Meredith
Kercher

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Meredith Kercher
photograph
Kercher arrived in Perugia in August 2007.
External image
image icon Via della Pergola 7, courtesy of the BBC.
Background

Meredith Susanna Cara Kercher (born 28 December 1985 in Southwark, South London), known to her friends as "Mez", lived in Coulsdon, South London. Kercher attended the Old Palace School in Croydon. She was enthusiastic about the language and culture of Italy, and after a school exchange trip she returned at age 15 to spend her summer vacation with a family in Sessa Aurunca.[3]

Kercher studied European politics and Italian at the University of Leeds. Working as a barmaid, tour guide and in promotions to support herself, she made a cameo appearance in the music video for Kristian Leontious song "Some Say" in 2004.[3][4] She aspired to work for the European Union or as a journalist. In October 2007, she attended the University of Perugia, where she began courses in modern history, political theory, and the history of cinema. Fellow students later described her as caring, intelligent, witty, and popular.[4][5]
Via della Pergola 7

Perugia, a well-known cultural and artistic centre, is a city of 150,000 people. More than a quarter of the population are students, many from abroad, giving it a vibrant social scene. In Perugia, Kercher shared a four-bedroom ground-floor flat in a house at Via della Pergola 7 (43.1148°N 12.3914°ECoordinates: 43.1148°N 12.3914°E). Her flatmates were two Italian women in their late twenties, Filomena Romanelli and Laura Mezzetti, and a 20-year-old American student from the University of Washington, Amanda Knox, who was attending the University for Foreigners in Perugia on an exchange year. Kercher and Knox moved in on 10 and 20 September 2007, respectively, meeting each other for the first time.[6] Kercher typically called her mother daily on a mobile phone; a second mobile phone she used was registered to her flatmate, Romanelli.[7]

The lower level of the house was occupied by four Italian young men with whom both Kercher and Knox were friendly. Late one night in mid-October, Kercher and Knox met Rudy Guede when they returned home at 2:00 a.m. Guede had been invited into the lower level flat by some of the Italian tenants, to whom he had attached himself. At 4:30 a.m., Kercher and Knox left.[8][9]

Also in mid-October, Kercher and Knox attended the EuroChocolate festival. On 25 October 2007, Kercher and Knox attended a classical music concert where Knox met Raffaele Sollecito, a 23-year-old computer science student,[10] at the University of Perugia.[11][12]
Last sighting

The first of November was a public holiday in Italy. Kerchers Italian flatmates were out of town, as were the occupants of the downstairs flat.[13][14] That evening, Kercher had dinner with three English women at one of their homes. She parted company with a friend at around 8:45 p.m., about 500 yards (460 m) from Via della Pergola 7.[15]

By Knoxs account, having spent the night with Sollecito, she arrived at Via della Pergola 7 on the morning of 2 November 2007, finding the front door open and drops of blood in the bathroom she shared with Kercher. Kerchers bedroom door was locked, which Knox took as indicating that Kercher was sleeping. After showering in the bathroom she and Kercher shared, Knox found faeces in the toilet of the bathroom shared by Romanelli and Mezzetti. Knox went back to Sollecitos home and later returned with him to Via della Pergola 7. Noticing a broken window in Romanellis bedroom and alarmed that Kercher did not answer her door, Sollecito unsuccessfully tried to force the door open. Sollecito called his sister, a lieutenant in the carabinieri, for advice. She advised him to call the 112 emergency number, which he did.[16][17]
Discovery of the body

After receiving a phone call from Knox, Romanelli arrived at the flat. Candace Dempsey writes that in rummaging around, looking for anything that might be missing, Romanelli inadvertently disturbed the crime scene.[18] On discovering that the two phones Kercher typically carried with her had been found in a nearby garden, Romanelli became concerned and requested that the police force open the door to Kerchers bedroom, but the police declined. Instead, Romanellis male friend forced the door open at around 1:15 p.m., and the body of Kercher was found inside, lying on the floor, covered by a duvet.[19]
Autopsy

Pathologist Luca Lalli, from Perugias forensic science institute, performed the autopsy on Kerchers body. Her injuries consisted of sixteen bruises and seven cuts. These included several bruises and a couple of insubstantial cuts on the palm of her hand. Bruises on her nose, nostrils, mouth, and underneath her jaw were compatible with a hand being clamped over her mouth and nose.[20] Lallis autopsy report was reviewed by three pathologists from Perugias forensic science institute who interpreted the injuries, including some to the genital region, as indicating an attempt to immobilize Kercher during sexual violence.[21]
Interment

A funeral was held on 14 December 2007 at Croydon Parish Church, with more than 300 people in attendance, followed by a private burial at Croydons Mitcham Road Cemetery.[22] The degree that Kercher would have received in 2009 was awarded posthumously by the University of Leeds.[23]
Meredith Kercher scholarship fund

