48 Hours - A Long Way From Home

Episode Date: January 11, 2026

“48 Hours” investigates the American student jailed in Italy for her roommate's murder.  Peter Van Sant reports. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www....audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 We have confirmed that 20-year-old Amanda Knox has been taken into custody for her involvement in the murder of her roommate. Why would Amanda brutally murdered her roommate? For what? For what reason? This is a 20-year-old honor student from the University of Washington who's never been arrested, who certainly isn't a burglar murderer, dope-dealing thief. She's absolutely innocent.
Starting point is 00:00:49 There's no doubt in my mind. It never has been that she's had nothing to do with this. I had a call from a guy telling me, look, there's been this murder in Peridja involves a British girl. Police say Meredith Kircher was found partially clothed and had been left in a pool of blood with a deep cut to her throat. There's a lot of blood stains on the walls, blood stains on the furniture. Just could never think that anybody would want to harm her or that anybody really with a conscience could do anything. like that. She was upbeat, and she was always the life of the party.
Starting point is 00:01:31 My name is Nathan Abraham. I met Meredith Kircher at the welcome party we had at Merlin Pub. When all the new students arrive into Prussia, we have a welcome party for them. Everyone just comes here to learn the Italian language, get to know the culture, and get to meet new people. Twenty-year-old Amanda Knox has apparently confessed her role to Italian police. She's hung herself out to dry, basically, from the way that she's answered the police questions from the way that she's changed her story.
Starting point is 00:02:01 She was confused, she was scared. My name is Edam Ellis and I'm Amanda's mother. She's a beautiful young woman who is incredibly bright, incredibly kind. She's devastated by the death of her friend. She's sure that as the investigation continues, the truth will come out and she'll be proven innocent. They're so desperate to make a case against this kid.
Starting point is 00:02:29 that they'll do anything. My name is Paul Seale. I'm a private investigator from Chicago. They don't have any evidence. They got a lot of suppositions. They got a lot of crazy theories. There's Amanda, and there's the cops. That's it.
Starting point is 00:02:47 And who's going to believe Amanda? I want my kid out of jail. She hasn't done anything. Peter Van Sant reports a long way a long way from home. In the beginning, no one really knew much about her, but after that, it's this dark American girl from Seattle. And somewhere from Seattle, Washington to Perugia, Italy,
Starting point is 00:03:40 something about her changed. Growing up in Seattle, Washington, Amanda Knox was an all-American girl. She excelled in athletics and academics. Deanslist in high school. Deanslist in college. soccer player since she's been five all the way to the premier level. She's driven to learn and to be a good person and to do something good with her life.
Starting point is 00:04:22 Her parents, Kurt Knox and Edam Ellis, divorced when Amanda was three. But family bonds remain tight. She loves her family. She talks about that in her blogs and in her MySpace, that what's most important to her is her family, her close friends. After graduating with honors for an elite Jesuit high school, Amanda went on to the University of Washington, where she discovered her passion. She loved going to other cultures and learning about them, and she's really drawn to languages. She really knew she wanted to study abroad.
Starting point is 00:05:02 Amanda worked three jobs to get to Perugia, a medieval hill town north of Rome. She rented a room in this house and began taking classes. She's so far away, but it was something that she had dreamed of doing. On the one hand, you encourage their dreams and then worry a little bit, you know. Amanda's years of dedicated study and hard work were paying off. Just a few weeks after arriving here in Perugia, Italy, she emailed some of her friends back home, saying, I'm actually at one of my happiest places right now. Amanda's good fortune also included a new romance.
Starting point is 00:05:54 She'd met a young, handsome Italian engineering student. They met at a classical musical concert at the college, and I think they just really clicked. His name is Rafael Soletchito. He is 23 years old, the son of a doctor from southern Italy. Did you feel like Amanda was falling in love? You know, I felt like that might be a... possibility. It was very early. Why wouldn't you want an Italian boyfriend?
