Amanda Knox’s Behavior And Friendship With Meredith Kercher
Amanda Knox shortly after hearing her friend had been murdered, November 2, 2007.
A lot of the circumstantial evidence consisted of testimony about Amanda Knox’s behavior before and after the murder and if Knox said things she couldn’t or shouldn’t have known if innocent, and about her relationship with Meredith Kercher. The prosecution presented no evidence that Knox didn’t like Kercher. There was no threatening text messages, voicemails, fights, jealously, backstabbing — instead they relied on the statements and testimony of the British girls, which amounted to nothing more than college girl gossip.
Two “journalists” in particular spread a lot of myths about Amanda Knox, her time in Perugia, friendship with Meredith and about life at the cottage. They were prosecution lackey John Follain and tabloid hack Barbie Latza Nadeau. See Amanda Knox and the Architects of the Foxy Knoxy Myth and them being interviewed in the 2011 Justice on Trial documentary.
The testimony at trial showed: 1) Amanda and Meredith were friends who socialized; 2) Amanda was cheerful and happy the night of the murder; 3) Amanda had no “perpetrators knowledge” about the crime and 4) her behavior and reactions were perfectly consistent with an innocent person.
What was the relationship between Amanda and Meredith like? Was it always the same or did it undergo changes?
Romanelli:
Well obviously the two girls were fellow students and had similar interests, between the two of them they shared the English language and therefore this made communication between the two of them easy. Me and Laura, due to our interests, due to work, due to our studies, having been friends for a long time, and with diverse schedules, in the morning we left early to go to work, we came back home for a brief lunch break and then we came back home in the evening. The girls obviously, who were Erasmus and who came anyway to study italian at the university of foreigners, obviously had many more interests in common and therefore in the beginning I remember that since Meredith came first, began to explain to Amanda a little, I don’t know, the places to go out, the center of town, and so at the beginning for sure their relationship was good, there was, there was no reason for them not to get along, and also I repeat that they had many interests in common.
Page 106:
Maresca:
Was Knox a normal girl or….
Judge Massei:
How did she present herself, thus can you describe her behavior in some way…
Maresca:
Did she exhibit strange behaviors during this month and half or not?
Romanelli:
She was a girl who had a ton of interests, she loved music, sports, yoga, and languages and surely she was a girl who had many many interests to cultivate.
Judge Massei:
Did she socialize with others?
Romanelli:
She socialized with others, yes yes, from my point of view…
Judge Massei:
Was she likely to demonstrate anger?
Romanelli:
No…
Judge Massei:
Was she easily upset?
Romanelli:
Every once in awhile she had, like…
Judge Massei:
With respect to the normal behavior of each of you?
Romanelli:
Every once in awhile she showed some notable behavior, like maybe when she was talking she would start to do yoga…
Judge Massei:
The odd behavior is this, go ahead Avvocato (lawyer)
Romanelli:
But she was normal, maybe every once in awhile she was notable in her behavior or perhaps she spoke, there was the TV, and she played the guitar. A few times maybe this yes, but anyway a girl with many interests is normal.
Listen I wanted to know how Amanda and Meredith’s relationship was, if you can describe it, if it was… always the same or whether it changed… and in what way. What things did they say about each other, if they spoke with you, if they spoke with you what did they say about each other, this is what I wanted to know.
Mezzetti:
In all honesty I wasn’t at home a lot because of my studies, in any case the relationship between the girls seemed good to me in the sense that they were girls of a similar age, both spoke English, and so I thought the relationship between the girls was good, in any case neither spoke to me about the other.
Mignini:
Weren’t there any complaints made by one of the other?
Mezzetti:
No
Mignini:
Right but this relationship between the two remained always the same or at a certain point did it change?
Mezzetti:
Initially I noted that the girls went out more together, at times they left together, they went to the center together, they went for walks together, then I saw that each one went about their own business, they were a little more distant but without any particular disagreements and not for any particular reason, each one tried to lead their own life, but I don’t think there were problems between the girls, or at least I wasn’t aware of them.
