THE LETTERS THAT APPEAR in Kris Johnson’s mailbox every month are as puzzling as anything else in this story full of puzzling things. The envelopes bear smiley faces inside of hearts and heart-shaped peace signs ringed with sunflower petals. The words aren’t so much written as drawn—the dots above the i ’s open circles instead of finite points—suggesting the author playfully danced the pen across the paper’s surface. Not exactly mail one expects from a prison inmate, especially one convicted of murder. Johnson keeps the letters, 11 so far, in a red folder on which she has written, in black marker, “Amanda Knox.”
The Seattle Preparatory School teacher had gone years without hearing that name until it was spoken during a faculty meeting in November 2007. And even then it took a moment for the name to register. The school president had been besieged by reporters, particularly the British press, in response to an event half a world away. And so a meeting was called: Teachers, if anyone inquires about Amanda Knox or asks about the murder, don’t say a word.
Johnson, a 30-year teaching veteran, doesn’t watch television. And in the midst of grading student essays she’d missed the newspaper coverage about the Seattle Prep high school alum and University of Washington student living in Italy during her junior year abroad. Amanda Knox? Murder? She called up the memory of the bright student in her AP English class. It didn’t make sense. “I went back and read some of what had been reported,” Johnson says. In articles with headlines like “Student Murdered After Refusing to Take Part in Sex” and “The Twisted World of Foxy Knoxy,” the teacher learned that her star pupil had been arrested for the homicide of her roommate in the medieval Italian village of Perugia. Investigators speculated that the victim perished during a Knox-led orgy or satanic ritual.
“Amanda was a person who went out of the way to be kind to other people,” Johnson thought. “How in the world could this be the same person?”
The question would puzzle others affiliated with Seattle Prep—faculty, Knox’s fellow students, and their parents. The answer most of them came to, and what they decided to do with that answer, would put the school in the crosshairs of local and international scrutiny. The school held fundraisers for Knox’s legal defense fund and wrote letters on her behalf to President Obama. A King County judge—a parent of one of Knox’s classmates—put his job on the line to defend her. And an Italian prosecutor, 6,000 miles away, scratched his head at Seattle Prep’s audacity.
Why was this high school, so seemingly incongruous with what the world knew about Amanda Knox, sticking its neck out for her? The answer is as complex as the murder mystery itself.
ALTHOUGH THE NARRATIVE WOULD SHIFT over time, early reports of the homicide investigation went like this: On the morning of November 2, 2007, two officers from the Perugia police department arrived at the house Knox shared with 21-year-old British exchange student Meredith Kercher and two Italian women. Kercher’s cellphones had turned up in some bushes about 200 yards away, and the police had simply come to reconnect her with the phone.
Instead, they found Knox in front of the house, allegedly with a mop and bucket. She was accompanied by her boyfriend of seven days, Raffaele Sollecito, the son of a wealthy Italian doctor. The couple told the police they suspected something amiss, directing them to a broken window and Kercher’s bedroom door, which was locked from the inside. The cops requested the bedroom door be opened—then beheld the horror on the other side: Kercher’s nearly naked body under a duvet, her throat slashed and the room splattered in blood.
Published: December 2010
I went to Seattle Prep, and did a full year in Italy. I learned Italian and the culture and saw a lot of Americans and Italians from the South that studied in Central and Northern university towns, go a little nuts with all the freedom away from home. Since I started following this trial, I could totally see how immoral behavior could lead to Amanda doing what she was accused of doing. Drug use, jealous roommates, and illicit sex are not a good mix, especially when people need money to support such habits. Amanda seems to have a lobby of, easily swayed by progaganda lab rats, who bought in to the PR Agency story and don’t bother following the case in its entirety. I do not know the background of the Seattle Prep Principal, but I think he is going way over his head by getting into this case, and as a prior poster mentioned, he is putting a lot of pressure on people to get on the pro-Amanda bandwagon; so sick to sway young students’ minds on what to think. This sounds like our post-modern decaying American mentality of choosing sides and voicing misdirected-emotions in forming opinions. The Principal does not sound like a well educated, worldly individual to put the Academic Institution and its students, employees, and graduates in the middle of this fiasco. It wreaks of “We Support Our Troops,” military campaigns to coerce and intimidate people into believing a “popular” movement.
To say Amanda and Raffaele got a fair trial must be some sort of cruel joke.