Starting point is 00:06:26 Back in Seattle, Amanda's friend Madison heard all about her Italian adventure through emails and pictures Amanda posted on MySpace. Sometimes she would kind of go on these little rants about how much she loved everything and she'd be like, I love my bed, I love my room, I love my roommates, I love my house, I love my view, and I'm just like, okay, I get it, you're really happy. Amanda had three roommates, two Italian girls, and Meredith Kircher, a 20-year-old student from England. Amanda described her as beautiful and quiet. Amanda even got a job in a local bar. She told me she must walk because she need more money, yeah.
Starting point is 00:07:11 Bar owner Patrick Lamumba, well known around town for his music and generous spirit, hired her. When you first saw Amanda Knox, what did you think? A good person and friendly. But then, just six weeks into Amanda's Italian adventure, everything changed. It was November 2, 2007. I got a phone call early in the morning, and it was Amanda, and the first thing she said was, I'm at home and I'm all right, but I think somebody's been in my house.
Starting point is 00:07:54 Amanda told her mother she had spent the night with her boyfriend, Rafael. That morning, when she came home to take a shower and change clothes, she found the front door was open. No one was home. When she got out of the shower, she noticed some blood. She thought maybe somebody had gotten injured and left quickly, and that's why the door was open. Amanda started phoning her roommates.
Starting point is 00:08:24 She found the Italian girls. But she told me she's called Meredith several times, and she couldn't get a hold of Meredith. How did you learn that something terrible had happened at that house? She called me back and told me that the police had come, because one of the things she said is, we can't find Meredith, and her door is locked.
Starting point is 00:08:45 Two officers arrived at the house to investigate and found Amanda and Rafaeli standing outside. Police sense of a house. Police enter the house, start searching it. Paolo Safrizo is an Italian investigator, who 48 hours has hired to examine this case. Meredith's door is locked. They knock on the door, nobody answers,
Starting point is 00:09:09 nobody knows where she is. They decide to break in her door. Inside, blood everywhere. And on the floor, covered by the blanket from her bed, was the body of Meredith Kircher. Amanda starts crying out. A fort, a fort, a fort. I saw her fault.
Starting point is 00:09:36 My heart was breaking for my daughter. She was devastated. The last time anyone had seen Meredith alive was 9 o'clock the night before when she walked home alone after leaving friends. What do you believe, based on your investigation, happened after Meredith arrived home? That is the million dollar question.
Starting point is 00:09:59 Meredith arrived home. Maybe somebody was already inside the house waiting for her. Maybe somebody arrived after. There are signs of what appears to be a break-in. Because Amanda and Meredith had been roommates, Amanda quickly became a key witness. She said they had a lot of questions for her because she was the first one that had come back to the house.
Starting point is 00:10:26 and she wanted to help. Four days after the murder, no arrests. The students of Perugia organized a memorial service for Meredith Kircher. Noticably absent, Amanda and Rafaeli, they had been summoned to police headquarters. When the two of them went down there, they separated them into different interrogation rooms
Starting point is 00:10:54 and began a questioning process began a questioning process that lasted for a very long time overnight. All night and into the next day. Police were questioning the two because they suspected they were hiding something. The approach to how the interrogation went, became more aggressive, and it was literally began to, I mean, she was, I've never, I've never, I've never seen her that way. After 14 hours of intense police interrogation, no sleep, no food, no lawyer, Amanda dramatically changes her story. She says that she thinks she was here, that she hears Meredith scream.
Starting point is 00:11:49 When she signed this statement, Amanda Knox was no longer a witness. She was under arrest. Four days after the murder of Meredith Kircher, Amanda Knox is paraded in front of the press on her way to jail. Police believe Amanda took part in the murder of her roommate. Her boyfriend, Rafael Soletchito, is also arrested. And surprisingly, her employer, Patrick Lumumba, is picked up after Amanda names him as Meredith's murderer. They really thought they had potentially their killer in Patrick Lumumba.
Starting point is 00:12:49 Definitely. Definitely. They thought they thought they had the killer served to them on a platter. The arrest came after Amanda Knox dramatically changed her story. 48 hours obtained Amanda's stunning statement. Quote, I met Patrick at the basketball courts and we went to my apartment. Patrick had sex with Meredith. I confusedly remember that he killed her. Amanda's statement came after an all-night, 14-hour interrogation. I certainly believe that she was placed under psychological pressure.