As a person, honestly, from what I know, we always had a good relationship, but with her as an employee, with her way of working, I had to repeat her tasks to her several times.
Mignini:
Did you have some … Did you have to tell her off on occasion? Did you have some… Did you ever argue?
Lumumba:
No no no no.
Mignini:
Did you ever have to raise your voice, for example?
Lumumba:
No no no never, no no never, because even when these types of things happened, after the customers left and she had neglected to clear a table, what did I do… it’s something that you mustn’t do, I said this like for all staff. I spoke to all employees together to tell them: you have to be careful, when the customers leave, you have to clear up. But saying it directly to her, like that, never.
Mignini:
And Amanda’s relationship with Meredith, how was it?
Lumumba:
Hmm…
Mignini:
Do you know or?
Lumumba:
No no
Mignini:
You don’t know.
Lumumba:
I don’t know, I knew they were friends, friends and that’s it.
And between Meredith and Amanda how was their relationship?
Silenzi:
It was a normal relationship, I mean I saw them go out together, it was a normal friendship.
Comodi:
On this point, put a time period on these events, they went out together when, before or after you had started going out with Meredith?
Silenzi:
As far as I remember in that period, that is, it happened that I saw them go out together to go to classes, to go to classes or maybe go to the shops, however…
Comodi:
So they went out together in the sense that they went through the door and then they separated?
Silenzi:
Yes yes.
Comodi:
But I…
Silenzi:
I mean, it happened…
Comodi:
Try to understand my questions, I didn’t mean to ask if they left through the door together, because they were flatmates it was obvious they would leave and maybe it would happen that they would leave at the same time, but I’m asking if there was friendship, that is, did they leave together in the sense that they would go somewhere together, and if yes, when did it happen, it was always the case, or it happened up to a certain time period?
Silenzi:
No, I had misunderstood the question; I saw them leave together through the door, however their relationship for what I saw was tranquil between the two.
Only two clarifications, Attorney Maori, defense lawyer for Raffaele Sollecito. Can you tell us what the relationship between Mez and Amanda was like?
Zaroli:
I didn’t hang out at the house enough to know them, substantially, the few times that I saw them together, moreover I saw them quite a long time before this happened, in which it seemed like a normal relationship but it was a while before this happened and then I didn’t see them as much together.
Maori:
Can we say that the relationship between the two girls was almost idyllic?
Zaroli:
For what little I saw, yes, at the time, those two or three times that I saw them, yes.
Pages 196-197:
Judge Massei:
Excuse me, but one occasion or two including the Chinese restaurant, the party downstairs or..?
Mignini:
No, Meredith wasn’t at the party downstairs.
Zaroli:
The party downstairs there was only one, two, including the Chinese restaurant and another evening in which i remember Meredith was there, for example, that she washed dishes and Amanda who then put them away.
Judge Massei:
So you also saw them in those …
Zaroli:
We were not even dialoguing
Mignini:
Okay, if you’ll allow, what do you mean by idyllic, by an idyllic relationship?
Zaroli:
That there was absolutely nothing strange, for what little I saw I didn’t … it’s not like when I came by to pick up Filomena they were throwing dishes, so…
Mignini:
Okay, so yours is a judgement, let’s say, not a solid judgement, of something that you’ve seen, that is the concept of idyllic…
Zaroli:
That I fundamentally saw nothing wrong.
Mignini:
Nothing wrong, but they hugged, they laughed together, they showed confidence in each other and friends, they smiled.
Well, I walked as far as Corso Garibaldi, and on my return I passed by Raffaele’s house another time.
Mignini:
What time was it?
Popovic:
It takes 20 minutes to arrive from Tre Archi to Corso Garibaldi on foot, so towards 20:40, let’s say.
Mignini:
What did you find?
Popovic:
Well, Amanda opened opened the door again saying that Raffaele was still in the bathroom, or in any case he didn’t come out but she invited me to come in, however I just said to her that I didn’t need that favour any more, seeing as my mother hadn’t managed to send me the thing, I thanked her. However I left. So I didn’t go in.
