when coupled with the abundance of money that people who can afford to study abroad usually possess.
  
• One extremely interesting point that I haven't seen mentioned anywhere else: "Marijuana was grown by the students at the whitewashed cottage Ms Knox and Ms Kercher shared with two Italian girls and Ms Knox and her boyfriend admitted smoking on the evening of the murder, which they claim accounts for their confused accounts and memory lapses." I'd heard Sollecito's claims that he couldn't remember much from the night of the crime because he had smoked a joint. But they were growing pot in the same house where Kercher was killed? Why hasn't this come out in the Seattle press, who seem to have an affinity for highlighting pot-related crimes?

The article also seems to hint at something that will surely become a bigger issue in coming weeks: the many faults of study abroad programs.

I've been in college and seen how students view study abroad, and it is no question that the claims implied by this report - mainly, that study abroad programs are a joke, and little more than an excuse for students to go party in another country for a few months - are entirely accurate. Anyone who pays for their child to study abroad and actually thinks that they are going for the education is naive beyond words (I'll expand on this in a blog entry sometime down the road).

All in all, a great article. Somebody buy the reporter a drink.

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Lots of great e-mail response from folks who saw Seattle Crime Blog mentioned on King 5 last night (I'm still trying to find the video somewhere online, and will link to it when I do).

One reader writes:

Have you been following the coverage of this story in the
foreign press? The British press is far more graphic and outspoken
than the American press, which sometimes gets it into a lot of trouble
(like with the Royal Family). [...] I think it would be well worth your time to surf over to
www.dailymail.co.uk to check their coverage. They're saying TONS more,
and a lot sooner, than the wimpoid press in Seattle will divulge about
our girl Amanda.

I'd come across The Daily Mail a few times so far in my investigation, but upon receiving this reader's tip, I headed back over to their site, where I came across a fine example that validates our tipster's claim.

The example comes in the form of this article that the Mail has had up since late yesterday afternoon. It adds an interesting twist to the case - but has so far received absolutely zero coverage in The Seattle Times or the P-I.

Apparently on October 30, a Roman man received a text message from an unknown number with the cryptic message, "For me, tomorrow or tonight Meredith dies." From the Mail:

At the time, the man assumed the message was sent by mistake and he deleted it.

But earlier this week he heard reports of the murder, which has left Italy stunned, and contacted police in his hometown of Rome.

They are now trawling through vast quantities of phone data to retrieve the message and check if it was sent by one of the three suspects.

Phone records have already proved vital in the police investigation and it is known that in the hours after the killing there was heavy text and call traffic between Amanda Knox and boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito.

Some people are already disputing the legitimacy of this message. On the Mail's comment page, Ben from Birmingham writes:

Something in the text story doesn't ring true.

You receive a text message from an unknown number saying that someone will die and not do anything about it?

I share Ben's skepticism. They may do things different in Italy, but I'd imagine that in much of the civilized world, when an individual receives death threats on their cell phone they would have at least some interest in following up on it. But then again, you never know. The media shouldn't accept this message as fact, nor dismiss it immediately, until the phone records come out.

Regardless of the story's accuracy, why would the local press here in Seattle not cover this? While no direct link has been established between this text message and Kercher's murder, it is certainly an interesting development that locals should be made aware of. Any thoughts, readers?

Meanwhile, in their (less-than-in-depth) coverage, The Seattle Times is reporting that Knox has accused her boss, 38-year-old Congolese club owner Patrick Lumumba, of "of knifing her British roommate to death."

Let the fingerpointing begin.

[As usual, the Seattle Crime Blogger has added emphasis in all of the excerpts cited above - Ed.]

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An Italian judge ruled this morning that Amanda Knox, the University of Washington student jailed in Perguia, will remain behind bars.

According to the Guardian Unlimited, the judge's ruling will allow authorities to hold 20-year-old Knox, as well as her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito and Congolese co-worker Patrick Lumumba, in jail for up to a year without facing formal charges in the murder of Meredith Kercher:

In her 19-page ruling, Judge Claudia Matteini said there were "serious indications of guilt" that warranted keeping the trio in jail. She also warned that if released, the suspects could attempt to leave Italy, noting that Knox is from Seattle, Washington, Lumumb[a] is from Congo and Sollecito could seek his girlfriend's help to flee.

Meanwhile, over at West Seattle Blog, there's a link to the statement recently released by Knox's family. It says:

The events that have unfolded in Perugia, Italy over the last few days regarding our daughter, Amanda, have shocked and devastated our family. We love our daughter very much and certainly stand by her through this ordeal. We know she is probably frightened and upset about what has happened, and needs all the support her family can give her.

We would ask the media to respect the privacy of the members of our families and friends, and refrain from putting further pressure on them for interviews and comment, especially our children.

Interesting day so far...and its not even 10:30 yet.

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Anyone who has clicked the link to Amanda Knox's MySpace page (which I included in my last post) will know that, as of about 4 p.m. yesterday afternoon, her profile was set to private.

Once again, Monica Guzman at the P.I.'s Big Blog got the scoop first, updating readers that both Knox's MySpace and Facebook profiles have disappeared from the public eye.