Starting point is 00:13:34 Italian police next developed a theory. Meredith was murdered after refusing to join Amanda, Rafael and Patrick in kinky, four-way story. sex. Basically a sort of drug and sex induced frenzy. Well, I think what is quite interesting in this case is the web, the internet. Like the Italian police, journalist Nick Pisa began searching the internet to learn about the suspects. They had entries on Facebook and we were getting unimaginable amount of information about these people. Are you taking movies right now?
Starting point is 00:14:17 No, not enough. I can just tell you what yours is. No. One shot. No. One shot, Amanda. It was one of a half. Like most college students these days, Amanda and Rafaeli shared their lives through the web.
Starting point is 00:14:34 Amanda boasted about alcohol use and casual sex. She even posted pictures of herself outside a dope shop in Amsterdam. We discovered how she'd been on a train and she admitted having sex with her. the guy that she'd met on the train. We discovered that she'd written some very bizarre essays, which she'd post on a website which talked about rape. They jumped on that. They saw the word rape, and they're like, yes, good headline.
Starting point is 00:15:01 In fact, the essays were simple school assignments. On Raphaelie's pages, they learned he collected knives. His expression of admiration for a serial killer. Exactly. And then we have him with the meat cleaver. Then we have Amanda behind the machine gun as well. I mean, it was just all grist to the mill. It was more information that you could ever imagine on a story.
Starting point is 00:15:27 And the mill was the Italian and British press corps that was all over the story. The more salacious, the more interest. And perhaps what damned Amanda most was her old soccer nickname she used on her MySpace account, Foxy Noxy. Here are just a few of the headlines that have been in the British press. The twisted world of Foxy Noxie. Foxy Noxie helped girls' killer. Meredith held down by friend, the dark angel of Seattle, orgy of death. And Amanda was a drugged up tart.
Starting point is 00:16:14 You know, I have not read the British press just because I knew that was out there and that's not. my daughter and that's not I mean and you know some of that you can just toss because these people don't know her they've never met her it's horrible but the Italian police say they do know Amanda and they formed an opinion based on her and Raphaelie's behavior after the murder and we saw them briefly to the side to the left-hand side as you look at the house police brought Amanda and her boyfriend back to the crime scene the day after the murder to see how they would react. Nick Pisa was there.
Starting point is 00:17:01 They both were sort of stroking and petting each other, and then they were kissing each other, and they seemed to be whispering to each other. What some see as simple comforting was interpreted by Italian police as something sinister. What is it about it that is significant? to investigators. Well, it's just the fact that it's just very odd and very unusual behavior. There didn't seem to be any sadness or the fact that her friend had been murdered. The next day, the couple was caught on a security camera buying underwear for Amanda.
Starting point is 00:17:44 The shop owner distinctly remembers them being quite excited and aroused by the purchase and promising each other a night of frenzy sex with this new G-string. Based on your experience, what do you think of that? Not only is there insensitivity and inappropriateness, but there again, it could be seen as arousal. But the police theory that Meredith was killed during a sex frenzy has a problem, according to private investigator Paul Cialino. That's a great theory until a science comes rolling in, until a fingerprint show up.
Starting point is 00:18:31 And they go, oops, oops, we made a mistake. A murder, such a violent and mysterious murder, is practically unheard of in local history. With a British girl murdered, her throat slashed, and an American girl held as a suspect, Italian investigators spared no expense. no expense, bringing in the country's best forensic teams to Perusha. Police say they have recovered hard evidence linking Amanda to the murder. There are traces of her blood mixed with Meredith's blood in the bathroom, in the house where Meredith was murdered.