Mignini:
Excuse me but did Amanda invite you up?
Popovic:
Yes.
Mignini:
Did she tell you that Raffaele was upstairs?
Popovic:
Yes.
Mignini:
Do you remember how she was dressed?
Popovic:
No, sorry.
Mignini:
Do you remember, say, if she was cheerful, or sad?
Popovic:
She was very cheerful, I mean she was smiling a lot, she was very cheerful, just about everything I said and she responded with a smile.
Mignini:
So you told her that you couldn’t, and you asked her to inform Raffaele that you didn’t have need [of that favour] any more?
Popovic:
Yes, yes, that’s all I told her.
Mignini:
Did you enter the house?
Popovic:
The first time, yes, the second time I didn’t enter.
Mignini:
On the first time where did you enter, in which room?
Popovic:
In their room, I think it was the only room, in any case they were both there.
Mignini:
In the kitchen?
Popovic:
No, there was the computer there, one of them, I think Amanda was writing something on the computer.
Amanda’s state of mind and phone calls November 2-5
All of Amanda’s phone interceptions after the murder that were disclosed by the prosecution can be read here in English.
It is always that you called her, I understand. What did Amanda say in that telephone call of November 2 at 15.00?
Najir:
Ms, Knox was terrified, confused, she did not know what was happening and was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Mignini:
But did she say that the body of her friend was found?
Najir:
Yes.
Mignini:
And did she recount how the body was found?
Najir:
No, she only mentioned that the body was found.
Mignini:
Did she say who found it?
Najir:
The police.
Mignini:
Did she say where she had been in the evening? That evening?
Najir:
She mentioned that she had been at the house of Mr Sollecito.
Mignini:
She said that during that phone call?
Najir:
Yes.
Page 22:
Dalla Vedova:
Do you remember having spoken with Amanda about the father of Meredith who was arriving in Perugia?
Najir:
Yes, Ms Knox made a reference that Mr Kercher was to arrive in Perugia.
Dalla Vedova:
Did you know if Knox would have met the father of Meredith after the discovery?
Najir:
Ms Knox would have wanted to speak with Mr Kercher and tell him whatever she knew and how she imagined that things might have went but they never met.
Judge Massei:
Regarding one of the last questions made by the counsel can you ask the woman about this intention shown by Amanda Knox that she wanted to meet the father of Meredith Kercher, how it came up, under what circumstances, when, in what words, if it could be more specific?
Najir:
She just wanted to meet him, to give him her condolences, to tell him anything she knew of, to be kind to him.
Dalla Vedova:
But when was it that she said it to you, in what phone call, in what context, was it advice that you gave to Amanda or Amanda’s idea, in other words how did this conversation come about?
Najir:
It was not the woman (translator note: Is this referring to the voice of the cousin? She is possibly saying “It was not me”) to give this advice to her, it was Ms Knox who said the… she knew that Mr Kercher was to arrive in Perugia and that she wanted to meet with him.
[We have] Three phone calls. Can you tell us what was the content of the last call?
Romanelli:
I remember … Well in the second phone call she told me that my window was broken, in the third call I don’t remember, maybe she said she was calling the Carabinieri, in any case that she was going back [to the house].
Maori:
(Out of the microphone).
Judge Massei:
She was going back, sorry?
Romanelli:
That she was going back to Via della Pergola , because in the first phone call when Amanda called me, she probably said to me: I went back at home, the door was open , blood, shower , I went out , I’m going to Rafaelel’s, I’ll call you soon. She did not call me back, I called her. In the second call I do not remember if she told me that she was already with Raffaele or not, in the third call she was already with Raffaele, I mean I heard the name Raffaele, I remember that she said, “Yes, now with Raffaele we call, we go. “
Judge Massei:
Then the Carabinieri ?
Romanelli:
Yes.
…….
Maori:
Let’s now talk about the last phone call.
Romanelli:
Yes.
Maori:
It was you who told Amanda “Call the Carabinieri”?
