The Killing of Meredith Kercher: The Crime That Forever Changed Amanda Knox’s Life

Meredith Kercher was a British exchange student whose tragic death in 2007 sparked an international legal battle that placed Amanda Knox at the center of a media storm.

The investigation stretched on for eight years, even though another suspect was convicted just one year after the killing.

Kercher was discovered dead in her Perugia, Italy, apartment in November 2007. Police quickly focused on her American roommate, Amanda Knox, and Knox’s then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito. Despite DNA evidence tying another man to the crime, the Italian justice system pursued Knox and Sollecito for years.

“I did not kill. I did not rape. I did not steal. I wasn’t there. I wasn’t there at the crime,” Knox testified in October 2011, according to WHAS11.

Meanwhile, Salon reported that Rudy Guede, whose DNA and fingerprints were found at the scene, was convicted of the murder in 2008. Still, Knox remained imprisoned and went through multiple trials until her case formally ended in 2015.

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Meredith Kercher’s Life

Kercher, 21, was a University of Leeds student studying abroad in Perugia. She shared a four-bedroom apartment with Knox and two Italian roommates, Filomena Romanelli and Laura Mezzetti.

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The Day of the Murder

On Nov. 2, 2007, Kercher’s body was found in her locked bedroom, partially clothed and covered by a duvet. Her throat had been cut, and an autopsy confirmed sexual violence, according to John Follain’s book Death in Perugia (2011).

Knox later recounted returning to the apartment after staying at Sollecito’s place. She noticed the front door ajar, blood in the bathroom, and feces in another toilet. Kercher’s door was locked. Unable to reach her by phone, Knox eventually returned with Sollecito. When the postal police traced two cellphones to the apartment, friends forced open the locked door, revealing Kercher’s body, as detailed in Candace Dempsey’s Murder in Italy (2010).

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The DNA Evidence

By Nov. 6, 2007, Knox, Sollecito, and Knox’s former boss, Patrick Lumumba, were arrested, according to The Guardian. Knox had been interrogated for more than 50 hours without legal representation, leading her to sign a confession implicating herself and Lumumba.

Soon after, Guede was arrested. His fingerprints and DNA were found on and inside Kercher’s body. His case was fast-tracked in 2008, months before Knox and Sollecito’s trial began.

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Who Was Found Guilty?

In late 2008, Guede was convicted of murder and sexual assault, as noted in Nina Burleigh’s The Fatal Gift of Beauty (2011). He was sentenced to 30 years.

Despite this conviction, Knox and Sollecito were also tried. After nearly two years in prison, both were found guilty of sexual violence and murder in 2009. Each received sentences of about 26 years, though prosecutors had pushed for life for Knox.

On Oct. 3, 2011, an appeals court overturned their convictions, freeing Knox after four years behind bars. The court maintained her defamation conviction for wrongly accusing Lumumba.

In 2013, however, Italy’s courts ordered a retrial. Knox and Sollecito were convicted again in 2014, based on claims Guede could not have acted alone. Finally, in March 2015, Italy’s highest court threw out the convictions entirely, citing “stunning flaws” in the investigation and insufficient evidence.

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Rudy Guede’s Fate

Guede served 13 years of his 30-year sentence before receiving early release in 2021 for good behavior. He has consistently denied responsibility for Kercher’s murder.

Two years later, The Telegraph reported that Guede’s former girlfriend accused him of sexual assault, stalking, and mistreatment. The pair met while he was on work release from prison. Their relationship ended in 2023, and the woman later pressed charges.

According to CNN, Guede’s first court hearing on those allegations is scheduled for Nov. 4, 2025.