And once again, the comment section includes a rant from someone unfamiliar with the purpose of the Internet. Welcome to the spotlight, grammatically handicapped author of comment #64334:

The internet has become too public. None of what was seen online has any serious relation to the case. But innocent things like the youtube video and Myspace info are easily blown out of proportions by zealous media. The internet should be a place to share and be open. Instead it can badly misused. [As usual, emphasis has been added by the Seattle Crime Blogger - Ed.]

How foolish we reporters are, thinking that something somebody puts up on the Internet is - gasp! - public information. The Internet is "a place to share and be open." You're right: Amanda Knox was open, and the media is sharing. Shocking, I know.

And just for you, commenter, we've included images of what you can't find on MySpace today: Amanda Knox's profile page, exactly as it was when taken down yesterday. Check it out after the jump.
The profile picture. Knox operates on MySpace under the alias "Foxy Knoxy." Note the date of her last login, as of early yesterday morning: 11/5/07. 3 days after Meredith Kercher's body was found:



Foxy Knoxy's Blurbs. She seems like the stereotypical female Seattle college student - likes drinking (both wine and coffee), spending time in the outdoors, practicing yoga...and reading Harry Potter:



Foxy Knoxy's Interests. Here we start to see just who Amanda Knox is. She appears to be a big fan of the Beatles and other classic rock, throwing in a little Outkast and Cake for good measure (much respect for the latter of these...the Seattle Crime Blogger is also partial to the fine sounds of John McCrea's Sacramento quintet).

Her favorite film list is divided between the childish (The Lion King, Shrek, Finding Nemo), the comedic (Spaceballs, Robin Hood: Men in Tights) and the subversive (Fight Club, American Beauty). Still, nothing overly exciting or revealing here...just another Seattle college student who spends too much time customizing their MySpace page:



Foxy Knoxy's Details. This section, not surprisingly, reveals the most information about Knox, and shows a couple inconsistencies between the person she claims to be and the murder suspect being portrayed by the media.

• Status: Single (That's not what we've heard. Did Knox not want her parents or friends to know she was dating a 23-year-old Italian, Raffaele Sollecito, who has also been arrested in connection with Kercher's murder?)
• Smoke/Drink: No/No (Really? Then how do you explain the love of "good wine," Knox's first interest listed under the "About me" page in Foxy Knoxy's Blurbs? Or this YouTube video, which has been making its way around the web like wildfire, and appears to show Knox under the influence of alcohol?)

More on this case when I've got time to blog it...

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The European tabloids are having a field day with this one.

Amanda Knox (pictured, right), a Seattle native and University of Washington student currently studying abroad in Italy, has been arrested in connection with the sexual assault and murder of her housemate, Meredith Kercher. The local press is all over it as well, as in-depth articles have appeared in both The Seattle Times and the P-I.

I won't go into the specifics of the case here: the P-I and Times articles are plenty detailed when it comes to balanced reporting, and for good old-fashioned sensationalist news, check out the Times Online, the Daily Mail, and any other British papers you can get ahold of. They're doing journalism the way it used to be: seedy, exciting, and yellow as hell. The latest twist, according to the Times Online? That Kercher was killed after "refusing to take part in a violent orgy." (God, this case is going to sell a lot of newspapers).

What is worth noting is the slew of Knox defenders jumping on her critics, despite the fact that the suspect, according to the articles I've read so far, has already "confessed to playing a role in the slaying." Italian authorities have yet to announce exactly what that role is.

After Monica Guzman wrote an update on it in the P-I's Big Blog (special kudos to Ms. Guzman for being the first blogger I found linking to Knox's MySpace page), a wave of comments - many from people claiming to be friends of the suspect - flooded in.

Some of the highlights (emphasis in each comment has been added by the Seattle Crime Blogger):

• One unregistered user left this gem as comment #63873: "There is also no reason for the (London) Times reporter to e-mail Amanda's friends, including myself, for interviews. I dislike the notion of him tracking down my e-mail from links on Amanda's Facebook profile. [...] Amanda doesn't deserve this media maelstrom." Are you serious? Has this commenter been living under a rock for the past four years? Welcome to the world of the Internet, baby. If you don't like the idea of being discovered through your Facebook profile...then don't have a Facebook profile.
• Another unregistered user, following up with comment #63880, gave a more reasonable response: "It doesnt matter if you know her or not, if she's commited or aided in the killing of a housemate then why doesnt she deserve this media "maelstrom"? [...] Im disgusted that some of you are more worried about this suspect's reputation rather than the feelings of the family of friends of a murdered girl." Well said, despite the wave of spelling and grammar errors. If Knox is in fact involved, the idea that her reputation is more important than due process reeks of subliminal ethnocentrism.
  
• In response to all of the claims that Amanda is a nice person who could never commit murder, the most recent comment as of 10 a.m. - also from an unregistered user - sums it up quite succinctly: "They say Ted Bundy seemed like an awful nice guy too. Ya just never know." Appearances can be deceiving. It'll be interesting to watch this situation develop, and to find out more about just who Amanda Knox really is. I don't know where I stand on the case at this point...it's still too early to tell. But before anyone defends (or attacks) Amanda Knox, we should wait for more details to emerge.
  

The best news? Now that I've got a link to Knox's MySpace page - which shockingly is still online as of 10 a.m. Wednesday - I've taken screenshots galore. We'll be posting an "Anatomy of...", in which I dissect the pertinent details of that MySpace page, later this evening tomorrow. Stay tuned...the Seattle Crime Blog will be covering this story closely.