Original subtitles

[pensive music]

- [Liz] The family first discovered

that a young female student

had been murdered in Italy on the news.

Immediately they start wondering, could this be Meredith?

- [Reporter] Meredith Kercher laughing

and joking with friends

at a Halloween party on Wednesday night.

Her body was discovered this afternoon concealed by a duvet.

She was partially clothed.

Her throat had been slit.

[music continues]

- [Stephanie] She was very excited about coming to Italy,

looking forward to learning more about Italian culture,

seeing the city of Perugia and making new friends.

She really fought to come here.

She really wanted to be here.

- [Julian] At nine p.m. that night,

Meredith's image was broadcast on the news in Britain,

and obviously her image was then

on the front pages for the next day.

This was an international story

that dominated the news simply everywhere.

- [Nina] It was an unusual and shocking event.

This was a college town and they don't have murders there.

[mysterious music]

- [Arline] What happened to my daughter, Meredith,

is every parent's nightmare of something

so terrible happening when basically,

she was in the safest place, her bedroom.

[music continues] [siren wailing]

- [Honor Doro] There were so many superficial wounds.

- [Julian] So much bruising, so many cuts,

including the main wound to her neck.

- [Honor Doro] In the media circus that happened afterwards,

we can forget that fundamentally,

a young woman was likely tortured to death that night.

- [Liz] The key person here is Meredith Kercher.

She's been silenced by her killer.

She will never be able to tell her side of the story.

[music builds]

[pensive music]

- [Stephanie] Meredith has been hugely forgotten

in all of this.

The media photos aren't really of her.

There's not a lot about what actually happened

in the beginning,

so it's very difficult to kind of keep

her memory alive in all of this.

[mysterious music]

[gentle music] [birds chirping]

- Perugia is one of these storied hill towns in Italy

that is utterly beautiful,

picturesque, photogenic,

filled with architecture and art

that is really part of the western cannon.

There's renaissance art in there

in those churches that art historians study.

It's a walled mountain town,

and it's history dates back to the Etruscan era.

It's a beautiful place.

- Perugia is a town that has

an international university within it.

Very much an idyllic location

for somebody studying abroad for a year

because there's a lot of rich cultural heritage there.

It's not just a a metropolitan city

that many students go and study abroad,

and this is a place with depth, with diversity.

- It has two universities.

The population explodes by like 40 or 50,000

when students are there.

It depends heavily on these universities

for its economic engine.

[Patrick speaking in Italian]

Seven out of ten people that you can meet

in the center of Perugia are students.

It is like being on an island with just students,

so everything is focused on the students.

- But you've really got this mixing pot of young people

in quite a cutoff location, but it's really beautiful.

There's a lot going on.

- [Narrator] In 2007, peace in the historic town

was broken when a 21 year old British student

was found dead in her apartment.

- [Reporter] The murder of Meredith Kercher still haunts

the rarefied medieval city of Perugia.

- [Reporter] Italian police are still trying

to piece together a horrific night of sex,

drugs, and murder.

- [Reporter] On November 2nd,

Meredith Kercher's lifeless body was found half naked,

lying in a pool of blood with a stab wound on her neck.

- [Reporter] A judge found

that 21 year old Kercher died fighting off

a sexual assault.

- [Reporter] Well, the house where Meredith

was murdered still holds its secrets.

- Students and the police found

the body of Meredith Kercher,

and within hours it was being reported

in the Italian press and it was probably

being reported in the British press

that this British student had been murdered in Italy.

[pensive music] [siren wailing]

- It was around 5 p.m. when Arline saw

that there were rumors about the death

of a student in Perugia.

Obviously, her mind started to wander.

She tried to get hold of Meredith, but couldn't.

Her ex-husband, Meredith's father, John,

was a freelance journalist, who was able to call

the foreign desk of a British newspaper.

An agonizing wait followed and then he was able

to get information that the name circulating was Meredith.

- It was quite plain to see

why Meredith fell in love with the city,

and why she wished to study languages here,

possibly with the view of ultimately going on

to perhaps teaching or working in politics.

Either way, it would've certainly been a career

that I think she could have done something

where she could make a difference.

- There's so many things happen

that you just want to call her up or text her or...

Still waitin' for her to come in the room now

and just hear her laugh and I know she's not coming back,

and that is very hard to kind of accept.

- Meredith was 21.

She was studying politics and languages at Leeds University.

Meredith arrived in Perugia at the end of August, 2007.

- Going to Perugia was supposed to be the time of her life.

- I remember her being very excited.

I was due to go on holiday with some friends

and she was leaving the day before I got back.

So we had to say our goodbyes just before I went,

and we were just talking on the sofa

and having a little cuddle goodbye.

And then I just remember her suddenly crying

and saying that she was gonna be sad to go,

but she was excited to come

and I remember being quite taken aback 'cause I thought,

"Don't make me sad, I'll miss you,

but you'll go and have fun."

- Meredith was doing what tens of thousands

of people her age do.

This was a safe environment.

There was very little crime reported in that area.

[ominous music]

- [Narrator] When Meredith first arrived in Perugia,

she met a group of English girls

who quickly became friends and enjoyed

the social scene that Perugia was also renowned for.

- She was very excited about coming to Italy,

looking forward to learning more about Italian culture,

seeing the city of Perugia and making new friends.

And she really fought to come here.

She really wanted to be here.

[pensive music]

- Meredith was living in a flat share

with two other students,

Italians called Laura and Filomena,

and then later on an American student

moved in as well called Amanda.

- Amanda. - How do we do this?

Huh? - [laughs] One shot.

One shot.

- So the setup was really intimate.

There were four boys downstairs and four girls upstairs,

so they really got to know each other in a city

that was just simply teaming with students at that time.

[crowd chattering]

- [Narrator] In the short time, they had been in the city,

Meredith and her flatmates had become well known

in the student area around the old town.

Patrick Lumumba owned a very popular bar there.

[Patrick speaking in Italian] My pub "“Le Chic"” was here.

This door here was the main entrance.

It was a club on three floors.

First floor you had the big bar.

Second floor the small bar and on the third floor there

was a stage for the musicians or the DJ.

I met Amanda Knox because she needed money.

A friend of mine introduced her to me saying:

"“She is my friend.

She loves Perugia and would like to stay here longer

but she has not enough money so she needs a job."”

And we talked for a short time

and then I told her to come to my club in the evening.

So she went to the club with a group of people.

There were many girls probably more than twenty.

Also, poor Meredith was with them.

I remember Meredith that day

because I used to bring from Poland a Polish vodka called Zubrowska

and she stopped to say to me: "“It is the first place here where I'’ve seen Zubrowska."”

I asked her: "“Do you know it?"” and she replied: "“Yes, yes."”

She used to work as a bartender in London

and they used to do the Mojitos with Zubrowska

So I said to her: "“If you'’re a bartender,

you should come and work in the club sometimes."”

Then I asked her to show me how she made it,

inviting her to come behind the counter

and she made her mojito with Zubrowska.

Then I spoke with Amanda and we agreed that she would start to work here.

