Amanda Knox Now A Reporter for Her Local Newspaper

According to several sources, Amanda Knox has found a job as a writer for the Westside Weekly newspaper in her hometown of Seattle. Westside Weekly publisher, Ken Robinson, confirmed to AOL News that Knox has been a freelance arts reporter at the publication since the summer. Robinson said that Knox has written about 10 articles for them, even though she has flown under the radar for several months.

“I understand who she is, but it’s no big deal,” said Robinson. Knox works mostly from home, Robinson said. He has never actually met her in person. “I only have contact with her through email,” he added. When asked whether he thought the hire would cause controversy, Robinson replied: “I didn’t have those thoughts; she’s just a contributor to me.”

 

Italian Horror House Gets Old, Yet, Familiar Visitor

The bizarre behavior exhibited by Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito throughout this tragic nightmare has been the source of much talk and controversy. Although it pales in comparison to other peculiar actions exhibited by the two throughout, Raffaele Sollectio added to that when he brought his new love to visit the home where he was convicted of brutally murdering Meredith Kercher.

Last week La Nazione newspaper in Italy reported that Sollectio and his new girlfriend, Greta Menegaldo, were seen standing outside the cottage where he was convicted of participating in the murder of Meredith Kercher.  One local resident, Enea, told La Nazione that she saw them. Enea said, “I’m telling the truth: I couldn’t believe it…when I saw them up close, it was Sollecito.” Raffaele’s father also confirmed the visit, saying, “If Raffaele wanted to show his girlfriend the ordeal he went through, I can’t see anything wrong with that…he has absolutely nothing to do with that crime.”

It was only last September (2013) when Amanda Knox announced that she planned on attending the grave site of “her friend,” Meredith Kercher and meet with Kercher’s parents. The Kercher family, however, wants nothing to do with Knox, and have alluded to, many times, their belief that Knox and Sollecito were involved in Meredith’s murder…along with the fact that their family lawyer who has represented them during this entire process, Francesco Maresca, has been vocal about his belief in their guilt, which speaks volumes about how the Kercher family feels.

Curse of Amanda Knox: Realtor says “Italian Horror House Hard to sell”

 

 

The Italian cottage where Amanda Knox, Raffaelle Sollecito, and Rudy Guede  have been convicted of butchering Meredith Kercher was put up for sale in December of 2013. Due to the infamous circumstances, said a Perugian agent for the Tecnocasa real estate agency, which is handling the sale, “…it has not been easy to find potential buyers who are willing to overlook the fact that a brutal murder took place there.”

The owner of the Perugian villa, Italian retiree Aldalia Tattanelli, was forced to drop the price more than $100,000, from $630,000 to just over $520,000. Six years after Kercher’s murder, almost to the day, eight new tenants living in the home almost died when a carbon monoxide leak nearly poisoned them all in their sleep. This adds to the infamy of the home, and some have gone as far as saying that the home is cursed. It was this incident that prompted Aldalia to sell the home.

In the U.S., sellers are required to disclose if a murder took place in a house.  That’s not the case in Italy and the listing makes no mention of the gruesome crime that took place there. In fact, the realtor said that “The owner [Aldalia] is adamant that everything possible be done to discourage anyone in the realtor’s office from saying a word about the murder.”

“We have received requests for information, and many, who are probably busybodies, have already visited our web page,” the realtor said. “I hope to exclude macabre curiosity seekers because the property has a certain value.” Tecnocasa Realty is so wary about curiosity seekers that “the company requires that anyone potential buyers make an appointment and come to the sales office in person for even general information” on the two-unit property, which comes with 5,000 square meters of land and parking for seven vehicles.

“Frankly,” says the realtor, “this is a tough sell in an already tough real estate market.”

Would you live in a house with such a history?

Amanda Knox’s Conviction is Upheld

After a long wait the Italian Supreme Court’s verdict in the Amanda Knox, Raffaele Sollecito case was finally revealed on Thursday: guilty. The judges in Florence overruled her previous acquittal and sentence her to 28 years and 6 months in prison, while Knox’s ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, was also found guilty and given 25 years in jail. But their lawyers vowed to appeal to Italy’s highest court—a process that will take at least a year and drag out this legal saga even further. 

Yet, not surprisingly, Knox has still managed to garner support from the American media, who by and large still believe that she is an innocent girl being played by a corrupt and antiquated Italian justice system. Knox’s PR machine (The Marriott Group) and the legion of Knox apologists still gawk at those, like myself, who believe that Knox is nothing more than a murderer, master manipulator, and worthy of an Academy Award for her brilliant acting job for duping almost an entire nation. 

