Rotten Mango - #124: The Bizarre Case of Amanda Knox

Episode Date: December 23, 2021

The American exchange student skipped home - her life in Italy was perfect. She had great roommates and a new Italian boyfriend. Nothing could ruin her time abroad. That is - till she finds the door to her apartment wide open, blood smeared all over her bathroom, and one of her roommates dead in her room. Her “strange behavior” makes her a target for the police. I mean would an innocent person do yoga in the police station, journal about pizza during an interrogation, and “make-out” with her boyfriend while police are around? Book Rec: “Waiting To Be Heard” - by Amanda Knox (one of my fave books of the year) Full Source Notes: rottenmangopodcast.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rambles. Whether you're doing a dance to your favorite artist in the office parking lot, or being guided into Warrior I in the break room before your shift, whether you're running on your Peloton tread at your mom's house while she watches the baby, or counting your breaths on the subway. Peloton is for all of us, wherever we are, whenever we need it, download the free Peloton app today. Peloton app available through free tier or pay to description starting at 12.99 per month. Welcome to this week's main episode of Rotten Mango. I'm your host Stephanie Sue and we're

just going to jump right in. Amanda Knox was studying abroad. She's an American girl, but she's living the dream in Italy. She's got this nice, quaint apartment near her university where she shares it with three other girls. She's got an Italian boyfriend. She's exploring her dreams, her life of becoming an author. So one day, she gets home early in the morning and she notices that the door to their apartment is wide open. That's a little weird, but they live in this really busy college town. I mean, a quarter of the town's population are college students. It's not that scary. Maybe one of the girls was drunk. Maybe they forgot to lock it. I mean, the lock is pretty old, so maybe it was just a faulty situation.

No matter, she's got a date with her boyfriend, her talian boyfriend, so she rushes inside. Hey, anybody home? No response. All the bedroom doors are closed. She quickly grabs her stuff and heads into the bathroom. She's got a shower. She's got five minutes to get ready. Come on, go time, right? She turns on the sink, but she notices.

Why is there blood on the handle of the sink? Tiny little droplets. That's so weird. Okay, well maybe one of the girls were shaving their legs and they nick themselves. That makes sense. She washes her face and she's about to hop in the shower when she notices one other splotch of blood. But this time it's about the size of an orange. That's weird, why is there so much blood on the bath mat? Oh maybe one of my roommates was bleeding. Maybe they're on their period and they had gotten out of the

shower and they just started menstruating so they got blood on the bath mat. That makes sense. It's a little weird. It's just so unlike them, but it makes sense. She's about to finish tawling off after her shower. When she realizes I gotta go blow-dry my hair. She goes into the other bathroom to grab the blow dryer and when she reaches in, she notices. Is that what I think that is?

Is that poop? In the toilet? There's poop in the toilet. Is that what I think that is? Is that poop? In the toilet? There's poop in the toilet. Why is there poop in the toilet? None of the girls would do that. They would flush the toilet. And she just felt this shiver run through the back of her spine. None of the girls would have done that. Somebody else must have pooped in the toilet. Why didn't they flush though? The door was open when I got home. Maybe they pooped, but they didn't flush, because they knew I was here. I would hear them flushing the toilet. I gotta get out of here. There still might be someone in here, so she rushes. She grabs

all of her clothes. She grabs her things and she runs out of there and she's running to her boyfriend's place and in three days' time, both of them will be arrested for the murder of her roommate. As always, full source notes are available at rottingopodcast.com but there's two really good books on this case and a documentary. The first book is written by Amanda Knox herself, waiting to be heard. A memoir. The thing is, before any of this took place, Amanda Knox wanted to be an author. She wanted to be a writer. So it's apparent that she has so much talent when it comes to writing, I mean, the book is so devastatingly honest, brutally real, and it's probably one of my favorite

