Knox and Sollecito - Are They Finally Beginning to Crack?

Recently Raffaele Sollecito held a press conference. He and Amanda Knox have been recently convicted again in Italy for the murder of Meredith Kercher.

This murder case has been carrying on and on since 2007 when the two were originally arrested. Unlike the United States, Italy allows for the state to appeal three (3) times, the same amount of times that a defendant may appeal. Oh how I wish we had this back when this country witnessed Casey Anthony walk off after being tried for killing her precious baby Caylee.

I digress....

This particular press conference was a bit strange to say the least. Since the beginning the two have been one another's alibi. Now Sollecito's defense is saying they understand that the court finds Amanda was not at Raffaele's apartment during the time of the murder and they acknowledge that. It's a word game of sorts. While Sollecito will not come right out and say Amanda was not with him, he will only acknowledge what the court has found to be true. Interesting. He will no longer be her alibi and in this latest coming appeal, the two will be separate.

According to an odd story that is now being investigated, it seems as though this statement is not sitting well with the Knox camp. The source claims they are close with Knox's camp. Amanda is now changing her story (surprise! surprise!), and saying she has only been lying to cover for Raffaele. He is the one who killed Meredith.

You can read the article here. I guess we will have to wait and see but if this is the case, I have no doubt that the story will start to spread soon.

In this new version of events, Amanda now claims she met Rudy at the cottage to buy some drugs. Meredith was there and angry at her over money that was stolen. Amanda left the cottage scared and returned with Raffaele. Meredith lost all control and came after Amanda. Raffaele stopped her; Meredith then grabbed a knife. Raffeale stopped her in some violent struggle and ended up killing her. Amanda witnessed all of this from the kitchen and covered her ears because of the scream. She then helped clean up and wanted to stage it like Rudy had committed the robbery and the murder. She has only lied to protect Raffaele because she loved him.

Wow. Just wow! Could this be true? Will Amanda really change her story to this nonsense?

Interestingly Knox, Arias, and OJ Simpson ALL share the same birthday and all share being involved in violent murders committed with knives. Now, enough of the pseudo-science. Here's the problem with Knox...

For in-depth information pertaining to the case, read here. 


1) Amanda originally accused her boss at Le Chic (a nightclub in Perugia), Patrick Lumumba.  She claimed and still claims that she was interrogated for hours on end and deprived of food and water. This is why she broke down. Amanda says the police found an innocent text that was between her and Lumumba. He told her he did not need her to come into work that night and she responded, in Italian something similar to "Great. See ya later." She then says the police insisted she had plans with Lumumba to meet him later. This then turned into the police ganging up on her and insisting that she name him as the suspect, or something like that.

While the police did take the text to mean that Amanda had plans to meet with Lumumba, they were not expecting her to break down and name him as the killer. In fact, the police were not even interested in questioning her that night; they had only called for Raffaele to come in but Amanda insisted on staying. Making herself comfortable at the station, Amanda began to do the splits and cartwheels. The police chided her behavior and decided to ask her to make a list of anyone she knew that had some kind of contact with Meredith. Meanwhile, Raffaele was telling police he wasn't sure if Amanda was with him the whole night.

By any and all estimates, the amount of time she was questioned before breaking down was closer to two hours, not 50 or 30, or 16 - depending on what story she or her family suggests at the time. In addition she makes wild claims about "all these police officers" tag-teaming during questioning. Of course she cannot offer a number to more accurately define "all" but we are expected to believe this nightmarish scene that more resembles a spy trapped in the 1940's in a German prison camp. It is hardly a scene that would come out of modern-day Italy, no matter how hard one tries to stretch their imagination. She insists that she was struck on the back of the head at least twice as a form of coercion.

Yes, yes, we have all heard the stories of people breaking down and giving false confessions. It is true! Yes, Amanda was young but Amanda is NOT stupid. She is fairly well educated by any standard and she does not come from a background of poverty. Quite the contrary. Her family can be described as affluent. People who break down and confess normally come from poor homes, may have had previous brushes with the law, and are low in the department of IQ. In addition, those who do break down with false confessions almost never name another person completely innocent of the crime.

2) Amanda has had numerous problems with her story. Now, to be fair, many times when people are trying to recall what they did earlier in the day or even yesterday, it can be quite difficult to pin down details. I think it's only fair to make some allowances for differences in stories considering recollection of the "order of operations" during any given day. In addition, the two have admitted to being in a haze of pot smoke.

However, we do know that Amanda did not receive her text from Lumumba while she was at Raffaele's apartment; she claims she did. It appears that she was actually en route to work when this text came in. It is not long after this that both her and Sollecito shut off their phones for the evening, only to turn them on again at around 6 AM. Yet, here again both of them claimed to have been asleep at this early morning hour with Amanda claiming to wake up around 10 or 10:30.