Speaking on ABC's Good Morning America, Knox vowed yesterday to fight her conviction “until the very end” and said she “will never willingly go back to Italy.” And of course a new CNN article paints Knox as a hero, when in fact her statement “fight to the very end” actually means hide in the United States until her final appeal comes back guilty as well, and then continue hiding for the rest of her life (i.e. the very end). 

Knox’s great acting has also been aided by a carefully plotted effort to make her appear compassionate and thoughtful. Knox’s image has gone through a complete overhaul since she has entered the spotlight several years ago. She entered the Good Morning America studio yesterday looking groomed and glamorous, with her new short bob haircut and in studio make-up.  Her interviewer, Robin Roberts, kindly held Knox’s hand and plugged her book, saying readers would “really learn more about Amanda Knox” from her book.  

But everyone who came in contact with Knox just after the murder of Meredith Kercher expressed their certainty that Knox was the killer and that her actions were beyond just her quirky attitude or her “different” way of dealing with tragedy. 

According to one female Italian Prison guard, Angela Antonietti, Amanda Knox “is a brilliant actress; she is the Ice Maiden; she has reinvented herself as a teary American TV star, but she was cold and unemotional when in an Italian jail.” According to Angela, an admitted favorite guard of Knox’s while being held at Capanne prison, near Perugia, “Knox never cried or showed remorse during her time inside.” Continuing, Angela revealed her thoughts that “Underneath the veneers she [Knox] remains the same controlled woman I knew well in Capanne prison. She was so composed, I never saw her suffering.” Ms Antonietti, who worked as a prison warden for 25 years, said she came to dislike Knox immensely during her time at the prison, saying “Her behavior wasn’t human. Even the doctor didn’t understand her.”

Meanwhile, Raffaele Sollecito had left Italy and drove to Austria while an appeals court deliberated his fate. Sollecito’s lawyer, Luca Maori, insisted that his client was in the area of Italy’s northeastern border with Austria on Thursday because that’s where his current girlfriend lives. He said Sollecito went voluntarily to police to surrender his passport and ID papers. However, head of the Udine police squad, Massimiliano Ortolan, said police were tipped off that Sollecito had checked into a hotel in Venzone (Carnia hotel), on the Italian side of the border, and they went to find him there, waking him and his girlfriend up Friday morning and bringing him to the police station in Udine. No arrest warrant had been issued by the Florence court. But the court demanded that Sollecito turn over his passport and ID papers to prevent him from leaving the country.

Alan Dershowitz weighs in on Knox case:

Dershowitz: "Lots of evidence against Knox"

 

Repost of Raffaele Sollecito’s Interview with Kate Mansey (two days after Kercher’s murder)

The following is a repost of the interview that British Sunday Times journalist, Kate Mansey, did with Raffaele Sollecito (RS) on November 3, 2007 (Two days after Meredith Kercher was murdered), and was published November 4, 2007. Within, Sollecito claims that he and Amanda Knox were at “a party with one of his friends” on the night that Kercher was murdered. Obviously Sollecito has never used this [fake] alibi in any other tale that he has told, nor has he ever addressed this [false] claim. The following article was available on the internet for a couple of years, but has since been removed. Yet, unfortunately for Sollecito; it has not been forgotten.

 

Bold: RS’s own words according to Kate Mansey.
Underlined: untrue, contradictory (compared to other versions) as well as revealing details that should be examined further.

Published in the Sunday Mirror 4/11/2007

ITALY MURDER DETAILS EMERGE
EXCLUSIVE
MURDERED IN ITALY. MEREDITH, 21
Friend tells how he broke down door
Kate Mansey In Perugia, Italy 4/11/2007

A friend of murdered British student Meredith Kercher told last night how he discovered her body in her blood-spattered bedroom.

Raffaele Sollecito, 23, relived the horror of finding the body of the pretty brunette who died when her killer broke into her home and cut her throat as she lay in her bed.

"It is something I never hope to see again," he said. "There was blood everywhere and I couldn't take it all in.

"My girlfriend was her flatmate and she was crying and screaming, 'How could anyone do this?'"

Meredith, 21, who had been studying in Perugia, Italy since August, was murdered the day after a Halloween fancy dress party at the city's British-themed Merlin Pub on Wednesday.
On Thursday she posted happy snaps of herself in fancy dress on the internet and in the evening had returned home alone after watching a film at a friend's house.

But her flatmates - two Italian girls and one American - had all stayed out for the night, so the gruesome discovery wasn't made until the next day.

Raffaele had spent the night at his own house on the other side of the citywith his girlfriend, Meredith's American flatmate Amanda Knox, 22.

He said: "It was a normal night. Meredith had gone out with one of her English friends and Amanda and I went to party with one of my friends.