books of 2021 that I've read. There's so much transparency on how she was feeling every step of the way. I mean certain parts of it feel almost too intimate. I feel like I was reading her diary. Trust me, if you're interested in this crazy case which I think most people are, this is a must must read. Even if you're not into true crime books, I typically don't even like memoirs but this is just a whole other level. Raffael, another person involved in this case, Amanda Knox's boyfriend at the time, wrote a book as well called Honor Bound, my journey to hell and back with Amanda Knox. There's a really good documentary. Well, there's a few, but I found the best to be Amanda Knox on Netflix. That one's really, really good. So with that being said, let's get into this story. I mean, I feel like this one's gonna have a lot of background

information, a lot of steps leading up and I tried to cut it down as much as possible, but without knowing any of this, the crime is not gonna feel as crazy. I know a lot of different like documentaries, they just breezed past it, they went straight to the crime, and when you know all the little things that accumulated, all the little decisions that were made that resulted in this it's kind of like that eerie feeling where if maybe a mandanox had 100 choices to make

it it feels like she made 100 of them in the exact same way that it would eventually lead to this crazy situation like Like tiny little choices. Okay. So Amanda Knox's childhood, she was born and raised in Seattle in the United States. Her mom, Edda, was a math teacher and her dad Kurt, was actually the vice president of finance for Macy's. Wow. So they were doing pretty well for themselves. I would say maybe Amanda Knox was living more of like that middle-class life, even though I think that her dad made a pretty good

sum of money because they got a divorce. So the parents get divorced, and when you hear a lot of stories of like this, you know, you don't really think that it's gonna be amicable, you think maybe there's gonna be some drama involved, but their parents are so cool. They separated when Amanda was only one year old. Amanda's mom was pregnant with another daughter on the way when they got a divorce and they made this pact that they were gonna be the best co-parents ever. They bought houses two blocks away from each other, so the girls could be close to both parents

at the same time. They never talked to each other, they never showed any hatred or dislike for each other. If anything the parents felt like they had a super professional relationship, but even with all of this, Amanda and her little sister sister Diana were always a bit closer with their mom She just I mean, I think it had a lot to do with both parents. They remarried But Edad just had the two of them Whereas their biological dad went on to remarried and have two more daughters of his own in his second marriage So once he got the two daughters

They were kicked out of their room at their dad's house And they were forced to sleep in the play room on like a pull-out couch It probably just wasn't as comfortable and as private as having your own room kicked out of their room at their dad's house and they were forced to sleep in the playroom on like a pull-up couch. It probably just wasn't as comfortable and as private as having your own room, so by the time that Amanda's 14 she just kind of stops going over to her dad's house. Yeah, they keep in touch, yeah, they go out to eat, but it's just not that close of a relationship anymore. Besides, Amanda's dad was a bit different.

He was very picky in the house. He wanted everyone to use drink coasters. You got to arrange the CDs in alphabetical order. You got to wear matching outfits when we go out. Like it was one of those houses, whereas mom and you know, stepdad, they would just let them build pillow forts. Just have fun! Like, let's be crazy! So growing up Amanda's dream was becoming a writer or even a translator. She loved languages. She was bilingual. Her mom spoke German.

So she spoke German with her grandparents. And Oma, which means Oma, like mom in Korean, means grandma in German. Oh, also? Yeah, she would speak German with her Oma, which side note. Amanda was a very interesting student in her high school. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. She was a little bit on the weirder side, but like in a good way.

I think when you're in high school, weird is not good, but now after in hindsight. Now that you're older, you're like, oh man, I wish I was weirder in high school. Amanda was a different. She was the type of kid that was learning Japanese. She would sing loudly in school. So if math class ended and she's in this busy jam packed hallway going to English class, she would just be singing a song that was in her head. So you're thinking, well, she's gonna get bullied because high schoolers are ruthless, right? But no, she had a lot of friends. And they were

a bit different. She felt like she had to make herself the butt of the joke to be accepted. And she did that. So a lot of people kind of gravitated towards her, regardless of how, quote, I guess, weird she might have been. Her friends all came from money, and sure, Amanda's family was doing really well, but she was always raised to work for it. The only place that she felt equal to her peers was when she was playing soccer. She was nicknamed a Foxy Noxzy because she was so good, she was fast like a fox, and she was great at stealing the ball from the opponent. So she starts feeling, the best way to become a writer.