[crowd speaking in Italian]

[pensive music]

- The night after Halloween in Italy is a religious holiday,

and a lot of students had gone home to their moms and dads.

The streets would've been less active at that time

because it was a holiday and because students had left town.

[Patrick speaking in Italian]

The 1st of November for me as for anyone else, it was an ordinary day.

So I texted Amanda saying:

"“I don'’t need you come to work today.

It's like a Sunday today, and I'll be working alone."”

And Amanda wrote back to me: "“Okay, Patrick. See you later."”

[music continues]

[Giuliano speaking in Italian] I was at home

and the Deputy Chief Inspector of the flying squad called me.

And he told me that there was the body of a still unidentified girl

in a house in Via Della Pergola, number 7

located outside of the old town.

- Giuliano Mignini is the magistrate,

which corresponds to the prosecutor in the U.S. system.

Mignini's role was to basically oversee

the investigation of this murder scene,

find the murderer, or murderers,

and file charges against them.

[Giuliano speaking in Italian]

Then this girl was identified

as a British girl from London - Croydon.

In the meantime, the journalists arrived

and placed themselves in front of the car park above.

When we arrived the two young people, Amanda and Sollecito,

were obviously there exchanging embraces.

What struck me the most

was that while Amanda was very scared

Sollecito seemed to be more confident.

He was the one trying to support and reassure Amanda.

- Amanda Knox was from Seattle.

She's an American student and she was one of four roommates,

four female roommates living in the house.

Raffaele Sollecito is an Italian

and he was the one week boyfriend

of Amanda Knox at that point.

[Patrick speaking in Italian]

We knew Raffaele Sollecito as Amanda'’s friend.

And Raffaele used to arrive 5 or 10 minutes

before Amanda finished working.

He used to enter and sit down or stayed standing up somewhere here on the first floor

and then when she finished, they used to leave together.

- Amanda Knox had spent the night at Sollecito's house,

according to Knox, eating dinner,

having sex and smoking pot and sleeping.

And in the morning decided to go back

to her house to take a shower.

Went to the house, found the door slightly ajar, front door,

went in, took a shower,

noticed there were blood spots here and there,

didn't do anything about it right away,

didn't seem too alarmed by it apparently.

Then I believe she went back to Sollecito's house and said,

"Something's not right in my house."

They went back to the house

and they started knocking on Meredith's door.

Her bedroom door was locked.

They didn't know where Meredith was.

Amanda, I believe, called the other roommates

who were Italian.

Then Sollecito calls the police.

The Italian roommates who showed up with their boyfriends,

and the boyfriends kicked Meredith Kercher's bedroom door in

and saw this horrible crime scene.

[pensive music]

- [Narrator] One of the first things Prosecutor Mignini

needed to establish was when Meredith died.

The most accurate way to do this

was to take her body temperature as soon as possible.

[Giuliano speaking in Italian]

I remember that at one point the coroner,

Dr. Luca Lalli arrived.

I asked him to get the internal body temperature

to establish accurately the time of death.

The scientist in charge of the forensic police

stopped me saying: "“Please can you postpone this procedure because...

I want to prevent any potential contamination."”

The coroner didn'’t say anything, so I accepted the request.

However the coroner measured the rigor mortis

but he didn'’t get the internal temperature.

- The first couple of hours after a body is discovered

are the golden hours in terms of the forensic investigation

because there's an awful lot of information

that you need to ascertain at that point in time.

You need to estimate the time of death,

which involves taking the rectal temperature of the body

to tell you what is the temperature of it right now?

What are the conditions, the weather conditions?

How likely is it that this person was killed an hour ago,

a couple of hours ago?

So, all of that information,

you need to capture that really, really early on,

and if you don't, that information has gone,

and actually that can really compromise your investigation

because the number of possibilities increases then,

in terms of what happened and when it happened.

[pensive music]

[Patrick speaking in Italian] It was time to open the club

and two American girls arrived who used to work for me.

They told me that they heard

that Amanda'’s English friend who lived with her has died.

When I heard that, I thought it wasn't true.

So I called Amanda...

And Amanda replied: "“Yes, it is true.

She died and we are at the police station now."”

I felt very bad.

It was really bad news.

All the community of the old town of Perugia

was mourning.

[pensive music]

- The family first discovered that a young female student

had been murdered in Italy on the news.

- At nine p.m. that night, Meredith's image was broadcast

on the news in Britain.

It was instantly a huge story and obviously,

her image was then on the front pages for the next day.

This was an international story

that dominated the news simply everywhere.

- I think the fact that Meredith's family found out via

the media really was a sign of things to come.

- [Reporter] Police arrived to find Meredith's friends

in the house oblivious to what had happened.

They broke down the door to her bedroom

and discovered her body.

Meredith's family were tonight being informed.

Her friends are being supported in Italy.

[mysterious music]

- [Narrator] As the investigation

continued at Meredith's flat, her family arrived in Perugia.

- It has got to be the worst thing

that a parent can ever, ever experience.

It is the worst trauma to be told

that your beautiful, vibrant, vital daughter

has been killed in a foreign country,

and you have to go and identify the body.

It's just unfathomable.

[mysterious music]

[Giuliano speaking in Italian] I remember the mother. I saw her after the autopsy.

You could see the immense pain that she had always tried to hide

Meredith had been autopsied in the morgue.

The mother arrived and asked me for permission to come in, so I let her in.

She looked at her. It was a very touching scene.

Then she made a gesture to me in this way...

as she wanted to give her a kiss.

[reporters chattering]

- [Narrator] The family then met with Francesco Maresca,

who had been appointed to guide them through

the often complex Italian legal system,

and keep them informed about the investigation.

[Francesco speaking in Italian]

At that moment, the meeting was really special.

We were in the very first moments after the murder.

So we were trying to understand what could have happened.

They told me about their daughter,

what they knew she was doing in Perugia.

There were no reasons that they could think of

that could give rise to the violence

that had taken away their daughter's life.

- [Narrator] As the family were coming

to terms with their loss,

the coroner, Dr. Luca Lalli was carrying out the autopsy

to determine the cause of death.

[Giuseppe speaking in Italian]

Meredith's neck had three wounds:

One deep and wide to the left

at the front of the neck, on this side.

And two smaller ones on the other side.

These are wounds that correspond to a point-and-cut instrument.

So they can be attributed to an instrument

with a point and a blade such as a knife.

When Luca Lalli finishes the autopsy,

he concludes that the cause of death of Meredith

depended on three wounds to the neck and the spill of blood.

This blood entered the lungs

drowning this poor girl in her own blood.

In forensic jargon,

this is called internal drowning or internal submersion.

- [Narrator] During the murder,

Meredith also sustained other injuries,

including multiple bruises and several smaller knife wounds.

- There were quite a significant number

of superficial knife wounds that emerged within the autopsy.

So this tells me that this was not something

that was an accident.

This was not something that happened incredibly quickly.

The superficial knife wounds that they found,

those can't be inflicted in 10 seconds, 30 seconds.

This was something that was likely a sustained attack.

- [Narrator] Following the autopsy,

the prosecution began to build a hypothesis

as to how Meredith had died.