The following from Massei’s motivation report translates to (perjury) the bloody footprints said to be found found in the apartment, said to be compatible with Amanda and Raffaele is a bloody lie. They did not find bloody footprints belonging to Amanda or Raffaele anywhere on Earth:
Quote from Massei’s motivation report page 256-257: “With respect to the Luminol-positive traces found in Romanelli’s room, in Knox’s room and in the corridor, she stated that by analyzing the SAL cards “we learn, in contradiction to what was presented in the technical report deposited by the Scientific Police, and also to what was said in Court, that not only was the Luminol test performed on these traces, but also the generic diagnosis for the presence of blood, using tetramethylbenzidine, and this test, gave a negative result on all the items of evidence from which it was possible to obtain a genetic profile” (page 64 hearing Sept. 26, 2009).”
(page 64 hearing Sept. 26, 2009). "Dr. Stefanoni confirmed that to prove that blood is present, you have to test for it. Dr. Stefanoni claimed that no testing was done. In July 2009 the test records revealed otherwise. The luminol findings were tested using tetramethylbenzidine, and the tests were negative for all tracks. The luminol findings tested negative for blood.
Every single person who believes Amanda Knox is guilty should be made to read this. I have no connection to the family, but, after studying the case in great detail, have no doubt whatsoever that Amanda is innocent.
They say Americans have never gotten the full story, or are victims of a Knox/Mellas Pr campaign. This is nonsense. Every aspect of the charges and evidence are out there, have been studied, and have been refuted.
Anyone who studies the Massei Report will see how badly flawed it is. This goes far beyond reasonable doubt – the evidence is absurd. However, simply the number of experts in various areas how believe Amanda is innocent should at least demonstrate reasonable doubt to even the most skeptical.
Amanda will be acquitted, and then the world will see who she really is. Until then my heart goes out to her courageous family.
We were in Tuscany when the murder occurred. I will never forget the English papers. When we returned I followed the trial and have been very emotionally involved with this case ever since. There can be NO DOUBT whatsoever (excuse me for shouting but I can’t help it)…Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito are innocent. This is one of the most egregious examples of a"kangaroo court" I have ever seen (and my husband watches alot of 48 ID TV). This is the first time I have read the comments on this website. I am not at all surprised…she is described exactly as I expected.
I don’t know what our government can do about this if she isn’t freed on appeal, but everyone who cares about her should be deluging their Senators, Congressmen and President Obama with pleas for help.
Amanda must be a very nice person–– not to mention incapable of murdering anyone. And she did not murder anyone.
Rudy Hermann Guede, acting alone, murdered Meredith Kercher. Rudy’s DNA, his bloody hand prints, bloody fingerprints, bloody footprints, skin fragments, and hair were found inside the victim’s body, outside the victim’s body, and all over the crime scene.No evidence at all from Amanda Knox was found. Nothing. Nothing was found because she was not there.
Not there equals not guilty.
As an alumna of Seattle Prep, I feel compelled to react to the comments of “Amanda” on this Comments post. It is inappropriate for you to make any comment about how the Seattle Prep community should act when you are not a member of the community yourself. Clearly, you have not been educated at Seattle Prep and guided to act under the creed of cura personalis. Moreover, as a lawyer, I can convey that as an American citizen detained outside the United States, Amanda Knox is entitled to the most vigorous defense and advocacy this country can provide to ensure that she is afforded due process under Italian/Perugian law. To date, that has not occurred.
This article certainly shows what a powerful personality Ms. Knox has displayed throughout her life. The people who actually know her, rally together for her defense despite world opposition and a gigantic European media campaign to vilify her. I think it says a great deal about Seattle Prep’s student’s and faculty. Perhaps, as “Amanda” above states, not everyone wants to be involved. But obviously the the principal and teachers who actually knew Amanda Knox didn’t just want to be involved, they got involved and made that benefit happen.
Last month, an Italian statesman, Rocco Girlanda, sent to Capanne prison to interview Knox, published a book about his interviews with her. He had to see her once as a state department requirement. He went back to see her 20 times. He was amazed by her eloquence in Italian, which, after 3 years, he says she speaks better than many native speakers. He was intrigued that, even in prison, her mind remains active and involved in ideas and current events. The book, Take Me With You: Conversations with Amanda in Prison, sold out its first edition two days ago and is in a second edition in Italy. All proceeds from the book go to a foundation to improve relations between Italy and the United States. The book has not been published in English but is available as a Kindle download from Amazon. It is another indication of the impact of Amanda Knox’ personality on people who meet her even casually.
I think the Italian police, who have very little experience with the type of crime they encountered here, and the European media picked the wrong American to railroad for murder.