"The next day, around lunchtime, Amanda went back to their apartment to have a shower."

As Amanda, from Washington DC, stepped into house [sic B] she could tell there was something terribly wrong.

Raffaele said: "When she arrived the front door was wide open. She thought it was weird, but thought maybe someone was in the house and had left it ajar.

"But when she went into the bathroom she saw spots of blood all over the bath and sink. That's when she started getting really afraid and ran back to my place because she didn't want to go into the house alone. So I agreed to go back with her. When we walked in together, I knew straight away it was wrong. It was really eerily silent and the bathroom was speckled with blood like someone had flicked it around, just little spots.

"We went into the bedroom of Philomena (another flatmate who was away) and it had been ransacked, like someone had been looking for something. But when we tried Meredith's room, the door was locked. She never normally locked her bedroom door and that really made us frightened."

Their panic grew as they desperately banged on her door.

Raffaele said: "I tried to knock it down. I thought maybe she was ill... I made a dent, but I wasn't strong enough on my own so I called the police."

When police arrived they knocked the door down straightaway and Raffaele followed them into the room.

"I couldn't believe what I was seeing," he said. "It was hard to tell it was Meredith at first but Amanda started crying and screaming. I dragged her away because I didn't want her to see it, it was so horrible.

"It seems her killer came through the window because it was smashed and there was glass all over the place. It was so sinister because other parts of the house were just as normal."
Raffaele, a computer science student, said Meredith had recently started seeing an Italian neighbour called Giacamo [sic B] who lived in the apartment beneath the girls. He said: "Meredith was always smiling and happy. She was really popular and it's horrible that someone would want to hurt her."

Police hunting for the killer found two mobile phones in nearby Parco Saint Angelo, a favourite hang out for heroin addicts.

 

Knox & Sollecito: A Closer Look at the Footprint Evidence

If you have listen to anything from the American media about the Amanda Knox case you would likely believe that there was no physical evidence at the crime scene linking Knox and Raffaele Sollecito to the murder of Meredith Kercher. However, with just a simple cursory review of some of the official sources it is easy to see that there is actually an abundance of physical evidence against the two convicts. Perhaps the best place to start is Judge Massei’s Report on the conviction of Knox and Kercher. Furthermore, it is imperative to read the Italian Supreme Court’s Reasoningon the case. Aside from the obvious four spots of blood found at the cottage (3 spots in the bathroom and one in Filomena’s room) mixed with Knox and Kercher’s DNA, there are also several pieces of convincing footprint evidence that was used to help convict the three accused, which includes Rudy Guede. Putting the plethora of circumstantial evidence and the other physical evidence aside and simply focusing on the footprint evidence gives us a very clear picture of exactly what occurred that fateful night.

Luminol (3-aminophthalic hydrazide) is a chemical that reacts with the microscopic particles of iron found in hemoglobin, causing an organic peroxide reaction. If blood is present, its oxidized state is expressed by a chemoluminescent burst, i.e. the sample glows with a bluish color in the dark. This chemical was used in this case to enhance several footprints found at the crime scene to have been cleaned, most likely by the perpetrators.

The picture above provides a very striking visual of what is about to be explained. For the purposes of this exercise I will be using my own labeling system to detail each footprint. Please refer to the picture above for reference sake. Before doing the analysis, it is important to note the size of each foot of each suspect. In doing so, we see the disparity among the participants that shows the unlikelihood of mistaking the identities. The following footprint evidence is taken from the Massei Report (pages 347-349).

Amanda Knox          –     6.5W  (US)
Meredith Kercher     –     8W     (US)  

Raffaele Sollecito     –     8.5M  (US)

Rudy Guede             –     12M    (US)
 

FP1 – This print was located in the bedroom of Amanda Knox, identified as a right barefoot print, which was found to be compatible with Amanda Knox’s right foot and it also included Amanda Knox’s DNA.

FP2 – This print was located in the corridor in the direction facing the exit, right next to Rudy Guede’s second shoe print, facing in the same direction. Being placed on a Robbins grid the investigators were able to get measurements for the big toe, both width and length for the metatarsus, and a width measurement for the heel. The bloody bare footprint was determined to be compatible with Raffaele Sollecito’s right foot.

FP3– This barefoot print was located in the corridor directly in front of the door to Meredith Kercher’s room and pointing towards the entrance as if entering the room. The measurements were found to be compatible with Amanda Knox’s Right foot.

FP4– The notorious bloody barefoot print found on the bathmat that was normally located in the bathroom shared by Knox and Kercher, but which was found in Amanda Knox’s room. This print was compatible with the right foot of Raffaele Sollecito.