This is like near the end of high school, she's in college now. The best way to become a writer is to travel, to experience life. What am I gonna write about in Seattle? Coffee, the rainy weather, like the tech bros, what am I gonna write about, right? Sure, she could go to Germany, that would be the safe option. She has relatives there, her aunts there, her cousins, aunts are there, but she had a dream destination in mind. Italy. She went there once on a family vacation when she was 14. She had been so obsessed with Italian culture since then that her friends would nickname her the Italian tour guide. She just knew random facts about random cities in Italy, not even just like the big ones. Just any random city, she would tell you exactly what are the landmarks, what you have to go

to see, what bus to take like it was wild. So in college, she's at the University of Washington, and she signs up for a creative writing program, and you guessed it, Italy. It would be taught in Italian, so she'd have to take Italian 101 first. She would have to spend 9 months in the town of Perugia for her junior year of college. Now Perugia is the midpoint between Florence and Rome. This is kind of important later because do you guys remember the monster of Italy case that we did? This same freaking prosecutor works this case almost immediately after and really forks it up for everyone.

So it's all connected. He ruined the monster of Italy case, allegedly don't sue me. But he's gonna go on to ruin this one too. Like just this guy has got his fingers and everything and they're all nasty. It's all grubby. He taints everything. And anyways, back to Perugia. It's not as common for American students to transfer

to this small quiet town. I mean, there is a giant university called the University of Foreigners. There's also the University of Perugia, but it's, you know, when you think of Americans going to Italy, you're thinking, ah, well, maybe Venice, Rome, you know, all of these different places. So that's the part that really got to Amanda. She felt like she could actually be submerged in this culture. Then she would be ready for this writing class. But first, she had to get her parents to agree. Her mom was so stoked for her immediately told her go for it. That's what she wanted. You got this. Meanwhile, that's a bit worried. What about the extra costs? How are you going to pay for that?

Dad, I worked three jobs this past summer for this very reason. I worked as a barista in the morning and then I worked for a local catering company for parties at night. I trained a girl soccer team on the weekends. I saved up $3,000 so I can pay for all my food, all my extra expenses. Sure, I have to get housing, but you know, it should be easy. I want to live with an Italian roommate so I can practice the language and really be submerged. I don't want to live on the campus for the University of Foreigners. Think about it. That's not really Italian culture.

So she gets her dad to agree. Right before she leaves, she starts doing all these going away dinners with those closest to her and her best friend decided to get her a going away present. And this is so crazy. Things like this will later catch up to bite Amanda in the butt. It's insane. And this is like one of those presents that I would get someone.

She gets her a present, a going away present. Here you go, Amanda. It's a small pink bunny shaped vibrator. Amanda had never had one before, a vibrator. But her friend told her, use this until you meet your Italian stallion. And Amanda just thought it was hilarious. It's one of those good nature jokes.

She didn't even have to get me anything. It's just, I mean, which things about it, it's kind of funny. But also at the same time, maybe it makes sense. Amanda had four boyfriends up until this point. And she was this very serious data. Like she genuinely loves these guys. She thinks that they're the ones for her, they're gonna get married, and she would have sex with them, but honestly, at the end of all of it, she would end up heartbroken.

So Amanda promised herself, this trip in Italy is for myself. I'm not gonna get emotionally involved with any guys. Sure, if I have sex, that's fine, but that's all that's gonna be just sex. This trip is about me growing myself, my Italian, being a part of the culture, not finding a boyfriend, that's not what I want. So the day that Amanda is packing to leave for the airport, she looks at that pink bunny vibrator. What the hell, Tosses it into her clear plastic toiletry bag, and this would end up being a very, very, very bad idea. There were going to be a few legs of their trip, okay? So Amanda and her little sister were going to both be flying to Milan in Italy.