[Giuliano speaking in Italian]

There were also grasping injuries, or grip injuries.

The evidence revealed the crime was committed by more than one person.

Probably someone grabbed her while someone else was torturing her.

- Some of the autopsy findings have been interpreted

as meaning that there might have been

more than one person involved in the attack

because of the nature of Meredith's injuries

and the number of injuries.

But equally, it can be interpreted in another way

in terms of the fight that that Meredith put up,

in terms of how sustained the attack was.

So, we always have to be quite careful

to separate what the autopsy findings are

from what sense we're making of them.

- [Narrator] With the autopsy results and growing amounts

of potential forensic and circumstantial evidence,

the prosecution was building a theory

as to how Meredith died,

but as yet had no idea who may have been responsible.

[pensive music]

[Francesco speaking in Italian]

The first few days were total confusion.

We were all trying to figure out what had happened.

Initially, all Meredith'’s friends

were considered as witnesses

as they wanted to know

her lifestyle and understand what could have happened

in the days leading up to her murder.

- On the night she died,

Meredith Kercher had gone to eat pizza

and watch a movie at the rented house

of another group of students.

She was there for a few hours.

[Giuliano speaking in Italian]

She said she was very tired

and the next day she would have been very busy

so she just wanted to go home and go to bed.

Roughly around 9 p.m. Meredith was home.

- [Narrator] Some 16 hours later

at approximately one p.m. on Friday afternoon,

Meredith's body was discovered.

- The investigators started paying attention

to Amanda Knox early on when she appeared

to be behaving in a way

that did not match what they thought

a young woman who had just lost her roommate would be doing.

She was making out with her boyfriend in the yard

of the house while police were going in and out

while the body was still there.

And then later in the evening at the police station,

she didn't appear to be grieving

as Meredith's other friends were.

[Valter speaking in Italian] I have a very distinctive memory of those very hours.

Young people on the steps of the cathedral

who immediately put up a tribute in honor of Meredith.

And I have a beautiful memory of this father

who slowly walks towards the steps of the Cathedral

and deposits a lit candle.

Watching that father'’s act,

I thought about all those parents

who had kids studying away from home or abroad.

It is an image that I will probably never forget.

[pensive music]

- [Narrator] As Perugia and the family remembered Meredith,

Raffaele Sollecito was called in

for questioning by the police.

Amanda Knox went with him.

- They bring the boyfriend in for questioning,

and he goes down there and they ask him

for a timeline

of the night Meredith was murdered,

and his timeline is rather fuzzy.

[Giuliano speaking in Italian]

The police had questioned Sollecito

and for the first time that night,

he distanced himself from Amanda

and he said that he had told a lot of lies until then

because Amanda asked him to.

- They ate dinner.

He remembered that part of it,

and then at some point she left his house.

He wasn't sure where she went

and that she may have come back

at a certain hour later in the evening.

[Giuliano speaking in Italian]

He was home and Amanda

came back around half past one.

That time was a little compromising.

[Daniela speaking in Italian] In my opinion, they are statements

that arose out of moments of confusion.

So I don't think they are relevant and can be considered.

They were taken in a very stressful moment.

[Luciano speaking in Italian] That night Amanda went to police headquarters,

they had called Sollecito in, but not Amanda

but she said: "“I'’ll come with you."”

When she got there, she was doing gymnastics,

the cartwheel. And they thought she was acting crazy.

- She wasn't tearful.

She seemed rather blithe about the whole thing,

sitting on her boyfriend's lap in the police station,

things that a good Italian girl certainly

would not be doing after as traumatic an event

as finding your roommate

with her throat slashed in your house.

[Luciano speaking in Italian]

Then they question her. The prosecutor comes in a first time then a second time

because everybody was saying: "“It'’s them, it's them."”

This is the night at the police headquarters,

where there is the transition from suspects to accused.

- [Narrator] Now that Sollecito

had thrown doubt on Amanda's alibi,

the police began to question her version of events.

- During one of the questionings of Amanda Knox,

á*the police asked for her phone, they took it,

they looked at it and they found a text message

from her to a man named Patrick Lumumba.

[Giuliano speaking in Italian]

He told her to not go to the club

because there were few people. It was a long weekend.

She replied: "“See you later"”

but she thought in English while answering in Italian.

She wrote a text message if I remember well.

- Ci vediamo dopo translated literally means,

"I will see you in awhile," or "I will see you later."

Now, in English, if you say see you later,

it could mean I'll see you in an hour,

or it could mean I'll see you in five months.

Apparently in the usage in Italian,

saying that means something quite specific.

It means I'll see you later,

like in five minutes, or in an hour.

[Giuliano speaking in Italian]

The police officers became suspicious and asked her for more details.

She did not accuse herself.

She accused Lumumba.

- [Narrator] Amanda claimed she arranged

to meet Patrick Lumumba at her apartment

and they were both there when Meredith was killed.

[Giuliano speaking in Italian]

She put herself in the kitchen.

The kitchen is around 5/6/7 meters

from Meredith'’s room.

She said that Lumumba was in Meredith's room.

"“I heard and understood that he killed her."” She said that.

So, she never made self-accusatory statements

but accusatory statements towards Lumumba.

At that moment, those three guys seemed involved.

- There were three suspects, an unusual lineup.

You had a bar owner, Patrick Lumumba,

and then you had these two students,

Raffaele Sollecito, who's Italian,

and his girlfriend Amanda Knox, who's American.

- [Narrator] In the early hours of the morning

on Tuesday the 6th of November,

Amanda and Raffaele were arrested at the police station.

Officers then went to detain Patrick at his house.

[Patrick speaking Italian] I heard someone knocking at the door.

And I heard a female voice saying to me:

"“It's the police. Open the door."” And I half-opened it.

I saw that there were a lot of people

and then I said: "“Ah but I'm with a baby and...

No, no... open. Open."”

So I opened and they were there I don't remember but

certainly more than 15 policemen and they immediately handcuffed me.

And my partner asked them: "“What did he do?"”

They replied: "“He knows what he did. He knows it."”

So they grabbed and brought me to the police station.

[pensive music]

- By the morning of the 6th,

all three of these people are in jail,

and there is about to be a press conference,

announcing that the murder has been solved.

[sirens wailing]

[pensive music]

[spokesperson speaking in Italian]

The teamwork of the police and other departments

has allowed the prosecuting judicial authority to issue

three arrest warrants

for the crime of conspiracy

to commit voluntary homicide

and conspiracy to commit sexual assault.

- So, four days after Meredith's body was found,

the police and the prosecutor announced

that they've solved the crime.

That solves a lot of problems for the town of Perugia

because 40,000 students had been experiencing ripples

of fear and panic, as had their parents at home,

especially the foreign students

or the international students.

- [Reporter] The killing was part of a sex

and drugs party that went horribly wrong.

- [Reporter] Strangled and stabbed Kercher during

what began as a sex game.

- [Reporter] The 21 year old had been sexually assaulted

and stabbed to death.

- [Reporter] They say that Meredith refused

to take part in a drug-fueled orgy.