 

FP5– For the purposes and practicality of this exercise, all of the footprints identified as Rudy Guede’s will be labeled under FP5. The court found that there was no reason or evidence to believe that Guede removed his shoes at any point. They furthered determined that "…it was his [Rudy Guede’s] shoe prints in the victim’s blood that were left on the floor of the house, in a path leading away from the victim ʹ s room and toward the door exiting the house, a door that had been pulled [shut] behind him” (SC Ruling, pg. 6). As indicated in the picture above, Guede’s bloody shoe prints lead directly from Kercher’s room to and out the front door of the cottage.

FP6 – “Following the procedure of luminol enhancement, it was shown that Knox, her feet stained with the victim’s blood, went into Romanelli’s room… leaving footprints revealed by luminol, some of which were mixed, i.e., constituted from biological traces of both Knox and Kercher” (pg. 11, SC Ruling). This, along with a multitude of other factors, lends itself to the theory that Knox was a major part of the staged break-in in Filomena Romanelli’s room.

The Italian Supreme Court of Cassation (SC) reasoned that Rudy Guede could not have killed Meredith Kercher by himself, based on the evidence; they outright reject the “lone wolf” theory. The SC specifically directs the appeals court to consider prior (and now definitive) findings in the Rudy Guede decision that there were multiple attackers and that the break-in was staged. This ruling stacks the deck against Knox and Sollecito in a big way! The SC also makes clear its belief that the footprints attributed to Knox, which contained both Knox and Kercher’s DNA, were made in blood. They also affirm that they found there was no evidence that contamination occurred.

The upcoming hearing date begins on September 30, followed by October 4, 22, 23; November 6, 7, & 26 (2013). The presiding Judge will be Alessandro Nencini, president of the court’s second chamber, while the lateral judge is expected to be Magistrate Cicheria. A judgment is expected to be heard by the end of the year.

 

Amanda Knox’s Final Conviction Appeal Just Around Corner

Not really breaking news or much of a shock, but just moments ago Amanda Knox’s lawyer, Luciano Ghirga, told the Florence daily La Nazione that she will not be attending her conviction appeals hearings in Italy. The appeals of Amanda Knox and Raffele Sollecito against their convictions will begin on September 30, 2013, and will take place in Florence.
 

Knox will be up against a whole new Italian authoritative regime when her appeals begin. In September Florence’s current chief prosecutor, Giuseppe Quattrocchi, will retire and Deputy Chief Prosecutor, Dr. Armando Spataro, is expected to take his place. Dr. Spataro is known to be one of the toughest prosecutors in Italy. Italy also has a new attorney general for Tuscany, Dr Tindari Baglione, who is expected to select the prosecutors for the appeal soon. 

Italian law permits Knox not to attend the appeal, where she will instead be represented by her lawyers. According to Mr. Ghirga, Knox “is not trying to run away from anything; she just doesn’t understand why a retrial is necessary.” So, by that logic: because Knox doesn’t understand why a retrial is necessary (even though it’s common practice in Italy for such a thing) she believes she should not attend because they have not proven to her why this is even necessary. Amanda Knox’s logic is never short on entertainment value. 

This past Sunday CNN featured the Amanda Knox story on their “Crimes of the Century” series; and once again CNN outdid itself by actually topping its previous record of reporting half-truths and outright errors associated with this story. They featured a host of pro-Knox-hacks, painted Knox as a poor girl who continues to be persecuted by evil autocrats tied to a medieval court system, and of course they made several references to the Knox-o-holics' "Darth Vader," Guiliano Mignini.

Amanda Knox to face “Retrial”

The Supreme Court of Cassation, Italy’s highest court, met this morning in Rome at 10:00 a.m. and overturned the acquittals of both Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito. The ruling means that the case against Knox and Sollecito will be sent back to be reheard at an appeals court in Florence. Italy’s highest Court ruled today on questions of procedure, not on the merits of a case. This should make Knox’s upcoming interview on Diane Sawyer a bit more interesting, to say the least. An extradition will only be requested once a definitive conviction is reached. At which point, the conviction would then have to be upheld by the Court of Cassation again. We could be looking at another year or so.

Report from BBC News:

"Freelance journalist Andrea Vogt told the BBC she had spoken to a lawyer for the Kercher family, who said the decision was a victory for the family and a victory for the Italian judicial system. Miss Kercher's older sister, Stephanie, welcomed the decision as a step forward."

Report from NY Times:

"But the full implications of the ruling were unclear, particularly the question of whether Ms. Knox would return voluntarily from the United States or be extradited to face new hearings — a process that would require several major legal steps. If she does not appear, the case could proceed in her absence."