Starting point is 00:19:26 And the boyfriend? We have Raphael's shoe print. in her blood, in the room where she was murdered. Police do extensive testing on a knife found in Raphaelie's kitchen drawer. Amanda's DNA is on the handle, no surprise, but investigators are stunned when Meredith's DNA is detected on the blade. Police think it could be the murder weapon. From their point of view, Amanda and Rafaeli,
Starting point is 00:20:01 staged the crime, Patrick physically committed it, maybe with some physical assistance, either from a Rafael or from both Raphael and Amanda. But there is a problem. The man Amanda named as the killer, Patrick Lumumba, has an airtight alibi for the night of the murder. He was at his bar. All day with the poor, but I just said,
Starting point is 00:20:33 I don't know this. I am in my bar. I was in the bar. Why close the bar? I'm begging home. And after an exhaustive search, police can find no evidence linking Patrick to the murder. So in a stunning reversal, police release Patrick Lumumba.
Starting point is 00:20:56 We wouldn't understand why Amanda Knox would accuse her boss. We don't know why she pulled out Patrick's name. American Nathan Abraham, a former student who now works in Perugia, says Amanda's lie about Patrick shocked everyone. He has a beautiful wife and a beautiful baby. To me, he's the most famous guy in Perugia, and everybody loves him. Everybody from the mayor down. Police believe Amanda implicated Patrick as part of a well-planned, calculated
Starting point is 00:21:26 move to hide the identity of the real killer. Within days of Patrick's release, the case took another dramatic twist. They'd found a fingerprint didn't match with Rafael, with Amanda, or with Patrick. The fingerprint belonged to this man, 20-year-old Rudy Gadegh. Rudy was a fixture and often a nuisance on the local bar scene. You'd be dancing the tables when if there's a big party, he would be be sometimes harassing girls. A dropout, Rudy had no regular job.
Starting point is 00:22:14 He played basketball on the courts near Amanda and Meredith's house. And he smoked dope with the boys who lived one floor below the girls. Well, we know that Rudy was very friendly with the guys downstairs. And then the day after the murder, Rudy Gadee ran. He hopped a train out of Perugia heading north. Two weeks later, after a European-wide manhunt, Gide was tracked down in central Germany, arrested and returned to Perusia.
Starting point is 00:22:52 We have his fingerprint on the pillow, we have his DNA in the bathroom. Well, he had his admission that he was there at the time. Rudy told police, Meredith invited him over for a date, and they had sex. His story does seem rather fanciful, that he was in the bathroom, that he came out.
Starting point is 00:23:15 And he saw that Meredith had been stabbed and that some guy was running out of the room. Judy said he couldn't identify the killer, but he admitted he left a dying Meredith lying in a pool of blood. He said he went home, changed his clothes, and went dancing at a disco until four in the morning. That we're supposed to believe?
Starting point is 00:23:45 Yeah, one does find that rather hard to believe. This case is so clear, it's not even funny. Chicago private detective Paul Cilino. Amanda Knox is in a bad position. She's sitting in a maximum security prison. 48 hours brought Cilino to Italy to look into the case against Amanda Knox. She's been getting railroaded since the day they took her
Starting point is 00:24:09 into custody. Since November 5, 2007, the railroad started and it continues today as we sit here right now. Cialino reviewed police reports, Meredith's autopsy, crime scene photos, and talk to witnesses. He says everything points to Rudy Gadee. We know one thing for certain life that when you're dead, the last guy that was with you is usually responsible for you being dead. And the last person that was with Meredith from the horse's mouth is Rudy. Cilino doesn't buy Rudy's story that he was dating Meredith.
Starting point is 00:24:46 Rudy told police he met Meredith the night before the murder at a Halloween party at the bar Merlins. Meredith was there dressed as a vampire, but no one saw Rudy Gadee. At the Halloween party, did Meredith hang out at all with Rudy Gide? Meredith did not hang out with Rudy Gide. Meredith and Rudy are not contemporaries. They're not buddies. They didn't have a relationship of any kind on any level. level.
Starting point is 00:25:20 Cialino, talking to the owner of the bar, learned that Rudy had even been banned from Merlins because he tried to rob a bartender at knife point. We know that Rudy has no visible means of support and is able to pay rent, go to clubs, and do all kinds of things. Why would Rudy have targeted that house, of all places to look for money? These were a bunch of college students. Rent is due at the time in a month. It was at the first.