This is what people like this do, they put out this front for everyone to see, but deep down, they have problems mentally. Its a shock to see such a good kid be accused of something as terrible as murder, but the facts line up, and you have to realize that she was not the same person she was at Prep. Sure, she was a great student, a friendly, nice woman, but she changed, and it is obvious. People change all of the time, and she unfortunately changed in a devastating way. It is hard to accept such a thing, but you can’t put her back out on the streets, hoping she has changed, because too many people have died (cops in Washington state this year due to a killer we let free because of “good behavior”, of course he was on “good” behavior, he wanted out of jail, who would want to be locked up)? I do not feel safe having a murder suspect free in Seattle, it is not right, regardless of who she was and who she is now, you have to forget the past, and look at the facts that are given to us, that knife and her DNA are saying something. GUILTY!
Knox was convicted before the trial began, as happens often in Italian courts. These small town jurist convicted her on what they thought her morals were, not on the evidence.
Pray that the appeal will correct these errors. A modest reduction of her sentence is not acceptable.
Knox was convicted before the trial began, as happens often in Italian courts. These small town jurist convicted her on what they thought her morals were, not on the evidence.
Pray that the appeal will correct these errors. A modest reduction of her sentence is not acceptable.
Excellent, in-depth article. She’s innocent, and so is Raffaele. Let’s get them home ASAP.
An excellent article that sheds more light on the real Amanda. But as usual there is a pro-guilt comment to it from a person that really thinks that a life-long good and caring person can really be a perfect monster with no leakage of their dark alter ego. This is tantamount to saying that ANYONE even the nicest person you know… a lifelong friend or a close family member can someday lash out and do something insane and evil with effectively ZERO forewarning of any kind for no reason… this is tabloid nonsense.
Sad that this sort of logic informs some of the public and even people in a justice system… arrested people must be guilty, why else were they arrested?… Arrested people must be charged. Charged people must be culpable and therefore must be found guilty…. and a self fulfilling media frenzy feeding off of a flawed investigation and biased legal process only added to the foregone conclusion that backward re-interpreted elements of a good person’s life become hints to a dark and poisonous interior that of course had to erupt eventually…
This is the modern incarnation of Witch fear: the idea that anyone can become possessed and be a danger to you, your loved ones and the public. It rejects real psychology, science and logic and substitutes myth and helplessness. No warnings, no protection, only punishment of formerly secret monsters as identified by the modern equivalent of Witch-finder Generals. Actual provable evidence not to mention the reality of a person’s entire life are immaterial to those with this mindset and their followers and fans.
An excellent and fair article. The prosecution did not produce a case but rather a cruel and cynical hoax designed to cover up incompetent police work. Better that two young people be harmed than that the police in Perugia look bad. The prosecution narrative has superficial plausibility but it disintegrates completely upon analysis. It was designed to fool the uninformed and it did just that.
Regarding the knife and the DNA. The evidence overwhelming demonstrates that the kitchen knife is incompatible with all of the wounds and was not the weapon used in the attack. The DNA methodology used on the knife was not of the sort used in American courts and did not comport with forensic standards anywhere in the world. The young, inexperienced lab technician who did the analysis made up her own methodology on the fly in order to force a result. The results of her analysis would not have been admitted into evidence anywhere else.
God Bless Seattle prep. You are right, of course. The girl who won your compassion award did not turn into a monster. She was arrogantly and impudently framed. In the end, the Amanda Knox case is not a drama, or a mystery, or an example of a clash of cultures—it is about police and prosecutorial misconduct, plain and simple.
Thank you, James Rose Gardner for this excellent article. This is an important story. The people of Seattle are not doing enough. An innocent daughter of their community has been taken hostage by a lynch mob on the other side of the world. They should be marching in the streets.
Judicial mistakes happen in the US; they happen everywhere. One of the best examples was in Wenatchee Washington two decades ago. A corrupt police official named Robert Perez got convictions against several dozen people for various child sex abuse charges. In time the people recognized what was happening and all those convicted were released. The Italian people should do the same and hold their public officials accountable.
Amanda Knox has been demonized by a despicable European tabloid press. She did not receive a fair trial and she didn’t have anything to do with the tragic murder of Meredith Kercher. The Italian judicial system was broken in her case. International observers have criticized this case in unprecedented language.
Some basics on the case: Meredith Kercher was murdered by Rudy Guede. Virtually all sexually motivated homicides are committed by troubled males like him. Female participation is not unheard of but is rare and generally the result of male manipulation. The scenario put forth by prosecutors in Amanda’s case would have no precedent in the history of crime.
