American Girl, Italian Nightmare

(CBS News)  Produced by Joe Halderman and Doug Longhini

Amanda Knox, the 21-year-old foreign exchange student from Seattle, is today the most recognizable and hated woman in Italy.

Amanda has been on trial in Perugia, Italy since early January 2009, charged, along with her Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, with the murder of Amanda's British roommate, Meredith Kercher.

The case with tabloid claims of kinky sex, drugs and even satanic rituals is a murder-mystery sensation in Europe.

"You can't believe the hysteria, the anger against Amanda Knox. All my Italian friends think she's guilty," author Doug Preston tells 48 Hours Mystery correspondent Peter Van Sant. "This is a case based on lies, superstition and crazy conspiracy theories. It's a tragedy."

But Italian prosecutor Giuliano Mignini says Amanda Knox is a killer who slashed her roommate's throat.

Amanda's parents, Edda Mellas and Curt Knox, can't believe their daughter could be accused of this horrible crime. Now divorced, they have joined forces to support and defend their daughter.

"Amanda is doing her best to try and stay upbeat in a horrible situation for her," says Mellas.

"We're going to find out in the long run that Amanda had nothing to do with this and will be set free," says Knox.

Amanda's troubles began innocently enough on the morning of Nov. 2, 2007, when police found two cells phones that belonged to Meredith and brought the phones back to a house Meredith and Amanda shared.

"They found Raffaele and Amanda there in a worried and disturbed state," British journalist Nick Pisa explains.

Amanda says she had been trying unsuccessfully to reach Meredith all morning and was worried.

"Meredith's bedroom door is locked," Pisa continues. "And the door is broken down and inside is Meredith's lifeless body."

Meredith, 22, is found lying in a pool of blood.

"There were 47 separate wounds -- not 47 knife wounds, but 47 bruises, scratches, cuts, injuries on Meredith's body," Pisa explains. "There was evidence that she was, quite literally, fighting for her life."

The murder shocked the medieval hill town of Perugia, which is a center for foreign students. Pisa says that Meredith could not have been a more innocent victim.

"She'd fallen in love with Italy. So that's basically why this girl from South London, the youngest of four children, decided to come and study in Perugia," he explains.

On Nov. 1, the night of the murder, Amanda was supposed to work at a bar called Le Chic, but her boss, Patrick Lumumba, told her not to come in. Amanda says she spent the night with her boyfriend, Raffaele, at his apartment. Meredith went to a friend's for dinner.

"The next thing you know is Meredith left her friend's apartment, she walked back to her house around 8:30, 9:00ish. And that was the last we know - or the last time we know - she was alive," says Pisa.

Since Amanda and Raffaele were at the house when Meredith's body was discovered, the two immediately became important witnesses.

"She said they had a lot of questions for her because she was the first one that had come back to the house. And she wanted to help," Mellas says.

Investigators asked the couple to come back to the house the following day.

"We saw these two youngsters embrace, caressing each other - kissing - whispering into each other's ears and the impression was of complicity," says Italian investigator and 48 Hours consultant Paulo Sfriso, who describes the sight captured on video as unsettling.

"There's the image of them, of the two of them, kissing outside the murder scene. One's expectation would be for them to be in shock, in tears," Sfriso says. "Instead, they seem to be sharing a little secret between the two of them."

Then, four days after the murder, prosecutor Giuliano Mignini brought Raffaele and Amanda in for questioning.

48 Hours exclusively obtained the tape of Amanda describing to an Italian judge what happened to her that night.

"I was very tired and I was also quiet stressed out. They kept asking me the same questions... At a certain point… the police began to be more aggressive with me."

Amanda repeatedly told police that she was with Raffaele in his apartment on the night of the murder.

"They called me a liar. Then they started pushing on me the idea that I must have seen something and forgotten about it."

Police confronted Amanda with a text message she had sent her boss, Patrick Lumumba, the night Meredith was killed. Her message: "See you later." Police believed the message implied Amanda was planning to meet Lumumba back at her house.

"…they kept saying, 'You said this thing to Patrick. We know that you left the house. We know.'"

Amanda claims the aggressive questioning turned physical.

"I was hit in the back of the head by one of the police officers who said she was trying to make me - help me remember the truth."

Listen to Amanda's full statement | Read her statement

The truth that night, after 14 hours of interrogation, was a written statement that police had Amanda sign: "I met Patrick…we went to my apartment. Patrick had sex with Meredith. I confusedly remember that he killed her."

Within hours, bar owner Patrick Lumumba, Raffaele Sollecito and Amanda Knox were arrested.