- Amanda Knox was orchestrating a kind of a group sex game

with Lumumba and Sollecito,

and that Meredith Kercher resisted,

and then that resistance ended up enraging Amanda

or these two men so much that they killed her.

That's the theory that they laid out.

- A story that was already getting loads of coverage

was moved to a new meteoric level with these new details.

- I do feel women being involved massively contributed

to how this case played out in the police and in the media,

but I do believe that Meredith

was readily given status as victim.

I don't think that was taken away from her.

I don't think her character was questioned,

which happens a lot, unfortunately.

But with Knox, a very gendered approach was taken.

We have this theory in criminology called double deviance,

and it relates to female offenders,

and it essentially argues that when women commit crime,

not only have they committed a crime,

but they have gone against society's gendered norms

that are prescribed to them.

You see that not only are people kind of creating

these headlines because of the crime that's occurred,

but they're calling into question a woman's character.

- This was probably the point

that Meredith became a secondary character in her own story,

and there was a frenzy really

in the reporting on Amanda Knox,

perhaps more so from the newspapers than broadcast media.

But there was huge interest,

perhaps more interest about her than there was interest

in what actually happened on the night itself.

- [Narrator] Despite the intense media spotlight

on the case, at its heart was a family still coming

to terms with their grief.

- She was looking forward to coming home this weekend

for her mother's birthday

with her suitcase laden with chocolates.

We feel it's no exaggeration to say

that Meredith touched the lives of everyone she met

with her infectious, upbeat personality,

smile and sense of humor.

- [Narrator] The Kercher family's local MP Richard Ottoway

was watching the case unfold on the news in the UK.

- Anyone who's been on the receiving end

of the British media in full cry

will know that it's not a pleasant experience.

But I took the view that the media always exaggerates

in order to try and sensationalize things,

and it was bad then as it is today.

So this didn't surprise me,

but for the family it must have been quite ghastly.

- [Narrator] While the family were facing the press

and the police were declaring its case solved,

the main suspects were also subject to huge media interest,

especially young lovers, Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito.

- That solved a problem for Perugia

because there was not a murderer afoot,

a Jack the Ripper was not afoot.

It was these three people,

and they were safely behind bars now.

Let's say it was pure gold for tabloid media.

[intriguing music]

[Luciano speaking in Italian] The first time we defenders, met Amanda,

November 8, 2007 was in front of the judge.

We advised Amanda to say:

"“I deny the charge and I will not answer any questions"”.

After that the prosecutor allowed us to speak with her for half an hour.

I spoke little English,

I understood very little but...

...that girl was determined and lucid.

Also she told us that Meredith and her were friends.

- [Narrator] While Amanda was in court,

her boss, Patrick Lumumba was in custody

following Amanda's accusation that he had killed Meredith.

[Patrick speaking in Italian] The interrogation was always the same:

"“You know what you'’ve done. Why have you done this?"”

and so I'’d answer: "“What have I done?"”

And it kept going on

until I found out by myself

that it was all about Meredith'’s death.

So I asked if it was

about Meredith'’s death.

They said: "“Yes, you remember now"”.

And then I started saying, "“No, how could you think something like that?

I was at the bar. I was working at the bar"”.

And they say : "“Oh no, we know that the bar was closed"”.

So I replied: "“I was at the bar with other people"”.

I didn'’t even know that Amanda was arrested. I didn'’t know anything.

Then when they brought me a document and I read it.

It was Amanda'’s declaration

on which she was saying:

"“I had an appointment with Patrick and we went to my house."”

I was so confused in that moment

that I didn'’t realize she was accusing me.

I asked them: "“Did Amanda do that?"”

because it seemed that she was confessing to killing Meredith.

Another cop who was nicer replied to me:

"“You aren'’t understanding. She is saying that you did it"”.

So I said that I didn'’t do it.

Then they said: "“If you say it would be better for you."” I replied: "“No"”

I know what happened now.

If we are here

because you thought that I was going to confess

to something that I didn'’t do

just to make you happy. I will never do that.

So take me to jail.

After that they asked me if I wanted a hood

and I said: "“Why?

I don'’t want it. I have nothing to hide. Nothing"”.

- [Narrator] As the investigation progressed,

evidence from the crime scene began to be processed.

[Giuliano speaking in Italian] When I entered,

the footprints were still not visible in the corridor

which would have been highlighted with luminol.

[Francesca speaking in Italian] It was understood that there had been an attempt to clean

because some traces were only highlighted by the luminol.

Others were highlighted because there were traces of blood.

But in the end,

the footprints weren'’t considered important evidence,

because for a start they had been cleaned,

and also they were of people who lived in the house,

because there were also Amanda's and also Meredith's.

The scene has been cleaned, there is no doubt about that.

- You can have footprints that show up in luminol

because of standing across cleaning products.

So, it's really difficult to suggest

that those luminol footprints actually indicate

the cleanup process has happened,

or there's just blood that's not visible to the human eye.

It could be a lot of things.

- When we look at a crime scene,

especially when that crime scene is a domestic house,

places where multiple people might be living,

you'll find DNA in the communal areas

from all of the people that live in the house.

Where you want to be placing your attention

are those private areas of the house,

the areas of the house where

you would only expect one person's DNA to be.

[pensive music]

[Giuliano speaking in Italian] We were doing an inspection at Sollecito's house

when a police officer found a knife

that was the type that could have caused the injury.

Also, this knife seemed to have been cleaned and it smelled of a solvent.

So they took it to the forensic police in Rome.

[Giuseppe speaking in Italian] There were several knives in that drawer.

The investigator who found it was asked several times:

"“Why did you chose that one, excluding the other ones?"”

Because there were similar knives like in any other kitchen.

The answer amazed everyone.

They said it was an investigative intuition.

- They quickly announced that Amanda Knox's

and Meredith Kercher's DNA was on this knife

that they had found in Sollecito's kitchen.

And obviously, that kind of information is released

right after a prosecution says

they've arrested the perpetrators,

not too many people are gonna ask whether it's real or not.

I mean, I certainly wouldn't,

and I was across the Atlantic Ocean from this.

You read about it and you think,

"Well, they probably did it."

[Luciano speaking in Italian] The news about the mixed trace

found on the blade of the seized knife

comes over the radio at 5 p.m.

As soon as the genetic investigation in Rome is completed.

I almost crash my car because I realize in less than a minute

that it was bad for the trial,

if there is a blade that binds the two girls.

The mood was that everyone,

they were jumping for joy everywhere.

The newspapers, the televisions, ordinary people.

[intriguing music] This is going to nail her.

- [Narrator] 18 days after the murder of Meredith,

a crucial witness came forward

and the investigation took on a new direction.

[Patrick speaking in Italian] The night that Meredith

was killed I was working by myself at the bar.

There was a group of Erasmus students

and this professor from Switzerland.

I wanted to offer him wine,

but he insisted on paying and explained

that the Swiss government

was going to reimburse that expense.

So I had no idea

that receipt was going to become the major proof

that my bar was open.

[Valter speaking in Italian] Lumumba had the sheer luck

to cross paths with a Swiss client,

who could remember precisely

the time when he was in Lumumba's bar.