Starting point is 00:25:46 And rents due. So everybody knows college students are gathering up the rent at that time. Police told Seolino, Meredith took out 250 euros the day she was murdered, and the money is missing. Rudy's fingerprints were found on her purse. It's really that simple. There was no Raphael. There was no Amanda. Jesuit-educated high school girls who were high honors students 18 months ago, don't participate in all.
Starting point is 00:26:17 Orgies and homicides. They don't do it. And if you could tell me one that does, I'd sure like to see her. Do you have a dark curiosity? Heart Starts Pounding, Horrors, Hauntings, and Mysteries is a weekly podcast hosted by me, Kailen Moore. Each week, I'll take you on a dark journey through terrifying true urban legends, bizarre, true crime cases, chilling tales of backwoods horror and more. So if you're looking to join a passionate community of The Darkly Curious,
Starting point is 00:26:48 check out Heart Starts pounding on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. And remember, stay curious. She got killed because she said no. She said no to something that she didn't want to do. I think that people want to have justice served for Meredith. Private investigator Paul Seulino wants justice for Meredith as well, but not at the expense of Amanda Knox. She's a 20-year-old kid who has been ripped out of everything that she knows and placed in jail.
Starting point is 00:27:36 Mena Knox is sitting in a maximum security prison in Italy, wondering when she's going to get out of her. Amanda and her boyfriend, Rafael Selecoteau, have been in jail since early November. Now, more than five months. Yet Paul Seulino believes the police have no convincing evidence they had anything to do with the murder of Meredith Kircher. This is a railroad job from hell. from hell and she's sitting at the end of it right now. The police chief of Perugia looked me in the eye and said, we have evidence.
Starting point is 00:28:15 He knows there's not a shred of evidence putting this girl at that murder scene. Edgar Jobi is the lead investigator. He told 48 hours that the case against all three suspects is solid. The DNA found on the victim, bra, he says, DNA which belongs to Rudy Gadeh and Rafaeli Solicito, proves Rudy didn't act alone. And if Raphaelie was involved, so was Amanda, because they both claim they were together that night. I don't believe Raphael's DNA is on Meredith's bra. Why?
Starting point is 00:28:57 Because, Cielino says, evidence leaked in this case has often turned out to be wrong. They're so desperate to make a case against this kid that they'll do anything. We know this for a fact because we've seen it happen in this case already. A prime example, the witness police say heard three people running from the house that night. Peter, high police officials told you that they had a witness who heard stuff that night, indicating that they had interviewed her and they owned her. Now, we go interview the witness and what happened. A scream in the night.
Starting point is 00:29:33 Then the sound of running. That's what Nara Kapizali said she heard from her apartment across the street from the crime scene on the night of the murder. She told her story in this Italian television interview. TV and tabloids had already been reporting the police theory that three people, including Amanda, were all involved in the crime. I saw him. Yes, three things different.
Starting point is 00:30:06 One up, an da-u-lady. Siholino wanted to talk to this key witness himself. We're going up to try and talk to the witness who allegedly heard something in the night of the murder. He took our translator, Julia Alanya, to the woman's door. Sir. Tell her this is a very important issue, okay, and concerns somebody's life. It's very serious. Because what you have
Starting point is 00:30:31 has been very important for us, even for other people. She heard the scream and somebody ran away. Were windows open or closed? The windows were closed? No, they were closed. Yes. Grazie million.
Starting point is 00:30:48 Siholino wanted to see or hear for himself. Christine, I'm Paul. I'm from Chicago. Are you really? Nara's upstairs neighbor let Paul into her apartment to find out what he could hear.
Starting point is 00:31:02 We're looking directly on top of the house where the homicide happened. Okay, you ready outside? We've got a bunch of local kids we got to do some running to see if we could hear them running. We've now closed the window, which we believe was the situation that night because it was a very cold night and let's see what they can hear. You guys ready to go? Ready, three, two, one, go.