Then they would take a train to Florence, Italy, and then they would be in town for about two to three days in Perugia to find Amanda a place to stay. Once she finds an apartment with the roommate, they were gonna fly to Germany and stay there for about a month. And then Amanda's classes would start around October 1st, so Amanda would get back to Italy, meanwhile her sister would come back to the United States. So it was gonna be like one of those family trips. So they get to Milan and now they're on this train ride to Florence and a guy starts chatting up Amanda. His name is Cristiano. Now it's clear that he's in her. Their communication wasn't great. His English wasn't good. Her Italian wasn't good,

but Cristiano was not giving up that easily. He pretends to miss his stop. Get soft influence with Amanda and he says, well shoot! Now we have nowhere to go! The terrain is long gone. What hotel are you guys staring at? I guess I'll just grab a room there. What? So he gets a room in that same hotel and he says, say, don't you guys want to grab a meal real quick? That's a little much, don't you think? Yeah, yeah. So they sit outside, sharing a large pizza in a bottle of wine and Deanna wants to go back to her hotel room and Kristiano convinces Amanda. Let's go walk around the city. I mean, it's too beautiful to pass up, right?

This is day one day one What? I mean when you're like 19 though, it's different. You're thinking like a 30-year-old right now Think of like when you're 19 and you're in this new city. I mean, of course you're gonna wanna explore. So she gets up, they start walking around and he's like, I've been meaning to ask, do you like, how do you say in English,

smoking joints? She's like, yeah, let's do it. So they share a joint together and they somehow end up in Cristiano's hotel room. This was gonna be her first official one night stand in her whole life. I mean, a lot of her friends have had them in college. She has just been in relationship

about the relationship. And this is what she promised herself. So I think there's a part of Amanda that truly she just, not that she wanted to have these one night stands, which honestly, who cares if she does. I mean, this is 2021, come on, we're well, right? There's nothing wrong with it, but I think she was trying to prove something to herself.

Because she's very hesitant. When she has these one nightstands, she kind of doesn't want to do it, but she feels like this is the next step in being an adult. So she had just turned 20 years old, she feels mature already, like a main character in Italy, but it all comes crashing down in Cristiano's room when she realizes that neither of them have a condom. And she snaps back to reality like, wait a minute, I literally don't even know this guy. I'm kinda creeped out, so she excuses herself, all she did was like, make out with a dude,

goes back to her room with her sister, and she's pissed. What the hell Amanda? I didn't know where you were, I didn't know if you were okay. Like where have you been? Mm-hmm. So this is just one of the many things that start in their beginning of their Italy trip. The next day, the girls take the first train out to Perugia,

and once they get there, it was a journey. They had to be dropped off from the train. Then they would be picked up by a bus. Like they would have to find a bus stop essentially and take that bus to their hotel in Perugia. So a man designed who lived in Germany helped plan all of this. She got the bus tickets, she did that, she planned all the timing, you know, she booked the hotels. It was easier to plan online though than to actually do it because they were lost. They didn't know where the bus stop was,'re Italian sucked, so they're like, who do we even ask? What do we even do?

When was this? It was in 2007. So they decide, wow, it's Italy. I mean, they're like, it's... Let's just walk. I mean, it's a walkable city. Perugia, that's what I read online. And the hotel, it's a small town. It's not like I'm walking from one side of Los Angeles

to the other side. It's a walkable town, and it's pretty small. Let's not like I'm walking from one side of Los Angeles to the other side. It's a walkable town and it's pretty small. Let's get to the hotel. Let's just grab our bags and walk to the hotel. This was a, this is a bad idea. So downtown Perugia, where their hotel is, is on top of a steep hill. Steep, steep hill. It's hot. Their hotel is actually pretty far from the entry point of where they start walking. They have their luggage with him, but Amanda convinces her to start, it'll be fun. They start walking up the steep winding road, and honestly it was beautiful. There were Cypress trees. If you guys listen to the monster of Italy, this area of Italy,

I mean, most of Italy as an American who has never been to Italy, sounds incredibly beautiful, but this area particularly is known for just having so many olive groves, terracotta houses, beautiful churches. It's one of those places where I feel like if I went every step of the way, I would just be, my jaw would be dropped. Like, do you look at that? Look at that. Everyone's like, that's just a house.

