What Police Found At The Crime Scene Of Meredith Kercher's Murder
Meredith Kercher was a British exchange student living in the college town of Perugia, Italy. She was found murdered in her bed in 2007. A written report from Judge Paolo Micheli — who sentenced Rudy Hermann Guede to prison for the killing — revealed the disturbing details of the crime scene. "With the door opened there was a chilling scene in so far as the room was found in disorder with blood stains everywhere, on the ground and on the walls, and also under the duvet of the bed a foot could be seen," the report read, per the Daily Mail.
Kercher's body was found half-naked with bruising on her neck that suggested she was held there — perhaps while threatened. The cause of death was determined to be "haemorrhage from a neck wound after the blow of a sharp and pointed weapon." She had been sexually assaulted, the Daily Beast reported, and case files suggest that knives and knife stains were found around the apartment.
According to these files, someone had removed the fitted bedsheet from Kercher's bed and put it under her body. Four other items were under her body — a pillow, a duvet, and two towels, likely put there before she died. There were multiple footprints scattered throughout the apartment — including a bloody one on a bathroom rug near the bedroom where Kercher was found dead, and another bloody one on the previously mentioned pillow, The Daily Beast reported. Her purse was in her bed. Other items found in her room include an empty Vaseline case, clothing, shoes, and two desktop lamps.
Suspects
Rudy Hermann Guede was convicted of murdering Meredith Kercher in 2008. Her roommate Amanda Knox and Knox's boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were also convicted of the murder in 2009. But while Guede remained behind bars until 2021, Knox and Sollecito's convictions were ultimately overturned, The Guardian reported. They were convicted again in 2014 before the decision was overturned by Italy's highest court.
Per The Daily Beast, Lorenzo Rinaldi, director of the print-identity division of Italy's forensic police, argued that a footprint outside Kercher's bedroom belonged to Knox. He also said the bloody footprint on the bathroom rug was not Guede's — but possibly Sollecito's. Though Sollecito admitted being in the home after the time of the murder, he denied being involved, as did Knox. Rinaldi also noted that the bloody shoeprint from the pillow under Kerscher's body aligned with Knox's shoe size.
Guede, who claims he had a date with Kerscher but denied killing her, was linked to the murder via DNA found at the scene and on her body, The Telegraph reported.
Controversial evidence
The evidence used against Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito was debated. For example, it's reasonable to assume that footprints of both could be found in Meredith Kercher's apartment, given that Knox lived there too, and her boyfriend frequented the property. Bloody footprints are of course damning, and the prosecution argued that their prints were discovered with the organic chemical Luminol. Per The Daily Beast, the prosecution said this suggested the "original prints might have been cleaned up."
When Italy's highest court decided to acquit Knox and Sollecito, it said that the investigation was deeply flawed, per The Guardian. "The trial had oscillations which were the result of stunning flaws, or amnesia, in the investigation and omissions in the investigative activity," the judges wrote. Elsewhere, they pointed to the media attention. "The international spotlight on the case in fact resulted in the investigation undergoing a sudden acceleration, that, in the frantic search for one or more guilty parties to consign to international public opinion, certainly didn't help the search for substantial truth," they wrote.