Rudy Guede’s DNA was all over the crime scene, including inside the victim’s sexual areas; his palm print is there in the victim’s blood; he has defensive wounds; he has a history of knife violence; he has a history of robbing houses by climbing in windows broken with rocks; he flees; he admits being there. His story is that he had consensual sexual contact with the victim and that somebody else came in and killed her while he sat on the toilet. He says he comforted Meredith while she lay bleeding to death but he does not call police or an ambulance. Later that night he is seen dancing at a discotheque. The next day he flees to Germany. The cuts on his hands are from his heroic attempts to fight off the real attacker. Only an idiot would believe that story. Meredith was involved in a relationship with an Italian young man and there is no evidence of a relationship between her and Guede. He was unemployed and not a student. His only apparent means of support was petty theft and small time drug dealing. In the weeks prior to the crime he had been involved in a series of armed burglaries including one where he threatened someone with a knife.
Raffaele Sollecito did not know who Rudy Guede was. Meredith and Amanda knew his name but little more. There was no Internet or cell phone contact between Guede and the others, ever. They did not get together with him for a sex orgy. The house where Meredith and Amanda lived was in a decidedly bad location. Residents of Perugia had warned Meredith that it was not safe to spend the night there alone. And they weren’t talking about any threat from someone like Amanda.
American news organizations have taken a hard look at the case and they have come away breathing fire. CBS News put private investigator Paul Ciolino on scene and he describes “an injustice of biblical proportions.” Senator Maria Cantwell has stated that an impartial jury could not have reached this decision. Legal experts on Larry King Live called it a “public lynching” and a “kangaroo court.” New York Times correspondent Tim Egan compared the case to the Salem Witch Trials.
All of this is in sharp contrast to the British and Italian tabloid press who printed lie after lie about Amanda. At one point they claimed she had had sex with 6 Italian men while in Italy and that she wrote that Raffaele might have done it. Both statements were lies that have never been retracted. More recently Nick Pisa wrote of a bloody knife that contained the DNA of both Amanda and the victim. He knows full well that that knife tested negative for blood and that outside experts have made clear that the sample was too small to be tested accurately. A responsible press would have been questioning the actions of the public officials involved in the case. The European tabloids only cared about the lurid sexual aspects of the case.
The trial of Amanda Knox was a travesty of justice. The people of Seattle should be doing more to confront this outrage.
Perhaps you missed the part where it mentioned that the knife evidence is probably not real…
It is true some of the Seattle Prep families have allowed their students to support Amanda Knox. Do not believe that it is a 100%. A number of families have felt their students were pressured into supporting Knox without having a choice. That is not the Seattle Prep I knew from my years there as a student nor is it what my husband experienced. In our years as Prep students we were allowed choice rather than pressure. Because of the pressure a number of family are not making their annual donations to Seattle Prep. I, for one, will be glad when the verdict in the appeal is handed down so perhaps we can all move past this event. Yes, event. Seattle Prep has made it into an event and it takes away from the students discussing other news and issues. I do not wish Knox ill but my children did not go to school with her and do not know her. They have no idea if she is guilty. They are more worried about their close friend that is fighting cancer. It is time to un-focus on Knox. That’s just my opinion.
Let us pray for both the victim and for Amanda/Raffaelle. Let us God punish the real murderer.
NObody can say by now the real and truth but the conscience and our Beloved Almighty can identIfy who the real evil and monster.
Let us not judge anyone!
I was suspect from the case from the start, A female perpetrator in a rape and murder? Didn’t match any intuition I’ve ever had into criminality. To top it off, unlike other highly suspect cases they even had the real killer, a completely mundane explanation is all that is needed. A scenario of local criminals preying on college students that virtually every major campus police department in America is well familiar with. No need to come up with satanic sex orgies, when confronted with footprints think horses, not unicorns! This police work is equivalent to if when the Tallahassee cops had found the girls Ted Bundy murdered in the sorority at Florida State, their first instincts were to book another of the college girls. To compound it, after all the physical evidence had come in linking Bundy to the crime instead of dropping the charges, they reduced Bundy’s sentence to 16 years to testify that the 20 year old sorority girl was the ringleader behind it all! Preposterous, reminds me of the West Memphis Three innocently convicted in a wild fantasy of satanic ritualistic murder by some incompetent hacks.
Hi. I’m in the UK and I support the defence of Amanda Knox. The article is excellent. From the start I thought that the way the press were involved and the way the prosecutor conjured up a fastastic scenario of how he claimed the murder had happened were almost laughable. May justice prevail for Amanda and Raffaele!
DeJure, are you familiar with the concept of free speech? Commenter Amanda is free to express her opinions about the Seattle Prep community; being a member of that community is not a requirement to have an opinion about it. Don’t try to silence her just because you disagree with what she says.