I'm like, look at that. They're like, that's a public restroom you idiot. Like, it's beautiful. Take a picture of me. Take a picture of me outside that public restroom. Thank you. So it was, you know, it was worth it, right? Amanda's like, it's nice, huh? We get to see it. We get to really experience it. But then out of nowhere, the sidewalk ends. Uh-oh. And the only way to get to the hotel with the little map that they have was to walk on the side of the highway. That didn't have a sidewalk, because that's a highway. So they start their trek and it was, it was horrendous.

It was just all tall grass scratching their legs. They were getting bug bites all over. They were sweating, miserable itchy. It was getting like humid. They had tears about to form and come out of their eyes. Like they were about to start crying Deanna couldn't do it anymore. She's like, please I'm into this can't be right. We gotta do something

Will it is diana like what can we do? We just have to get through the highway. I mean, there's no going back now It's too late. That's when a car pulls up It's a man driving About their dad's age and he's talking to them in Italian. They're trying to respond in English and they're kind of like frantically yelling back and forth in two different languages. And you know when you are trying to speak to someone who doesn't speak the same language as you and for some dumb reason, every human does this, you just scream louder. And you think that they're gonna understand it. You go slower and louder and you're like, yes, volume, volume changes it. Everybody is bilingual and trilingual as long as I'm screaming. what we're a louder and you're like yes volume volume changes it everybody is

bilingual and trilingual as long as I'm screaming that's kind of what they were doing they're just like increasingly screaming at each other until they finally have a common ground both sides the Italian man and the two American girls they both understand holiday in holiday in Holiday Inn. Holiday Inn! Proofs you, Holiday Inn! So the man takes their map, he points at his car like this car and then he uses his finger to go through the little roads and points at the holiday inn and then come on you I'll take you guys essentially just with his finger gestures like I get in the car I'll drive you to the holiday inn and Amanda gladly jumps in. day in. And Amanda, gladly jumps in. Not a thought. Okay, she just, she's just, and she talks about it this in her memoir. Okay, she's 19 or she just turned 20. She's living her

best life. And I don't know why, maybe it's like this misconception of going to different countries. You feel like crime doesn't exist there and crime only exists in the country that you reside in. So she, she jumps in. She gets into the front, her sisters in the back, and she's saying, gratsy, gratsy, you know, which means thank you. And even though up until this point, the girls had literally faced so many potentially life threatening dangerous situations.

This guy was not a serial killer. He was not a rapist or a murderer, nor was he the monster of Florence, which he could have very well been. He dropped them off safely at the hotel. And when he waved by, he asked Amanda out on a date, and she said no, and he politely chuckled, you know, like a man's got to try, right? And he drove off.

So they really got lucky. Like this guy was a nice person, but things were not looking good for them. They had to find Amanda in apartment ASAP. They only had like, the rest of the day. That was it. They had to go to Germany. And if she didn't find an apartment, then she would get back school and be starting, she would have nowhere to be.

And it's hard to find an apartment like right when school starts. So they go to a little coffee shop, they order a mocha which honestly took forever trying to explain to the barista what a mocha was. They were like, okay, so you put this in this and there and everybody was giggling because from a mocha which honestly took forever trying to explain to the barista what a mocha was. They were like, okay, so you put this in this and there and everybody was giggling because it was just a shit show. They went through the ads and the local newspaper

for apartments to rent and there was nothing in their location or their budget. And Amanda kept thinking, listen, I'm not superstitious. But is all of this a sign of how my year in Italy's gonna go? Because I'm kicking it off with some really crappy luck? Sure, a lot of it is like decisions that she made, but it's just not going well So Amanda makes it over to the school. She's got a bunch of newspapers and arms like god I'm not gonna find a place her sister sweating. She's upset and they they're looking to see if maybe the school knows anybody who's renting an apartment and she sees this girl.