Starting point is 00:31:32 Right now I hear something. What did you hear? I heard something, but I couldn't tell if it was footstead. footstress. Did you hear anything? No. At the very least, our unscientific test raises serious questions about what Nara really heard that night. And even she isn't as certain as police have suggested. She didn't know that she couldn't tell if it was one or two or three. So she didn't know if it one or two or three. Nara also didn't know what time it was when she heard the sounds. But she is very clear about one thing.
Starting point is 00:32:08 She says she was never interviewed by the police. As hard as it is to believe, police only saw the witness on television. But wait a second. We're being told that this is one of the pillars of this case against Amanda Knox. Pretty weak pillar. This is fascinating to me because not one cop in this town has ever knocked on this woman's door. Not one time. Seulino says if Amanda had actually been involved in Meredith's murder, police should have
Starting point is 00:32:42 a lot more evidence to prove it. When you or I walk into a room and we mess it up with blood and DNA and sweat, we're going to bring a whole lot of stuff home with us and we're going to leave even more there. Well, we have a problem in this case because they can't put Raphael and Amanda in that crime scene. But you know who put Amanda at the crime scene? Amanda put Amanda at the crime scene. Who signs a statement that implicates them and their friends to murder?
Starting point is 00:33:09 Who does that? Why would Amanda sign that? I'm going to tell you, Peter, a confused 20-year-old girl, 6,000 miles from home, and all of a sudden they're telling her she's a prime suspect in a murder that they're going to put her in prison for the rest of her life in an Italian jail unless you pony up baby and sign this. That's what the case against Amanda Knox boils down to, says Ciolino, a police theory that formed the basis for a coerced confession. This is real easy, okay?
Starting point is 00:33:37 Amanda, you know what happened and I know what happened. And you better sign this statement because if you don't, young lady, you're never going to see your mom again. You're never going to see your daddy again. Sir, it really didn't happen like that. Bip, yes, it did happen like that, Amanda. And this is how it happened. You were with Patrick, and you and him went over there, and he murdered your roommate. Now, maybe, maybe you didn't know that was going to happen.
Starting point is 00:33:57 Now, you better get writing or sign this or bad things are going to happen like we're going to charge you with the murder. That's why there's no video. There's no audio. There's no independent party. There's Amanda and there's the cops. That's it. And who's gonna believe Amanda? Amanda's signed statement helped form the backbone
Starting point is 00:34:18 of the original police theory of the crime that Amanda and Rafaeli assisted Patrick Lumumba when he killed Meredith Kircher. And that's a great theory until a science comes rolling in, until a fingerprints show up. When Lumumba proved he had an out and the police matched DNA to Rudy Gideh. Oops, oops, oops, we made a mistake.
Starting point is 00:34:42 It wasn't him, it was the other guy. The original theory didn't work anymore. But now we have another problem because Amanda don't know him, Raphael don't know him. Seulino learned that police have no phone records linking Amanda and Raphaelie to Rudy Gade. There's no connection, so we have a big problem. This is all a police-generated fairy tale.
Starting point is 00:35:05 The police have been revising that fairy tale, says Seulino, but they seem determined not to let Amanda Knox live happily ever after. They've put so much in Amanda Knox, they've got to convict her now. Or they look like fools. In their minds, they look like fools. Every Tuesday and Saturday morning, family members are allowed a brief visit with Amanda at a prison just outside Perugia, where she has been. been held since last November. She wants to listen to music.
Starting point is 00:35:58 So we brought her a personal CD player and some music. And it's supposed to be approved and all set, but that doesn't mean it's going to get in. On this Tuesday in February, here we are. Kurt Knox is with his ex-wife, Edamilis. 48 hours brought Kurt to Italy in order to interview both parents together. Day to day, what is Amanda's
Starting point is 00:36:24 existence like right now in jail. She is let out of her cell for one hour a day, trying to exercise in the yard. Since Amanda's arrest, her parents take turns staying in Italy, away from Seattle for weeks at a time. It's a lot of waiting. It's a lot of just waiting. It's hard.
