Amanda Knox: I'm overwhelmed right now

Amanda Knox, speaking for the first time publicly since her murder conviction was overturned in Italian court, on Tuesday, October 4, 2011, in Seattle. / CBS News

LONDON - In her first press conference since having her murder conviction overturned in Italy, Amanda Knox spoke briefly about her return home before breaking down in tears.

"I'm a little overhwlemed right now," Knox said, adding that looking down from the airplane on her flight home was surreal.

"Thanks to everyone who believed in me, who has defended me, who supported my family," Knox said before tearing up. "My family's the most important thing right now and i just want to go be with them."

Knox then appeared to be too overcome with emotions to continue.

After Italian prisoners gave her a boisterous send-off, Amanda Knox made her way home to America on earlier Tuesday, holing up with family on the upper deck of a jetliner to Seattle as she enjoyed her first full day of freedom since her murder conviction was reversed.

Knox's mom, Edda Mellas, told the crowd before Knox spoke that "It's because of the letters and the calls and just the amazing support we've received from people all over the world" that they've been able to get by.

Friends and family who held spaghetti dinners, bowling events and concerts to raise money for Knox's defense waited anxiously for her plane to touch down -- a moment that took four years to happen.

"We all are as happy as can be. I can't tell you how long we've been looking forward to this day," her grandmother Elisabeth Huff told The Associated Press outside her home in West Seattle, a tight-knit community a few miles across Elliott Bay from downtown.

14 Photos

Amanda Knox not guilty of murder

"WELCOME HOME AMANDA," read the marquee at a record store in the neighborhood where Knox grew up. Another welcome sign was hung at her father's house. A bar offered half-price drinks to celebrate her acquittal.

Knox's life turned around dramatically Monday when an Italian appeals court threw out her conviction in the sexual assault and fatal stabbing of her British roommate. The case played out under an international spotlight, and on Tuesday a courtroom picture of Knox crying after the verdict was read appeared on the front pages of newspapers in Italy, the U.S., Britain and around the world.

The court's decision, fueled by doubts over DNA evidence, stunned the victim's family and angered the prosecution, which insists that she was among three people who killed 21-year-old Meredith Kercher. But for Huff, "it was like the weight of the world had gone."

"Now I can look forward to sleeping at night. We were just jumping with joy," she told The Associated Press outside her Seattle home Tuesday afternoon.

Now free, Amanda Knox flies back to U.S.

Knox, 24, left Perugia's Capanne prison Monday night amid cheers that a companion compared to those at a soccer stadium.

Amanda Knox, right, arriving with family members from Rome, is seen at Heathrow Airport in London, Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2011.

/ AP Photo

Hundreds of inmates -- most of them in the men's wing -- shouted "Amanda, ciao!" and "Freedom!" as she walked into the central courtyard, said Corrado Maria Daclon, head of the Italy-US Foundation, which championed Knox's cause.

"They were screaming like crazy," said Daclon, who accompanied Knox in her first hours of freedom. Daclon said Knox jumped a little for joy and waved to the prisoners.

Amanda Knox friend: She feels like she's flying

She was soon on her way home, protected by the darkened windows of a Mercedes that led her out of the prison in the middle of the night, and then Tuesday morning to Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport.

"During the trip from Perugia to Rome, Amanda was serene," said Daclon, who was with Knox in the car.

She flew from Rome to London, where she took a direct British Airways flight to Seattle, flying business class with full-length seat and menu options including champagne, smoked salmon and prawn salad.

Video: Hometown supporter awaits Knox arrival

(Click player at left to watch Kercher family give statement)

At least nine members of media organizations were on board, but a flight attendant blocked them from the plane's secluded upper deck "to preserve the privacy" of passengers.

The attendant, quoting a Knox family member, said media were not allowed to contact Knox or her family on the flight but were welcome to attend a news conference late Tuesday afternoon at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. It was unclear whether Knox herself would speak then.

"Those who wrote, those who defended me, those who were close, those who prayed for me," Knox wrote in a letter released just hours before leaving Italy, "I love you."

Knox thanked those Italians "who shared my suffering and helped me survive with hope," in a letter to the Italy-US Foundation, which seeks to promote ties between the two countries.

Amanda Knox acquitted of murder
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[lyvane]

Can you, people, imagine what Ms. Knox is enduring now? Bloody Meredith image in her head day or night. It's already enough to sympathize with her;;))

Normal person would go crazy on freedom for such a crime. But Ms. Knox will not go crazy. Guess why?

[lyvane]

Who wouldn't be overwhelmed after getting away with a murder??

[sarah92992]

Why did they just let this murdering **** go free? Because she's a woman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_2LpLhOsc4

[exar-1]

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW, is that the murderer was found; his sperm, blood, fingerprints, etc. - a bum whose robbery turned to rape and murder.

