Slain Student's DNA Found On Knife

Italian police have found DNA traces of a slain British student and of her American roommate - jailed as a suspect in the case - on a knife that may have been the murder weapon, lawyers and news reports said.

Police seized the kitchen knife in the house of Raffaele Sollecito, the Italian boyfriend of American Amanda Marie Knox. The couple has been arrested, along with Congolese musician and bar owner Diya "Patrick" Lumumba, on suspicion of killing Meredith Kercher, 21.

Sollecito's lawyers and family said in a written statement Thursday evening that traces of the DNA of both Knox and Kercher were found on the knife in Sollecito's house. Sollecito's DNA was not found on the knife, the statement said.

Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera said that Kercher's DNA was found on the tip of the knife, while Knox's was on the handle. Corriere della Sera and other reports said the knife had a 6.7-inch blade, and that investigators believed it to be the murder weapon.

"It's critical evidence," forensic scientist Dr. Lawrence Kobilinsky told CBS' The Early Show co-anchor Julie Chen. "When you have the DNA of the suspect and the victim on the same item, it's critical. It links Amanda Knox to the victim directly."

"But one thing still needs to be established, and that is that this was the knife used to kill Ms. Kercher," Kobilinsky said.

Police say an impression from one of Sollecito's tennis shoes is said to match a print found in the blood in the house where the murder victim was discovered, reports CBS News correspondent Mark
Phillips.

"Analysis from a shoe pattern, especially from a sneaker that can be an absolute identification," Kobilinsky told The Early Show.

Police are also investigating a hair sample found under the victim's fingernail, trying to establish whether they can link it to any of the suspects.

Knox's lawyer was not available for comment Friday.

Kercher's body was found Nov. 2 in the apartment she shared with Knox near the center of Perugia, a small Medieval city in central Italy that hosts two major universities and draws thousands of foreign students every year.

The circumstances surrounding the killing remain unclear, and police were carrying out forensic tests on Sollecito's house on Friday, reports said.

Police said Kercher died fighting off a sexual attack, and that she was stabbed in the neck.

The three suspects have been detained since Nov. 6. No charges have been filed, but an Italian judge who ordered the three to remain in jail last week said that there were "serious indications of guilt."

The three have all denied involvement. Knox, 20, from Seattle, has changed her version of events several times, at one point accusing the Congolese suspect. She has always maintained her innocence.