Amanda originally told the Postal Police (who showed up first only to try and find the owner of two phones found ditched not far from the cottage), that Meredith frequently locked her door. When her other roommate arrived, Filomena, she had a very different reaction to Meredith's door being locked. She insisted that it was NOT a typical behavior of Meredith's and demanded the door be broken down immediately. Knox and Sollecito moved away from the door and by all accounts could not see inside of the room. While at the police station, Knox revealed to others that Meredith died a horrible death, her throat was cut, and she bled to death.

Considering the crime scene photos and everything we know, it is clear that Meredith was covered with a duvet. How would Amanda know any details concerning the death of Meredith at that point? Not even the police knew details so early on.

The timeline of when the police were actually called also presents a problem. The defenses (Knox and Sollecito), have insisted some discrepancy concerning when the Postal Police actually arrived compared to the time recorded for when they called the official police or emergency police. Unfortunately this time discrepancy does not add up. By all accounts, The Postal Police first arrived concerning the phones they had found, while a short time later Sollecito called the emergency police to report a burglary, which he also stated "nothing was taken." Nothing was taken? How would he or Amanda know that detail so soon without conferring with the other roommates? Certainly roommates are aware of property owned by the others they live with but, under stress, how could anyone be sure except of their own property? Even a cursory tour of the home would not specifically reveal that detail. When Sollecito was pressed and further questioned about this odd response, the phone hangs up and a few moments later he tries again, telling the operator to send police.

3) DNA evidence. No matter how many times the Knox team or Sollecito's team would like to parade around the idea that everything was contaminated, they certainly have no issue with Rudy Guede's DNA evidence that implicates him. If the police were truly interested in implicating these two nobodies and had forged evidence, why would they make it so difficult on themselves? Why do we not find Knox's DNA all over Meredith?

There are many problems the two have explaining the evidence against them. First, we have a knife found at Sollecito's apartment with Knox's DNA on the handle and Kercher's DNA on the blade. While the sample was small it was clearly evident and there is no explaining this. Primary DNA is difficult to obtain, let alone the absurdity of secondary or tertiary transfer.

The bra clasp that was cut off and found on the floor having a large presence of Sollecito's DNA along with Rudy's has long been argued as being contaminated because it was not initially retrieved as evidence in the first examination. First of all, DNA evidence has been used to convict or exonerate cases older than 30 years. Six weeks is practically nothing compared to years and furthermore, the scene was closed off. It's not as if Sollecito had a way to go back and touch the bra clasp, why would he? Why do a second examination at all if in fact this will always produce contaminated results, as the defense would like us to believe? Unfortunately they are grasping at straws and they know it.

The second criticism concerns gloves and the suggestion that they were dirty. Only in situations where a tech is taking samples of an aqueous type of DNA - a wet saliva, fresh blood -  would a person be required to change gloves frequently. A dried specimen collected by a glove is not going to transfer DNA to another object. The idea is absurd. Yet, let's just go with this for but a moment... even IF this were transferred, why is Sollecito's DNA in a room he has never previously entered before? DNA doesn't fly around a room and land on incriminating evidence for the hell of it. The only other place his DNA was found was a mix of his and Knox on a cigarette butt so a transfer would have to include Knox's as well. Again, I say, if the police are just trying to frame these two, why not place his DNA everywhere and make it easy on themselves?

Knox's blood is mixed with Meredith's blood in various locations. These include the bathroom and in Filomena's room. These have yet to be explained by the defense.

4) Cleanup. There was indeed a cleanup and this was made evident when footprints were revealed during the application of Luminol. Again, we find Meredith's DNA mixed with Amanda's and a footprint of Sollecito's in the bathroom, in Meredith's blood. Yet this is a lone footprint showing that the others were cleaned.

Rudy's prints go from Meredith's room, out through the door. Again, these were also cleaned up. Yet, his prints do not indicate he stopped and locked Meredith's door. How would he? He doesn't have a key. Why lock her door and leave the outer door to the cottage wide open? We know Rudy did not stay around to clean that cottage. Someone else did and all evidence points to Amanda and Raffaele. An eyewitness also puts Amanda waiting outside a store on the early morning of 2 Nov  for their opening and promptly walking towards the cleaning aisle.

People who clean up do so for a reason. They are covering up their involvement.

.....and honestly there is much more, so much more against these two and I have barely mentioned all the truly odd behavior of Amanda that has been witnessed.

If she believes her latest story is going to hold water, she will have to explain Rudy's DNA inside of Meredith - this was either saliva or skin cells from a finger.

I am praying that one of these three finally cracks and we can finally bring some justice to Meredith's family. Meredith and her family are the true victims here.