Something around nine o'’clock

which ruled out immediately

Lumumba'’s participation in the murder.

In fact, a few days later,

even though he did spend 13, 14 days in jail,

Lumumba was released.

- [Narrator] Despite Amanda Knox's signed confession,

Patrick Lumumba was entirely innocent.

- False statements aren't as uncommon as you might think,

and it sounds bizarre.

Why would you throw someone under the bus

if you didn't know that to be true?

But I think just contextualize it

as the most high stress,

the most tired you've ever been,

the most confused you've ever been.

You're hearing narratives from various different sources.

You're trying to piece something together

and you're also panicking because you're thinking,

"Hang on, is this turning against me?"

- [Narrator] At the same time as Patrick

was exonerated of any involvement in the crime,

a new suspect emerged.

[Valter speaking in Italian]

The investigators discovered that there were fingerprints of blood

on a pillow near Meredith's body.

So they order an immediate investigation.

- Rudy Guede suddenly becomes a suspect

because his bloodied fingerprint

is found at the crime scene.

[dramatic music]

- Rudy Guede was the son of an immigrant

from the Ivory Coast.

He'd been raised in Perugia since the age of five.

He'd fallen into some trouble.

He'd been arrested a few times

for breaking and entering or burglary,

and he was well known to the police in Perugia already.

- Now, Rudy Guede was not somebody who lived in the house,

he was not somebody who was a regular visitor at the house.

So, the presence of his DNA, that is incredibly unusual.

[Valter speaking in Italian] Rudy formally becomes a suspect.

And where is he? At that time, nobody knows.

What they knew was his name, his nationality,

where he lived, who his friends and his contacts were,

but he couldn'’t be found.

Whilst looking for Rudy Guede,

the investigators ask one of Rudy'’s closest friends

to try and contact him.

So, his closest friend

calls him from the police station.

- [Narrator] Unknown to Guede, the police recorded this conversation.

[Rudy speaking in Italian]

Guede: The girl who was killed, I met her the previous evening...

Friend: This Meredith?

Yes, Meredith.

She was disguised as a vampire.

Well, the next day, we had an appointment to see each other again.

They're saying that she told her friends she was tired and wanted to go home.

But in fact no.

We saw each other at Meredith's house and we started talking.

And I, well, I tried, I mean, I made a pass at her and she was willing.

But in the end, we didn't do anything

because she didn't have any condoms and neither did I.

- It seems highly unlikely that Meredith Kercher

had any kind of relationship with Rudy Guede.

Her friends certainly didn't know about it.

Nobody had ever seen them together.

There's no evidence that they were friendly

or that they had any kind of relationship.

- He is setting up a version of events.

He's explaining the presence of his DNA there.

He's putting himself at that location

and he's giving a reason for it.

[Rudy speaking in Italian]

Guede: And after that I went to the bathroom. I really had to go take a shit.

And I heard the doorbell.

So for me, it was... it could have been anyone for me, see?

Friend: Sure, sure, sure.

It could have been Amanda, it could have been...

I was in the bathroom, in the bathroom maybe five minutes

but then I heard a scream, but let me tell you, a really loud scream.

I came out and I saw him.

But who?

His back was turned, and then I said: "“What the hell is going on?"”

What the hell was this guy like?

It was almost dark, I didn't see his face, but I say he was Italian...

we insulted each other...

and he didn't have a foreign accent.

I hurried out of the bathroom, I fell on the ground

and then the guy ran away, he escaped, he went out the door, see?

- Rudy Guede flees Italy very shortly after the murder,

and he goes on the run, but during this time,

he's able to keep close to the investigation

to be aware of what's happening

because of the humongous amount of press coverage.

So, I think this really does speak volumes

about the management of this investigation

in terms of the amount of information

that was put out to the press and the media

because Guede was able to use that information

to his own benefit.

- [Reporter] New developments Tuesday in the murder

of a British student in Italy.

A fourth person has been arrested

in connection with the case.

21 year old Rudy Hermann Guede

was taken into custody in Germany.

[Valter speaking in Italian] In prison in Germany, I explained to him

that there were important circumstantial elements about him.

There were his bloody

fingerprints on the pillow next to Meredith's body.

There was his DNA in Meredith's vagina.

And there are also the biological traces

that he left in the bathroom

and so it was absolutely certain his involvement at the scene of the murder.

So I explained to him that the circumstantial framework

was a very serious picture.

The lawyer's job is not to believe or disbelieve what the client tells you.

The lawyer's job is to understand immediately

what are the elements that can lead to a serious defense.

- Rudy Guede's story

about what happened that night evolved.

When he was first asked by his friend he said,

"Amanda had nothing to do with it."

That's a quote.

"Amanda had nothing to do with it."

Then when he was brought back to Perugia

and was starting to be interviewed by the police,

he moved Amanda Knox closer into the house.

[Giuliano speaking in Italian] During the second interrogation,

he [Guede] changes the beginning.

He hears Amanda knocking. He realises they are arguing.

Then he always hears the scream and rushes out.

He describes the guy in a way more compatible with Sollecito.

So when Meredith is dying and the guy still has the knife,

Amanda is already out in the courtyard.

[Valter speaking in Italian] Rudy'’s version has always been the same.

He certainly didn't mean to say that Amanda wasn't there.

Because he has always said that he heard Amanda arriving at the house

and he heard her arguing with Meredith.

[Rudy speaking in Italian] Guede: It could have been anyone for me, see?

[friend speaking in Italian] Friend: Sure, sure, sure.

It could have been Amanda, it could have been...

- In further interviews,

there had been some kind of a fight between the two women,

and he only showed up when Amanda Knox

was fleeing and had left behind this bleeding body.

So he went from, "No, Amanda Knox wasn't there,"

to not only was she there,

she probably stuck the knife in this poor roommate

and that Meredith Kercher was killed by Amanda Knox,

but just happened to die while he was in the room with her.

[Luciano speaking in Italian] In two other versions

he [Guede] says: "“I saw a girl under the moon."”

But it was raining that night and the moon was not visible.

The girl had blond hair about 162cm tall. That's a weird coincidence.

In another version he said he saw a guy with a cap

that I bumped into in the hallway. That would be Sollecito.

It is a comedy.

- [Narrator] While the DNA evidence matching Guede found

at the crime scene was very compelling,

the prosecution still alleged that Rudy did not act alone.

[Francesco speaking in Italian] There is definite data on the poor victim's wrists

that lead back to Rudy Guede's DNA

and therefore there is no question that he was holding her by the wrists

and obviously holding her by the wrists, he could not injure and kill her

with the knife at the same time.

Hence the hypothesis

of undergoing a group sexual experience

being threatened and wounded many times

with small knife point wounds.

[pensive music]

- [Narrator] In the early stages of the investigation,

Meredith's bloodied bra had been removed

from the crime scene for analysis.

However, the bra clasp was not removed until much later.

[music continues]

[investigators speaking in Italian]

[Giuliano speaking in Italian] On that hook there was

the genetic profile of Rudy and Sollecito

and Meredith'’s genetic profile.