Starting point is 00:36:49 Every morning when you wake up, is Amanda the first thing you think of? Absolutely. If I have five minutes in a day that I don't think of her, that's a lot. During her months in prison, Amanda has kept a diary. In it, she wrote about the overnight interrogation that led to her arrest and imprisonment. She said the statements were made under the pressures of stress, shock, and extreme exhaustion. Not only was I told I would be arrested and put in jail for 30 years, but I was also hit in the head
Starting point is 00:37:27 when I didn't remember a fact correctly. Is that true? She wrote that, and we believe that everything that she has said is true. But the lead investigator says, not true. No one ever hit Amanda. He expects all three suspects will be charged and tried for murder. Police say
Starting point is 00:37:56 Raphaelie's bloody shoe print will be important evidence at trial. But defense lawyers and Paul Cilino say it's not conclusive. Now experts have looked at that footprint and it's not Raphael's. There's no blood on them.
Starting point is 00:38:15 The shoe isn't fit, okay? Just like the glove didn't fit, the shoe doesn't fit. They've got his shoes, they don't match. They have mixed blood, Amanda and Meredith's blood, in the bathroom. They have Amanda's blood in a bathroom that they shared commonly. Mirdreth is killed in the bedroom, not in the bathroom. There is a report that a knife has been recovered at Rafael's house
Starting point is 00:38:35 that has Amanda's DNA on the handle and reportedly Meredith's DNA on the blade. Sounds like a murder weapon, doesn't it? No one is determined that's the murder weapon. Not the government nor the defense. Nobody knows. Police agree it may not be the murder. but think it may have been used in some way during the crime. And the motive? Police have changed their theory.
Starting point is 00:39:04 They now believe Meredith was murdered by Rudy, Amanda and Rafael during a robbery, not an orgy. There's never been a motive. They could never explain a motive in this case. There is no motive. What might happen now that could harm Amanda Knox's chances in a trial? in a trial. There's a number of threats.
Starting point is 00:39:25 She's got two co-defendants, both of whom have said she didn't do anything wrong. The longer this thing goes on, the longer everybody sits in jail, somebody's going to figure out sooner or later, my best chance escaping this nonsense is to hang Amanda out to dry. And that's exactly what happened just two weeks ago. After months of silence, Rudy Gadee asked to speak to the prosecutor. Now he changes his story. Before he said he could not identify Meredith's killer. Now he says he saw Rafael with a knife in the apartment,
Starting point is 00:40:02 and that Amanda was there too. Amanda's parents are frightened. They fear their daughter may soon be on trial for murder in Italy. But we have to believe in the system. That's the only choice that we have. Because the other option is to believe that, you know, to believe that, you know, she's going to go be in prison for something that she didn't do,
Starting point is 00:40:28 and that's just unimaginable. Meredith Kircher was buried by her family in Southeast England in December. Amanda's parents sympathize with Meredith's family and pray that their daughter doesn't become another innocent victim in this tragedy. Are there words to describe what this is like for a parent? I don't know that I could.
Starting point is 00:41:04 I mean, it's literally gut-wrenching. It's a physical, almost sick response to the whole situation, almost constantly. Paul Cilino says he's worried about Amanda and worried that the Italian justice system is out to get her. If you had the power to act right now, what would you do? I would hop in my car and I'd go to that prison, I'd get them two kids out of there,
Starting point is 00:41:33 and I'd take them home with their parents. That's what I would do. And that's what should be done. Till that's done, this case is going to be a disaster. Much of the evidence leaked after Kircher's murder would be disputed in court. In October 2008, Rudy Gadegh was convicted of her murder. He was released in 2021, serving 13 years. In December 2009, Amanda Knox and Rafael Es Solegito were convicted of murder.
Starting point is 00:42:08 They were released in 2011 after an appeals court overturned. the conviction. They spent nearly four years behind bars. The pair were exonerated by the Italian Supreme Court in 2015. I can only describe it as evil, something horrible. From 48 hours, this is trained to kill, the dog trainer, the heiress and the bodyguard. He couldn't control his obsession. Who was the hunter and who was the hunted? Follow and listen on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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