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[ampanor]

This whole case is disgraceful. Two young adults are on trial for their lives, and peop;e are more concerned over what a 20 year old at the time wrote on her my space page and a silly nick name! Facts dont lie people wake up! The knife does not match the imprint-there for not the murder weapon, the bra clasp picked up 6 weeks later and handled shall we say with out care.LOL and best of all a man admits to having sex with Meredith but does not hear her scream or struggle with a murderer grt real. He was asked five times if Amanda was there 5 times he answers no; suddenly the story changes and he is doing 16 yrs and not 30. Wait this is the best part acoording to the prosecution its onlt because he apologized to meregiths family. There is no evidence that these three individuals even knew one another no links thru cell phones e-mails. Wow its times like this I am so greatful I am an American. I have a 5 year old and a 2 year old and this whole horrifying story remind why i will never let them study abroad!!!!! You know I thought the mtv hit show Jersey show really did a job making Itilians look like a bunch of brain dead morans; but I guess the Itilian goverment has taken care of rhat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dixxson]

ITALY: She will likely get off. She's already done 4 yrs of Horror. Look at TVs AMERICAN JUSTICE, you'll see many peoples lives destroyed on less evidence! Cops I thought were trained by American TV, just like the CANADIAN COPS that murdered the AIR PORT traveler. Racist celebrating O J Simpson. She may get off but 1000s of White Peoples are O Jayed everyday. You establish a RHYTHM, a PHYSIOLOGICAL PATTERN of O J. Saw a man on TV, wife died, elderly parents claim suspicion, INSURANCE MONEY. Away he goes, For LIFE. (KERCHERS) here, the parents of victim, complaining their daughter,s been forgotten. ALIAS O J. RON GOLDMAN that doesn't have anything to do with the case!
I believed AMANDA long before I saw her sweet innocent face! I believed the police said to her what she said they said. That makes them TERRORIST. She was TERRIFIED of them! So she threw them LUMUMBA! So then they're going to tell me, she's (SUSAN SMITH, CHARLIE STEWART, THE SCOTTSBOR0 ******. A terrified woman, grabbing for a life line, I don't think so. Those COPS are about as honest as the CENTRAL PARK JOGGER Detectives. Complaining after their release after 15 yrs. (IT'S ALL ABOUT MONEY one complained. Remember, JUDGES, PERSECUTORS, DETECTIVES, never demonstrated a human conscience!
The Central Park Papist did! Serial Racist Murderer JOSEPH PAUL FRANKLIN saved a victim of the one of his crimes from the police! So they refuse to listen to the murderer in this case. Because like all the others, it's all about them, their money, & promotions!

[javierip2682]

We have to do somethiiiiinnng I can put some money for some swat team to rescue her!!!!

[carlo_65]

48 HOURS,WHEN DO YOU SAY THW WHOLE TRUE?

[ukrainelover]

Amanda Knox did not kill anyone !! Girls do not help guys get laid with another woman, which was the motive espoused by the prosecutor that she wanted to help the drug dealer get laid even by force with her roommate. She had no bond with the drug dealer! She only knew her roommate for two weeks which was not enough time to create any hatred of her! SHe would not have stood there to watch the drug dealer stab the roommate over and over like he did, and she certainly was not a girl to use a knife to stab anyone. Girls knife people only on very rare occassions. The psychology is missing when trying to create a story involving Amanda in the murder of her roommate. If she had been an ugly girl the Italian media would have ignored her, but they thought they were taking down a hot looking American brat type of girl, but they instead put an innocent child in prison with their shameless reporting.

[nicole9z]

Amanda Knox is an intelligent foreign exchange student, not some average village idiot. I think if she were truly guilty of murdering her roommate, she would have had a murder plan, or if it were a spontaneous act, she probably would have been expecting the police at the crime scene, and then either fled and sought refuge in the U.S. Embassy or been caught in the act of (how do i say this delicately?) trying to hide her "late" roommate's remains. However, neither was the case. It seems to me those in authority often care more about punishing and making an example of a person than taking the time and responsibility to thoroughly review all the gathered evidence, which may already present proof contrary to the verdict.

[overlawed-overtaxed]

sex games? yeh, there's games allright judge and prosecuter
games.

[kbo-1976]

Right sex games the prosecutor wishes. I think he is the sick and perverse one!

[msday1]

What kind of young woman would write a fictional tale about another young woman being held down and raped? This was on her myspace page and it was written before she arrived in Italy.

What kind of young man writes that he has an obsession with serial killers and keeps a collection of manga comics depicting sexual violence? This was on his myspace page and the comics were found at his house.

If you arrived at your house and found that there was a break-in, what would you do? Amanda noticed blood stains, called her one of her Italian roommates to tell her about it, and then decided to take a shower.

The police arrived to see Meredith because both of her cellphones were found. Amanda and her boyfriend were sitting on the steps. The police went in, broke down the door and found Meredith's body.

Now ask yourself, if you came in noticed a broken window and saw blood, wouldn't that make you anxious and curious enough to walk cautiously through the house and check each room? As a woman, wouldn't you be afraid that someone was still hiding in the house? What would make you feel comfortable enough to take a shower? Why wouldn't you say to yourself, "f--the shower, I'm calling the police!"

After the police inform you that your roommate was in her room, with a slashed throat under a Duvet, wouldn't that freak you out? Wouldn't you be in shock, shedding some tears, looking sideways at the boyfriend you have only known for 4 days? Would you feel sexy enough to stand outside kissing and hugging?