That means the two guys

violently ripped Meredith'’s bra.

Using extreme energy to do it

and each of the two guys left

behind these genetic profiles

- [Narrator] After an agonizing wait,

the family were finally able to bury Meredith

on the 14th of December, 2007,

and the service was held close

to her family home in South London.

- I attended and as attended many services

in the minster over my 25 years as the MP for Croydon south,

and I don't think I ever saw the church

as full as it was that day.

It was absolutely overflowing,

and I think it's not unsurprising when a young person dies

in a community that the youth of that community rally around

to support each other, and it was full young adult.

But I was very conscious that there

were a lot of young people there,

and it was quite a moving service.

I mean, in a way that it almost highlighted the dignity

and solemnity of the occasion

that the siblings and friends were able

to get up onto the front and to talk

about Meredith in the way they knew

that was of a laughing, cheerful, friendly person.

- There's elements of Meredith

that I think everyone saw reflected

in themselves and people they know,

and that just meant that there was this real outpouring

because it's when you can see

this awful thing occurring

to someone that you feel that you can relate to,

it makes you question, what if that was me?

Or what if that was someone that I know and love?

And it sort of impacts on this personal level.

[solemn music]

[pensive music]

- [Narrator] During the course of 2008,

the preliminary hearings into Meredith's murder began.

[reporters speaking in Italian]

- Nearly six months on,

we're still coming to terms with never seeing

our happy, smiling sister Meredith again.

We are here for tomorrow's hearing,

which obviously you all know about,

as we feel it's an important step in the investigation.

While generally we're pleased in the way

that the investigation has been going,

we have been a bit disappointed with some

of the information that has been leaked,

both in terms of the frequency and the content of it.

Ultimately, nothing can be done to undo

what has happened and bring Meredith back.

All we can hope is that we can work together

to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice,

and despite attempts to perhaps discredit evidence

and undermine the process,

we do have every faith in the police,

the forensic experts, the legal team that we have,

and the Italian justice system,

and believe that their efforts

will ultimately see the right person

or person's responsible suitably punished.

- [Narrator] The preliminary hearings ruled

there was enough evidence against the three suspects,

Knox, Sollecito and Guede, for the case to go to trial.

Due to the overwhelming media interest

and forensic evidence in the case,

Rudy Guede's team decided upon a different strategy,

a fast track trial for Geude alone.

[Valter speaking in Italian] I was sure that all the negative media attention

would have been dumped on Rudy and he would have paid the consequences.

Because then the '‘ of punishment'’ would have taken over.

And I'm sure Rudy would have paid the highest price.

So to be safe, the trials needed to be separated.

When the lawyers announced that the two defendants

would have gone through the normal procedure.

We chose to do the fast-track trial,

and this was a kind of advantage in Rudy's trial

because we were able to go through the trial

with some peace of mind, with much less pressure.

- [Narrator] Unlike a normal trial,

the fast track procedure excludes cross examination

by the prosecution or the defense teams

of the other suspects.

[Valter speaking in Italian] There are no witnesses, no expert witnesses,

we can only use the data that the prosecutor has collected.

So the law says that if you choose this procedure

you get to be given 1/3 off the sentence.

- Valter Biscotti made the best decisions for his client,

given that his client's DNA was on the body,

in the body, and on the walls of the murder scene.

There was no other way that he could have advised him,

but I will say another lawyer might have laid down and said,

"They got you dead to rights.

Just let's try to make this a second degree murderer.

You accidentally did it or something."

There were other ways that other lawyers

could have handled it.

- Guede elects for this fast track trial.

He is concerned that his DNA has been found

at the crime scene and on Meredith's body,

and he thinks that the other two suspects

are going to pin everything on him.

Guede was still maintaining that he had

had a consensual sexual relationship

with Meredith before she died.

That was something her family simply didn't recognize.

That was not within her character.

She just simply would not have acted like that.

And it felt like an attempt from Guede

to control the narrative at this stage.

[reporters speaking in Italian]

[contemplative music]

- He was convicted of murder, he was sentenced to life,

but because he had agreed to this fast track trial,

the sentence was dropped to 30 years

and then further dropped to 16 years when he went on appeal.

Crucial to the ruling as the judge determines

that he did not act alone.

[Luciano speaking in Italian] Rudy Guede's verdict states

that there was complicity with people who remained unknown.

So they meant Amanda and Raffaele.

The following question was asked to our experts:

"“Could the murder have been committed by one person or more?"”

"“Even by one person"” they replied

but it'’s easier to see more people in the mechanics of the crime.

- I think what sends this case to the next level

in terms of publicity and in terms

of the public's appetite

to consume information about the case,

is the alleged team killer scenario.

So, Rudy Guede has already been convicted and sentenced,

but we have these two other individuals,

Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, who haven't.

And this is something that is not going to be impacting

on the case particularly well because you've got

all of this space in which people

can make judgments and form opinions,

and that narrative starts to get out there.

- [Narrator] In January, 2009,

14 months after Meredith Kercher's murder,

the trial of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito began.

- This is obviously a personal tragedy, but at this point,

a trial like this is where it becomes

an international news event,

and the prosecution opening really the first chance

to hear how the pieces connect together.

We have heard various bits of speculation

over the previous months,

but this is the first time where lawyers

are giving us a more solid narrative

of what they say happened.

Extremely difficult moment

for the family of Meredith Kercher,

but at least they are now in court

and within sights of getting justice.

- [Narrator] As the trial got underway,

the defense teams were confident they could disprove

the prosecution's key evidence,

and Sollecito's team believed

that one of Meredith's own phones

was key in determining a more exact time of death.

[Daniela speaking in Italian] The range that had been given initially

by the investigators was very wide

and there was no scientific way to have a precise estimate of the time of her death.

It only indicated an approximate time of 11/ 11:30pm.

It was a precise analysis of the victim's phone records

that made it possible to narrow this range.

The important information that came up

was that the phone received a text message at 10:15pm or 10:13pm

but the signal wasn'’t coming from Via della Pergola any more

it was in another area, the area where the cellphone was found

which is called Via Sperandio.

- [Narrator] The morning after the murder,

Meredith's two phones were found in the garden

of a property a short distance away.

The defense teams believed

they had been discarded by her killer,

meaning the homicide had already occurred,

enabling them to determine a more specific time of death.

[Daniela speaking in Italian] I would say it happened between 9:15pm and 9:30pm

or maybe 9:45pm.

It was important to narrow down the time

because there were some interactions on Raffaele'’s computer around that time

proving that Raffaele was at home.

- [Narrator] While the prosecution felt

this computer evidence was far from conclusive,

the defense teams also disputed

the validity of Raffaele Sollecito's DNA

being found on the torn off clasp of Meredith's bra.

- This bra clasp was such an important piece of evidence,

but the handling of this sample was so poor

because it was collected, it was photographed,

and then it was dropped.

It was left there for 46 days.

Meanwhile, they're collecting other samples.

So though there's a strong indication

of Raffaele's DNA on that sample,

because that sample is so open to potential contamination,

really you have to question the validity of that result.