Five years after the murder, the city of Perugia and its University for Foreigners, in co-operation with the Italian embassy in London, instituted a scholarship fund to honour the memory of Meredith Kercher.[24][25] John Kercher stated in an interview that all profits from his book Meredith would go to a charitable foundation in Meredith Kerchers name.[26]
Italian criminal procedure
Further information: Italian Code of Criminal Procedure
photograph
A panorama of Perugia, the city where Kercher, Knox and Sollecito were students

In Italy, individuals accused of any crime are considered innocent until proven guilty, although the defendant may be held in detention. Unless the accused opts for a fast-track trial, murder cases are heard by a corte dassise or court of assizes⁠ ⁠. This court has jurisdiction to try the most serious crimes, i.e., those crimes whose maximum penalty begins at 24 years in prison. A guilty verdict is not regarded as a definitive conviction until the accused has exhausted the appeals process, regardless of the number of times the defendant has been put on trial.[27][28]

Italian trials can last many months and have long gaps between hearings; the first trial of Knox and Sollecito was heard two days a week, for three weeks a month.[29] If found guilty, a defendant is guaranteed what is in effect a retrial, where all evidence and witnesses can be re-examined.[30]

A verdict can be overturned by the Italian supreme court, the Corte di Cassazione (cassation is the annulment of a judicial decision), which considers written briefs. If the Corte di Cassazione overturns a verdict, it explains which legal principles were violated by the lower court, which in turn must abide by the ruling when re-trying the case. If the Corte di Cassazione upholds a guilty verdict of the appeal trial, the conviction becomes definitive, the appeals process is exhausted, and any sentence is served.[28][30][31]
Rudy Guede
Mug shot of Rudy Hermann Guede taken by police some time before his arrest for the murder of Meredith Kercher
Mug shot of Rudy Hermann Guede sometime before his arrest for murder

Rudy Hermann Guede (born 26 December 1986, Abidjan, Ivory Coast) was 20 years old at the time of the murder.[32] He had lived in Perugia since the age of five.[33] In Italy, Guede was raised with the help of his school teachers, a local priest, and others.[34] Guedes father returned to Ivory Coast in 2004. Guede, then aged 17, was adopted by a wealthy Perugia family.[33][35] He played basketball for the Perugia youth team in the 2004–2005 season.[36] Guede said that he had met a couple of the Italian men from the lower level of Via della Pergola 7 while spending evenings at the basketball court in the Piazza Grimana. In mid-2007, his adoptive family asked him to leave their home.[35][37][38]

The young men who lived in the downstairs flat at Via della Pergola 7 were unable to recall how Guede had met them, but they did recall how, after his first visit to their home, they had found him later in the bathroom, sitting asleep on the unflushed toilet, which was full of faeces.[39] Guede allegedly committed break-ins, including one of a lawyers office through a second floor window, and another during which he burgled a flat and brandished a jackknife when confronted.[40] On 27 October 2007, days before Kerchers murder, Guede was arrested in Milan after breaking into a nursery school; he was reportedly found by police with an 11-inch (28 cm) knife[41][42] that had been taken from the school kitchen.[43]

Guede went to a friends house at about 11:30 pm on 1 November 2007, the night of the murder. He later went to a nightclub where he stayed until 4:30 a.m. On the following night, 2 November 2007, Guede went to the same nightclub with three American female students whom he had met in a bar.[44] He then left Italy for Germany, where he would be located in the subsequent weeks.
Trial

After his fingerprints were found at the crime scene, Guede was extradited from Germany; he had said on the Internet that he knew he was a suspect and wanted to clear his name.[45][46] Guede opted for a fast-track trial, held in closed session with no reporters present. He told the court that he had gone to Via della Pergola 7 on a date arranged with Kercher, after meeting her the previous evening. Two neighbours of Guedes, foreign female students who were with him at a nightclub on that evening, told police the only girl they saw him talking to had long blonde hair.[47][48] Guede said Kercher had let him in the cottage around 9 pm.[49] Sollecitos lawyers said a glass fragment from the window found beside a shoe-print of Guedes at the scene of the crime was proof that Guede had broken in.[50][51]

Guede said that he and Kercher had kissed and touched, but did not have sexual intercourse because they did not have condoms readily available. He claimed that he then developed stomach pains and crossed to the large bathroom on the other side of the apartment. Guede said he heard Kercher scream while he was in the bathroom, and that upon emerging, he saw a shadowy figure holding a knife and standing over her as she lay bleeding on the floor. Guede further stated that the man fled, while saying in perfect Italian, "Trovato negro, trovato colpevole; andiamo" ("Found black man, found culprit; lets go").