Just because she is a white and wholesome looking American girl, it doesn't mean that she is not as guilty as homemade sin. This article is biased towards Amanda. It is an attempt to portray her as a sacrificial lamb.

If you are innocent, no matter how many times someone hits you in the head, you don't admit something you didn't do. You also don't write in your prison journal about how "special" you are and how the police can't "prove" that you were in the house. The word "prove" is not a word, an innocent person would use.

[seadoo1a]

For the ones calling CBS bias and one way, CBS showed you facts. They didnt make anything up. The knife that the Italian government says is the knife does not fit the imprint left by the real knife. Also there were many more cuts on the victim that the police did not match or for that matter try to match to anything either. And the Italians own words hurt them as well when they say Amanda was not the cleanest person in the world. Well If she is not so clean, then explain how not one person, but two people did not leave one shread of evidence in a room where supposedly 4 people were fighting or as they want to call it a sex orgy gong wrong? They caught the real murder which who's DNA, Hair, etc was found ALL OVER THE CRIME SCENE!!. I say It again FACT's. Amanda's DNA is on a knife that was not at the crime scene, but in a drawer at her boyfriends house and as stated before, Let See, Boyfriends house, Im sure her DNA is all over her boyfriends house and the knife the italian say is the knife, does not even match the imprint left by the real knife, and they could not WITHOUT A DOUBT match the DNA to the victim. For you people that say she is guilty, then where is the evidence. You want to talk about her confession, Ok, She didnt even know how to speak Italian that well at that time, and the Italian government questioned her for more than 14 hours with no lawyer present or translator for her. I wonder how many time she asked to speak to a lawyer or translator? I personally seen police tactics for interogating a suspect which they sit you in a room and if you don't know is called a post arrest and it is not pretty especially after 14 hours. They scream at you, they try to twist your words, call you a liar the whole time. So I personally can understand how she would say anything just to get them to leave her alone. You have no idea what you are talking about if you think this girl is guilty. Just the way the Italian police handled the case makes me suspisous of them " Based on the FACTS they presented". You think she is guilty, then point out real evidence when you make your statement. There is not one shread of evidence that says she is or was even in the same room at the time of the crime. As a few have stated here, Makes me afraid to go to another country. By the way, I am of hispanc nationality. I hope they get her out of that sick place and bring her home where she belongs.

[wakeywakeyhandsoffsnakey]

Where to start.

Ok - well the knife found at the boyfriends house had Knox DNA on the handle and Kercher DNA on the blade. The DNA patterns were consistent with the knife being used as a weapon.

Kercher had never been to the boyfriends house. Knox had only been seeing him for 6 days.

The knife itself had been washed very recently in bleach. Not soap - bleach. Who washes a knife in bleach?

Oh - and it was the same bleach that Knox had been buying early on the morning after Kerchers murder, when her alibi had her in bed with the boyfiend. A little odd, yes?

The italians questioned her in English.

Knox blamed the bar owner, and stood by the story for days, until several witnesses gave him a REAL alibi. Knox has never apologied to him for the attempted frame up. Instead several months later malicious rumors that Knox had been 'slapped' by the Italian police into making the accusation surfaced, at about the same time the Knox family engaged a PR firm to handle their propoganda war/smear campaign.

'There is not one shread of evidence that says she is or was even in the same room at the time of the crime.'

Other than the testimony of the guy who was jailed for 30 years. Knox held a knife to Kerchers neck, as boyfriend held her down (leaving DNA on her bra) and other guy attempted rape.

Wake up.

[kbo-1976]

wakeywakeyhandsoffsnakey I was wash my knives in a solution of bleach and soap to prevent salmonella poisoning after cutting meat. You can actually buy Dawn with bleach on the shelf, but I like mine stronger...and no I have never killed my roommates!

[chloesmama]

This was not a biased story by CBS however I can see how if you are ignorant and unable to use reason in your judgment, you might believe that it was biased. I find it to be unbelievable that a young girl regardless of her country would be held and convicted with a lack of evidence and without a fair chance at justice. This story makes me hesitate to travel to another country where a vengeful and corrupt prosecutor can make his own rules and enforce his own laws. Shame on Italy and shame on the Italian government for allowing an egotistical maniac to prosecute people who are most likely more law abiding than him. Every person should imagine what if this was your daughter?

[wakeywakeyhandsoffsnakey]

Lack of evidence.
Fair chance of justice.

All opinions I'm afraid. Opinions based on you WANTING Knox to be innocent, and refusing to see the facts as presented.

In Italy the prosecution dont get to influence the decision quite like they do in the USA. You dont get OJ Simpson trials in Perugia.

Six jurors and two judges, and a web of Knox lies and deceipt. If she was innocent, then she sure as h.ell didnt act like it. And the EVIDENCE didnt point to it.

[wakeywakeyhandsoffsnakey]

Except there was evidence wasnt there. 26 years worth of evidence.

Just because you want something to be true, doesnt mean that it is.

American bashing? Enough of your own countrymen are doing that to you for me to need to do it. Not everyone in the USA has bought into the friends_of_foxy propoganda thankfully.

No evidence...LOL.