[pensive music]

- This is so frustrating to watch as a criminologist

because there is potentially very valuable evidence

at this crime scene,

but you either collect all of that evidence properly

and meticulously and rigorously,

otherwise you compromise all of it.

[Francesca speaking in Italian] It's clear that if it was taken immediately

it would not have exposed itself to disputes.

There is no doubt about that.

But we also have to remember that it was a crime scene

so it wasn't a place where everybody could come and go as they wanted.

So it's not that easy.

The contamination still has to have direct contact.

- That little piece of evidence

as ridiculously as it was collected,

timing wise and in terms of protocol,

it turned out to be pivotal

because it puts Raffaele Sollecito

in the room furthering this theory

of a group of people ganging up on poor Meredith.

- [Narrator] The defense argued that the DNA

found on the knife was also problematic.

[Daniela speaking in Italian]

The investigators found two traces on the alleged murder weapon.

One was on the handle and the other one was on the blade.

The result of some analysis stated that the trace on the handle

belonged to Amanda and the trace on the blade belonged to Meredith.

However the traces were very small

so they couldn'’t carry out an additional evaluation.

For this reason, this'‘f'’

couldn'’t be considered reliable

and accepted as evidence.

Regardless, the small trace that was found

could have been analyzed

to understand if it was a blood trail

or to identify a genetic profile.

The police chose to carry out a genetic analysis of the DNA

and according to this analysis they recognized Meredith'’s genetic profile.

[Francesca speaking in Italian] The key part was to get a profile.

So which testing do you do Is it blood?

No, it's not blood.

So, hold on, do I do a colorimetric analysis to see if it'’s saliva.

No wait. I do another test to see if there are cells or stripes on the slide.

It is all material that is lost.

So if I feel as an expert that there is little quantity

I choose what will be the '‘analysis'’ in my case. Right?

- One of the problems with this is that people who think that Rudy Guede did not act alone,

or who think that Amanda Knox

and Sollecito were in the room will say,

"Well, how come you believed the police

when they found his DNA on the wall,

on her body and in her body,

but you don't believe this little bra clasp,

or you don't believe the knife that they picked up?"

[Daniela speaking in Italian]

I knew from the beginning

that there weren'’t strong elements supporting the accusation

So I felt very confident in the legal process.

As this trial went on,

we learned more and more about the deeply horrendous details

of the ordeal that Meredith Kercher went through,

and yet the focus really was still very much

on one of the defendants, Amanda Knox,

how she was coping in court, how she was reacting,

and it meant that the victim of this crime

was still somehow a secondary character in the whole thing.

[Daniela speaking in Italian] When Rudy Guede

was about to be heard during the trial,

we were ready for any kind of statement.

- [Narrator] Rudy Guede appeared in court, but chose not to testify.

[Luciano speaking in Italian] He never answered.

So his five different versions [of events] remain five different versions.

Without any evidentiary value.

- [Narrator] A vital moment in the trial occurred

when the defense teams requested further analysis

of the key pieces of DNA evidence.

[Luciano speaking in Italian] We wanted these two

expert reports on the knife and on the hook.

[Daniela speaking in Italian] So the fact that the evaluation wasn'’t approved worried us.

However we were always counting on a positive result.

[Luciano speaking in Italian] The first trial was a complete trial. 112 hearings,

that was a guarantee!

But if we didn't dismantle the argument of the knife

and the mixed [blood] trail,

the outcome to me seemed a foregone conclusion.

[Daniela speaking in Italian]

I remember closing

the defense testimonies that morning.

Then I spent the day in Perugia waiting for the verdict,

which came out late in the evening.

The expectation was high

and so was the hope of getting a positive result.

There was a lot of tension.

Perugia was filled with international press.

Everyone was waiting for this verdict.

- For some reason, everything about it was so cinematic, it made for a horror movie.

The jury reached its verdict in the evening,

so we all trooped over there

before [speaking in Italian], midnight.

The piazza was filled

with public screaming [speaking in Italian].

"American killer."

And jostling to get inside.

We went in and the courtroom is in a medieval fortress

that's been turned into a modern court building.

He reads off the jury's verdict, [speaking in Italian].

"They're condemned, they're condemned, they're guilty."

And that's how it ended.

[judge speaking in Italian]

Sentenced to the penalty of 26 years of imprisonment for Knox

and to the penalty of 25 years for Sollecito,

the primary sentence being 24 years of imprisonment,

as well as the payment of legal costs and the cost of custody in prison for both.

- [Narrator] Shortly after the guilty verdict,

the Kercher family gave a press conference in Perugia.

- Ultimately, we are pleased with the decision,

pleased that we've got a decision,

but it's not a time for celebration at the end of the day.

It's not a moment of triumph,

and as we've said before, at the end of the day,

we're all gathered here because our sister

was brutally murdered and taken away from us.

- Our lives have been on hold, really.

You can't continue your life as normal.

You just have to take each day as it comes,

and going back to the question about the appeal, everything,

you just have to take it one step at a time.

- There was no question that they were going to appeal,

that the process was gonna be long,

that Meredith Kercher's murder was going

to remain a topic of controversy going forward

because of the way the trial had been handled.

These two students were gonna remain in jail

and that it wasn't over.

[soft music]

[intriguing music]

- [Narrator] Knox and Sollecito

did appeal their guilty verdicts,

and the appeal hearing began on the 24th of November, 2010.

[Daniela speaking in Italian] The first verdict discouraged us, it'’s true.

But when we started the appeal trial we had so many elements

and we realised there were so many mistakes in the first trial.

In particular, we highlighted the fact

that they never allowed the expert reports.

- [Narrator] Both defense teams resubmitted their request

for the DNA evidence on the bra clasp

and the knife to be reexamined by their own experts.

This time it was approved.

[Luciano speaking in Italian] The admission of the expert reports.

The knife and the bra clasp an avenue opened up to me.

Some elements came out like traces of starch on the knife handle

and the kit that was used for the examination of the mixed trace,

which was very small

and therefore did not allow the procedure

of the amplification of the genetic data

was the wrong one.

So it loses effectiveness.

The starch retains everything.

If there was blood, it would have been retained.

- [Narrator] Once again, the defense teams argued that the DNA on the bra clasp

could have been a result of contamination.

- The sheer amount of DNA evidence putting Rudy Guede

in there overwhelms the other bits

that they supposedly came up with, and they are irrefutable,

whereas the Sollecito connection is suspect

on a piece of clothing that was on the floor

for six weeks after the police ran their first search,

suggesting that anybody could have walked into that room

and done anything in the six weeks

between the first forensic sweep

and the one six weeks later.

So, there are a lot of problems with the forensic evidence.

[Francesca speaking in Italian] Honestly the fact that the only place of contamination

that we had was on that hook

that was in the mat where there were also some socks.

The socks had no DNA from Sollecito but his DNA was only on that hook.

Honestly...

I can'’t accept that.

[Luciano speaking in Italian] We summarise the first appeal we won, and nobody cares.

- [Narrator] The court of appeal cleared both Knox and Sollecito,

and public opinion was immediately apparent.