So before you condemn this young woman, you should know the facts. Perhaps some of you might learn by being convicted of something you haven't done.

One other thing; the prosecutor is a kook, in Italy; he had to win a big case to get himself out of trouble ... you see, he's already been convicted of abuse of office in another case like this one...THE REASON THEY LET HER GO, WAS BECAUSE SHE WAS AN INNOCENT VICTIM!

[PrimeFocusForensics]

Sarah92992, you are such a close minded idiot to make a generalized proclamation like that. How can you possibly say that she should stay in prison because she is a woman and for no other reason? Because that is what you just said. You have no idea about the true facts of life. Would you please explain to me why these judges and jurors let her go when the other judges and jurors at her previous three trials DID NOT? Was feminism dead just a few months ago and now it is suddenly alive? Amanda has more kindness in her little finger than you will ever have.

[Jurgen_77]

Something about this case stinks. I am not saying she is the one that ended that poor girls life directly. There is something this Ms. Knox is not saying and there is definitely more to it than "i wasn't there"
The case reeks of political interference. She she may have got away with murder or accessory to Murder. The flat had many people living in there so the Italians picked her at random. doubt it.

[PrimeFocusForensics]

Another know it all who contends to have all of the facts of the case when you really don't have a clue. You have made some judgments from afar like you had intimate knowledge of the case and the everyday workings of the system. Please, try to back your points with real knowledge and not just the BS floating around in your head.

[pococolo]

Lots of things about this case stink. Amanda did sign a statement with details that proved to be false which she began to recant immediately saying that she had been abused under police questioning. I find it unacceptable than an innocent man was dragged into this by Amanda. However, Amanda herself may have been innocent. What stinks, exactly? I've never been sure but over the years. MO, it is a melange of causes, the real and senseless murder of a beautiful, promising young woman, her real murderer, a man who has been found guilty through appeals and is serving time, the naivety of a young women who didn't really know the language, drug inducted hazes, lack of sleep, men in power allowed to act upon crazy Satanic theories, cultural difference, misioginy, sexism, bigotry, racism, hegemony. Rudy Guede's DNA was in and all about the victim. His poop was in the toilet. Amanda and Rafaelle's DNA and poop wasn't. Yet Amanda was perceived as strange and didn't help herself with her behavior. Poor Rafaelle just got hitched on for the ride.

[adele075]

she got a second chance. even if she did do it, i hope she changes her ways and makes a positive difference. http://www.lethalcommissionz.com/

[myunwantedtwocents]

Heard a young woman say today, "She should go to law school and never go back to Italy." Good advice.

[nolimits3333]

Guede was killer. A school director testified that he had been caught with a stolen 16-inch (410 mm) knife inside a closed Milan school on 27 October 2007,[100] and was also in possession of a laptop PC and a mobile phone previously stolen from a Perugia solicitors' office, burgled with a rock breaking a window.[101] Guede said that he had bought both the laptop and phone at a railway station in Milan.[100] The school director testified that a small amount of money was also missing after she found Guede looking inside a cabinet in the school office.[100] Guede's DNA was all over the murder scene as well as his fingerprints. Knox's DNA was not found anywhere in Kercher's room. The prosecutor who tried the case was convicted of phoney evidence in a similar case.

[PrimeFocusForensics]

Finally, somebody with true knowledge about the case and not just conjecture or personal agendas. Thank you.

[cherleo41]

Come on people give her a break her conviction was overturned by an italian jury and judges. I commend them for making the right decision and not allowing the political aspect of this case to make their decision. There is ABSOLUTELY no evidence that Amanda was involved in Meredith's murder. I dont feel she or her boyfriend had anything to do with it. I am happy for her and her family, hopefully now she can move on with her life, and somehow put this horrible experience behind her. WAY TO GO AMANDA!!! FREE AT LAST!!!

[PrimeFocusForensics]

Hear! Hear! Another truth speaker.

[garyl206]

Throw her back in jail where she belongs.. this site says it best https://******/qtQU4J

[atomicwaste]

"Amanda Knox: I'm overwhelmed right now". Bet you are foxy knoxy! You are overwhelmed but in a totally different manner than how you overwhelmed and brutally murdered your roommate. You will be a pariah the rest of your miserable life, which hopefully will be short.

[PrimeFocusForensics]

atomicwaste - you are not only an idiot, you are a hateful, stupid idiot. Are you mentally ill? Have you been diagnosed yet? Do you often feel different from everyone else? Mental illness can be cured you know. The hate you vomit out here is indicative of a person with low self esteem. Get some help and enjoy life for a change.