Who is Amanda Knox? American convicted then cleared of murder amid RTÉ Late Late appearance

Controversial figure Amanda Knox has been confirmed as one of the guests on this week's Late Late Show.

From gaining international attention after being twice convicted and later acquitted of the 2007 murder of her then roommate Meredith Kercher in Italy to her several appearances on television including a Netflix documentary, Knox has gone on to write her own memoir, chronicling the sensational trial and her time spent in an Italian prison and has even become an advocate  for criminal justice reform, wrongful convictions and media sensationalism.

Who is Amanda Knox?

Amanda Knox was born and raised in Seattle in the united States. A student of linguistics at the University of Washington, Knox travelled to Italy to study at the University for Foreigners in Perugia in Italy where she studied Italia, German and creative writing.

Knox shared accommodation with fellow student, Meredith Kercher, a British exchange student from the University of Leeds. The two were thought to have been friendly with one another but were not believed to be particularly close.

Just a few weeks after arriving in Italy, Meredith was found murdered in her room, sparking a case that would captivate the entire world. Kercher was found by Italian police on November 2, 2007. She had been sexually assaulted and stabbed multiple times.

The night before the murder, Knox had stayed over in her then boyfriend's home, Raffaele Sollecito. When they returned back to her home the next day, the couple found signs that there may have been an intruder as they discovered a broken window and blood in the bathroom.

Kercher's bedroom door was locked on the inside and when Knox couldn't get in, she reportedly became alarmed and tried to call her phone.

After getting no response, she then called the local authorities to report a possible break-in. When the police arrived, the forced open Meredith's door and found her.

Knox and her boyfriend Rafaelle were subsequently arrested and interrogated for hours as they became the main suspects in the murder.

Knox maintains that she was interrogated for several hours without a lawyer or translator present and said that she was shouted at, pressured and even slapped by the police in an effort to get her to confess.

Police say she has made inconsistent statements throughout the interrogation and even accused her boss at the time, Patrick Lumumba, of Meredith's murder, which she later retracted.

Prosecutors also said that Knox's strange behaviour also influenced her arrest and eventual incarceration as she was seen kissing her boyfriend at the crime scene and showing no signs of grief or distress. These act are said to have been wildly misinterpreted and prosecutors apparently pushed that narrative to the media to justify the arrest.

After a lengthy 2-year trial that captured the world's attention, Knox and her boyfriend Rafaelle were convicted of Meredith's murder.

Knox spent nearly four years in a medium-security prison in Perugia and after multiple appeals and retrials, she was released in 2011. However, the acquittal was then overturned in 2013 and she was convicted again in 2014.

A year later, Italy's High Court definitively overturned her conviction, stating there were massive flaws and contradictions in the case and declared Knox and Rafaelle innocent.

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Life After

Knox returned to the US and has since become a staunch advocate for wrongful convictions, and criminal justice reform. Her memoir Waiting to be Heard became a bestseller and she know also hosts a podcast called Labyrinths, which delves into stories of resilience, media sensationalism and the rights of people accused.

The case heard around the world still remains controversial, with some remarking on Knox's behaviour throughout the trial as cold and inappropriate. She was also heavily scrutinized, particularly throughout British media at the time and still remains a polarizing figure. 

However, public opinion has since shifted slightly as more information about flaws in the investigation and media misconduct have come to light.

Meredith's family had been present throughout all of the legal proceedings but have never publicly accused Knox of her murder, but after her acquittal in 2015, they still feel they have no real answers as to what happened.

The family also maintain that Meredith's identity had been completely overshadowed due to the sensational nature of the trial and hopes that history will remember her as a person, rather than another victim in a murder case.

Conviction of Rudy Guede

The only other credible suspect in Meredith's murder was Rudy Guede, a 20-year-old man originally from the Ivory Coast who was known around the area and was a supposed acquaintance of Meredith's, who had been to her house on occasion.

Guede had a history of of petty crime and after Meredith's murder, he fled to Germany, raising authorities suspicions. Authorities found Guede's DNA at the crime scene and he was extradited back to Italy where he was tried and convicted in 2008 of sexual assault and murder and was sentenced to 30 years in prison which was later reduced to 16 years.

He served 13 years and was released in 2021.

One theory put forward linking Knox and Guede was that Meredith's murder was the result of a sex-game gone wrong, between her, Knox, Rafaelle and Guede, although this theory never bore any physical evidence and fell apart when brought up in court.

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