[Luciano speaking in Italian] When you bring 1,000 people to applaud a conviction and boo

an acquittal for a common crime, albeit a murder among 20-year-olds

a reflection needs to be made.

I knew 50 percent of the people who booed me.

[crowd protesting in Italian] -So this trial also had a very dangerous impact.

[Patrick speaking in Italian] So when Amanda was convicted I thought it was right.

And when she was released, I thought it was a miscarriage of justice.

I don'’t want to say that the judges didn'’t do the right thing.

I think the judges are human

and they made a mistake releasing Amanda.

- This case has almost taken on this pantomime like quality in which they are the villains.

And for me, this is a real tragedy of this case

because where is Meredith Kercher in all of this?

She is completely absent.

The key characters are the people who have been convicted,

then have their convictions overturned,

and there seems to be this laser focus on them.

And all the while Meredith's memory

is just completely fading.

- Amanda Knox was allowed to go home to the United States.

Sollecito was released,

but that wasn't the end of the story yet either.

- [Narrator] In September, 2013,

a new appeal hearing began in Florence.

Four months later,

this retrial found Knox and Sollecito guilty,

and the Kercher family were thrust

into the glare of the media's spotlight yet again.

- Losing somebody close to you's difficult,

losing somebody of that age,

and obviously in horrific circumstances

that Meredith was killed is horrendous.

And then to have worldwide media attention

and the fact it's been drawn out over six years

just makes it incredibly difficult for us.

- I think we're still on the journey to the truth

and it may be the fact that we don't ever

really know what happened that night.

- No matter what the decision

and when it is finally upheld or not,

nothing's of course gonna bring Meredith back.

Nothing will ever take away the horror

of what happened to her.

- At this point as the pendulum swung

the other way yet again,

it just became very confusing.

Were these people guilty or not?

And the point where what was already

a really difficult story to follow

became almost impossible to get any clarity on.

- [Narrator] In 2014, the next appeal began.

This time the hearings were held

at the Supreme Court in Rome.

[Luciano speaking in Italian]

In the summer we filed the appeal at the Supreme Court in Rome.

I was going to Rome by train.

We sweated a summer doing the last appeal.

It's a thin road that,

being optimistic gave us 10% of hope.

'‘Where is the truth?'’

[Luciano speaking in Italian] In the evening at 11 p.m., they call us on the cell phone

telling us to come back to the courtroom in 15 minutes.

[reporter speaking in Italian] We are still waiting.

Then the court comes out. All full, journalists,

policemen, all the courtroom was full with people.

"“Given Article 620

and 530, that is the one of acquittal.

Acquits the defendants for not having committed the act."”

[Luciano laughs]

[Luciano speaking in Italian] And I stood still. Impassive.

Neither was I sweating, nor cold, nor hungry, nor thirsty.

I was there with a police officer.

"“Let'’s smoke a cigarette?"” I ask them

and I am not a smoker.

It was the most important moment of my professional life.

[judges speaking in Italian] The verdict that has now been issued

is a verdict that doesn'’t say we were right

it says that we were totally right

because the outcomes could have been two:

we annul this verdict but delve into it elsewhere

and instead the annulment is without referral.

We felt that the elements were suitable and sufficient to support

the prosecution thesis and so did many judges, not just us.

Evidently, it'’s a trial that has gone through a history of alternating judgments

so we noted the judgements that resulted in convictions

[Luciano speaking in Italian] tonight we take note of the judgement of acquittal.

I'’m very happy, yes.

- [Narrator] Amanda Knox

and Raffaele Sollecito were acquitted.

This time it was the final verdict

from the highest court in Italy.

But the ruling stated,

"In the face of missing, insufficient,

or contradictory evidence,

the judgment must simply take note of it

and issue a judgment of acquittal,

even if compelled by genuine moral conviction

of the guilt of the defendants."

[Luciano speaking in Italian] That sentence,

to read it now after five years, makes me shudder, doesn't it?

How much we have risked!

"“Although animated by moral conviction of the defendants'’ guilt..."”

Who knows what they meant...

[Daniela speaking in Italian] I certainly cannot hide the fact

that it was a moment of great emotion and great joy.

At last there was the end word to this eight years case

that had tormented these people who indeed suffered a great drama.

- [Narrator] However, the ruling that had been on record

since the guilty verdict in Rudy Guede's fast track trial

maintained he did not act alone.

[Giuseppe speaking in Italian]

The justice is not even in the final verdict

because saying that Rudy killed in collaboration with others

it means that others have not been found.

So this is not justice. It is just a part of justice.

- After eight years, the Kercher family frankly had no answers whatsoever.

It's a cliche to talk about roller coasters,

but they had had the highs of seeing convictions

and then the lows of those convictions being taken away.

But all through this, at the end of this,

they had absolutely no justice for Meredith Kercher.

And frankly, no real answers

about what happened on that night when she died.

- I fully sympathize with them,

and I feel sorry for them because who could possibly survive

that as a parent, intact?

It's crushing, horrific.

[reporters speaking in Italian]

- [Narrator] For Giuliano Mignini and the prosecution,

the final verdicts were a huge frustration.

[Giuliano speaking in Italian]

I am not at peace with myself because I didn'’t accept it.

From the very beginning,

this case was influenced by the media.

I thought the media pressure

couldn'’t reach the magistrates.

[Valter speaking in Italian] I was wrong.

If we expected a restorative justice

perhaps it has not arrived.

If we expected satisfactory justice perhaps it was not all the way.

However, we have to think that the judicial system

is the backbone of a country's democracy.

[Giuseppe Speaking in Italian] There is no such thing as a perfect murder;

there are imperfect investigations

That'’s what I have always said to my students

in the 40 years I have been teaching at University.

[solemn music]

[Daniela speaking in Italian] I thought about Meredith many, many times

she was always in my thoughts when I was going through all the analyses

even the ones that obviously concerned her directly.

And I thought about putting myself in her shoes

and thinking what a bad tragedy really had befallen her.

There is underlying grief for the loss

of such a young girl that touches anyone.

- Her time in Perugia should have been a big step in her life.

I suspected she would've gone on and built on this

and perhaps built quite a strong relationship with Italy.

Really, at the end of the day,

your thoughts have got to be with the family

and the brothers and sister

who found themselves in this terrible situation.

- I met with the Kercher family several times,

but it was always extremely difficult.

They were obviously thrust into this story.

I mean, nobody wants to be at the center

of something like this.

They dealt with all this in a brilliant way

and with absolute grace.

But this was such a difficult time

for them and remains so now.

- I think the only thing that we can do now for Meredith

is make sure that moving forward,

the failings that happened for her don't happen again.

And that just basically means

that we need to be more focused on victims.

We need to allow the space for their stories

and their lives to be remembered,

rather than just getting fixated

on the details of the crime.

[shutters clicking]

- Meredith was, and very much still is a part

of our family and is dearly loved by us,

and of course, her friends as well.

And it's just cruel that such a bright future

was brought to such an abrupt end.

Her shining personality

is how we ask people to remember her by,

and for her not to be remembered as just the victim

of a cruel and torturous crime.

Thank you.

[solemn music]

[mysterious music]

[music fades]