Romanelli:
I told her a lot of times to call the Carabinieri, to call the Police.
Maori:
You said, “call the Carabinieri or “call the Police”?
Romanelli:
Both.
Maori:
The first version you said?
Romanelli:
Call the Carabinieri.
Maori:
And what did Amanda say?
Romanelli:
I also said “call the fire department”, call everbody.
Judge Massei:
And what did Amanda answer, the lawyer is asking, if you remember it?
Romanelli:
Yes, I remember that Amanda said, ” Yes, yes, all right”.
From the phone logs of Nov 2nd 2007
– 12:07:12
16 seconds
Amanda calls Meredith’s UK phone on the number 0044-784-113-1571
– 12.08.44
68 seconds
Amanda calls Filomena Romanelli on number 347-107-3006
– 12:11:02
3 seconds
Amanda calls Meredith’s Italian phone on the Vodaphone # 348-467-3711
– 12:11:54
4 seconds
Amanda calls Meredith’s UK phone
– 12:12:35
36 seconds
Filomena Romanelli calls Amanda (No. 348-4673590)
– 12:20:44
65 seconds
Filomena Romanelli calls Amanda
– 12:34:56
48 seconds
Filomena Romanelli calls Amanda
– 12:35:
Raffaele Sollecito contacts service centre to recharge phone
– 12:38:
Vodaphone sends confirmation of phone recharge
– 12:40:
67 seconds
Raffaele Sollecito recieves incoming call from Francesco Sollecito
– 12:47:23
88 seconds
Amanda calls the American number 00120069326457 (her mother Edda Mellas)
– 12:50:34
39 seconds
Raffaele Sollecito calls Vanessa Sollecito who advises calling 112
– 12:51:40
169 seconds
Raffaele Sollecito calls 112 – gets disconnected
– 12:54:
57 seconds
Raffaele Sollecito calls 112
Why are two of Amanda’s calls to Meredith only 3 and 4 seconds?
Yes, I was getting worried and I tried to call her and she didn’t respond.
PM Mignini:
Straight after?
Romanelli:
A few minutes, 5 minutes, not even that, because honestly I started to get really worried, I called Meredith and she didn’t respond, it rang but she wasn’t answering, I was trying both… Meredith had two telephone numbers, I tried both on the Italian number and the English number and if I’m not mistaken one number rang without an answer and the other one didn’t ring at all, I kept trying, trying, I said “Madonna…”.
Judge Massei:
Excuse me what do you mean that it didn’t ring, did you get the voicemail?
Romanelli:
It was disconnected, closed, when the telephone is switched off it doesn’t ring.
Judge Massei:
You ring the number…
Romanelli:
But it doesn’t…
Judge Massei:
And you don’t hear anything?
Romanelli:
No, the user is not currently reachable
Note – In Italy, when a phone is switched off or cannot get a signal, it’s common for the caller to receive the voice message “l’utente al momento non è raggiungibile, il telefono potrebbe essere spento” = “the user is not currently reachable, the phone could be switched off”.
About Meredith being missing, the door and blood in the bathroom
Nothing Amanda did or thought was out of the ordinary. Amanda didn’t immediately jump to the worst possible conclusion and think Meredith was dead and neither did Filomena. Amanda wondered if Meredith having her period might explain the small amount of blood and so did Paola.
Honestly I didn’t imagine anything tragic, I wanted there to be a plausible explanation or at least an optimistic one, and so I thought maybe she cut herself, she became scared, the pharmacy was nearby, she will have run to get medicine to put something on it, she will have asked for help, because if Amanda has said that the door was open, perhaps she didn’t close it behind her and she didn’t use the key for the fear. With Paola Grande I agreed “but of course, come on, we’re not tranquil, let’s not think that something bad has happened, it will have been forgetfulness maybe, I don’t know”, and if I’m not wrong, Paola said: “maybe she has her period, then she went below, and she forgot to close the door. Amanda will call you back and we’ll see what she says, otherwise if something has happened we’ll go there, otherwise obviously we stay calm, let’s try to understand what is happening first”.
Amanda pointed out the blood spots as soon as the Postal Police arrived.
Page 7:
Bongiorno:
When Amanda took you to see the patches of blood in the bathroom, was she alarmed? Were they noticeable patches, or was it something less noticeable?
Marsi:
No, it’s not like there was a, a particularly thick patch, they were… a few marks left, probably, by somebody that had dirty hands, there wasn’t specifically a round patch where the blood had drained. Speaking in an imperfect Italian she said to me: “Here dirty here also below, I scared, I didn’t touch anything”, she said to me.
Judge Massei:
Excuse me, where were these traces of blood?
Marsi:
On the washbasin, on the faucet and also on the bathmat that was below the washbasin.
Raffaele had attempted to break-down the door.
Page 19:
Bongiorno:
I am Giulia Bongiorno. Did it appear to you that Meredith’s door, the one that was closed, before it was forced open, did it show signs of having already been forced?
Grande:
Yes, in the sense that Luca, I remember Luca … that Raffaele said to Luca that he had previously tried to force it open, because it was Luca that noticed this particular, I don’t remember. I remember Luca’s conversation when he says that the door indeed has this mark and of Raffaele who says: “yes, I had tried beforehand, but I didn’t manage it”.
Amanda’s reaction to hearing about Meredith’s murder
Listen, when… do you remember if you saw Amanda cry in the Police Station?
Altieri:
Amanda had already cried outside the house, also going to the Police Station in the car, yes, at a certain point…
Mignini:
When did she cry?
Altieri:
Now, after I… she asked me this… I don’t remember well if she asked how, with what she had been killed, basically, how they had cut her throat, and when I gave her the answer to this question she burst out crying.
Page 229:
Dalla Vedova:
One last clarification and I’ve finished. On the question of whether Amanda cried outside.
Altieri:
Yes
Dalla Vedova:
She was crying because she was in shock, do you think?
Altieri:
Do I think?
Dalla Vedova:
Your statement to the police [verbale] ends thus: she started crying.
Altieri:
Yes
Dalla Vedova:
As soon as you gave her this news, when you gave her the news that…
Altieri:
Yes, I mean it certainly seemed to be a reaction to the thought of what I had said, then if it was or it wasn’t this other thing, I wouldn’t be able to say.
Dalla Vedova:
No, I wasn’t asking for your opinion. You said to Amanda: I heard that there is a girl which it seems… killed because she has a cut on her throat and she started to cry as a result of this.
Altieri:
Yes
Dalla Vedova:
In that moment was Sollecito nearby?
Altieri:
He was in the car, in the back seat.
Dalla Vedova:
And he was trying to console her
Altieri:
We were going to the Police Station
Dalla Vedova:
He was trying to console Knox because she was crying?
Altieri:
I don’t know, in that moment there I couldn’t tell you, when I said earlier that he was trying to console her I was referring to a scene outside the house, in the period when we were still there.
Dalla Vedova:
However earlier you said that Amanda cried the first time when you were outside the house, then also in the car
Altieri:
Yes, it’s there that… it’s there that I visually saw him console her, outside the house when she was crying
Dalla Vedova:
And to you it seemed right that she behaved this way or did it seem strange to you?
When one begins to cry and then stops themselves, how can I explain it? One chokes up, cries a little, but it’s not a liberating outpouring of emotion, it’s not crying openly.
Romanelli:
My eyes were watery with dark circles around them… Yes (I cried), Marco yes, Paolo yes, Luca I don’t think so, Raffaele no, and Amanda fundamentally I would say no, I saw her just one moment breakdown where she almost cried but then she managed to maintain composure.
Yes, yes, yes, after a while, you know, after the Red Cross car arrived, the Scientific Police and the Carabinieri arrived, all of them, after a while one of the two medics, I believe, the driver of the Red Cross, it wasn’t an ambulance, he came out of the crime scene, let’s say, from inside the house, speaking to one of the Carabinieri that was there outside and he described a bit about what had happened, saying… referring to the both the fact the her throat had been cut and that she had also fought back, let’s say, and from this I understood this thing.
Mignini:
OK, do you remembe if Sollecito spoke to you in the Police Station, did he speak of this fact? What did he say to you?
Altieri:
Look, the only exchange of words was while we were going to the Police station in the car, let’s say, where he asked me if she was dead. I was a bit shocked at the question, I responded “yes”. And then after he asked me, if I remember correctly, how she died, something of this sort, and so I explained to him this thing that I’d heard outside.
No, I saw them one minute as soon as we arrived that Marco and Filomena told them, partly in Italian and partly English, to recount everything, to say everything that they remembered, to stay calm, to recount what they remembered and that would suffice. More than anything during the car journey I remember that Raffaele asked Luca if she was dead, he said yes and how she died and Luca told him that she’d had her throat cut because… I don’t know how Luca knew, however I knew about it because when the ambulance arrived, a man went in and when he came out he didn’t speak to us, but I heard him saying how she had died.
Page 19:
Maori:
If you can (not heard)
Grande:
It’s very simple because there were some short questions and some short answers, there was no conversation around it. Raffaele asks: “How did she die? Is she dead?” and Luca responds: “Yes”. “How did she die?”, “she had her throat cut. That’s all”.
I get it. Look, if you can remember, can you say if Amanda and Sollecito used drugs?
Romanelli:
Yes, but honestly ?
Judge Massei:
Yes, yes, what she …
Romanelli:
It was spontaneous, I mean to say sincerely. They were, I cannot call them addicts , I cannot call them users…
Mignini:
No, if they did use (drugs).
Romanelli:
It happened once , twice, but nothing …
Mignini:
What kind of …
Romanelli:
Hashish , but the thing I really do not awakened any… it was not a problem let’s say, in the sense that in any case they’re young , in any case , judging is very easy, you have to see …
Judge Massei:
Are you saying then, she …
Romanelli:
I mean I’ve seen them a few times, but honestly they never created any kind of disorder.
Judge Massei:
Yes, you then said that you saw Raffaele Sollecito the first time at your home on October 26 ?
Romanelii:
Yes, I remember this for sure because it was the graduation of a friend of mine .
Judge Massei:
Then you also said that you saw him on two other occasions in the house.
Romanelli:
Yes.
Judge Massei:
Did you ever see him any place other than at the house?
Romanelli:
No.
Judge Massei:
So three times, during these three times that you saw Raffaele Sollecito, how many times did you see the use of drugs , you said once , twice?
Romanelli:
I’m sorry , I saw him twice if I’m not mistaken before the discovery, etc. . , Then I saw him a couple of more times, and I saw him later at the police station, of course.
Judge Massei:
In the previous times did you ever notice the fact that he was using drugs ?
Romanelli:
Once.
Mignini:
Along with someone else or alone?
Romanelli:
But honestly now I do not remember, was with Amanda, that I remember well the day that I first saw him.
Mignini:
What were you doing ?
Romanelli:
Prepared the lunch , he was very kind to Amanda that day, yes, at that time if I’m not mistaken he made a joint.
Why Amanda thought more than one person killed Meredith
People were saying burglars [plural] had broken in.
This morning, my girlfriend Paola GRANDE, went together with my friend Filomena to the Festival of the Dead to go shopping. While I was on the phone to my girlfriend, I found out from her that she had been informed by her co-tenant Amanda (young American woman), that someone, perhaps some thieves, had broken into their apartment.
I called my boyfriend in the moment that Amanda told me that the window was broken because the description in which, that Amanda gave me, “your room has been turned upside down, the window is broken”, that there had been burglars, from this I deduced that there had been burglars, she didn’t tell me there had been burglars, I deduced it, also because thinking back to what she had told me earlier, the open door, my window broken, the room turned all upside down I concluded that there had been burglars, and there I started to panic, precisely because other than the concern I had for the situation, I also had valuables, and so I was concerned, the window broken, it troubled me a lot.