A brunette. Look to be about Amanda's age and she's taping a bunch of little flyers onto a bulletin board. Wow. I'm already desperate. Doesn't hurt to ask. Excuse me and she said it in English. Do you have an apartment for lease? And she responds back in English. Yes, I do. I live with my best friend and we are

renting out two rooms in our place. That's crazy. Yeah, it's just right down there. Do you want to see it? So she's like, yes, I want to see it. The girl's name was Laura Mazzetti and she spoke English and honestly she was a very good natured person. Amanda liked her immediately. She was a few years older, she was a student. So she had a job, she was working, but her apartment was super close to the school. So she thought Laura thought it'd be easier to rent to a college student, you know, because the girl was Laura was there renting out the apartment. So the sisters followed her to her place and it was a dream. It was a cute cream colored villa with a terracotta roof at the end of a long driveway on top of the hill, and the rest of the hill were like tangled. Sure, they were unkept gardens, but it was, I mean, it was beautiful.

It is nothing like Seattle. It just feels like Italy. It was in the middle of downtown, literally a stone's throw away from the university. It was an aesthetic place. Everyone on TikTok would have been freaking the fork out. They would have been like, this is style. This is design. The not modern farmhouses. This, this is what we need. They'd be saying that in the comments. I mean, beautiful. So even Diana was stoked. She said, this is too perfect. You have to get this place. So Laura explains. The top floor is our apartment. The bottom floor is actually rented by a group of male students. I believe they either go to the University of Perugia or the University of Foreigners where you're going. This is my roommate, Filomena Romanelli. Wow, these names are beautiful and I suck at pronouncing things.

We have four bedrooms, two baths, and a terrace. So there's two rooms up for grabs. The cost is the same. Per room, it's about 400 a month. Which is a bit expensive, but a man-to-made sense of it. It was literally so picturesque. It's her dream. This was right next to the school.

She really liked Laura. They smoked a joint together. They were hitting it off. They both like yoga. They both play the guitar. Laura offered her to use the guitar, because she would bring it. Okay, I'll take it. Okay, which one?

There's two rooms that foregabs are the same price. So one of the rooms was a much bigger one, and it had a better view, but the other one was smaller and it had a tiny view of the hill, and she chose the tiny one. She just felt like it was more cozy. What? Yeah.

Feels cozy. Are you sure there's less of a view? Yes, positive. I will deposit money tomorrow. An Amanda gets an email from the girls later that day that another roommate will be moving in. A British exchange student by the name of Meredith Kircher. She's quiet.

She's nice. She's from London. She's already made a ton of friends with a British exchange students. Very beautiful. Hurry and come back. Let's get the party started. So things are looking up, right? I mean, she had all started off bad, but now she has this great apartment, these new friends, and then she looks into the mirror. That's when she sees it. A giant cold sore. Oral herpes from Cristiano from the train. And she was so upset. She said, and I quote, I couldn't believe this was the first wild thing I'd done in my entire life in BAM.

I'm making a positive decision, and now I have to pay with a lifelong consequence. So she's thinking, okay, okay, that's fine though. Maybe this will be the worst thing that happens. How can I get worse from here? I mean, think about it, this is pretty bad. Well, you're 28, this is, you can really dramatize it in your head

as this is the end of the world. But Amanda's gonna be strong. She can handle it. And she can handle anything in Italy at this point now. I mean, she's gotten all the bad luck out of the way, right? She had no idea that soon, she was gonna be arrested for the murder of her own roommate. So after moving into the new apartment,

Dana is gone. So now it's just Amanda and Italy now and Amanda had literally just met Meredith, the British exchange student, and she could see why the other girls love her so much. She was just so relatable. She had divorced parents too. They were only a year apart in age, Amanda and Meredith. And Amanda was shocked to find out that Meredith was not at the University of foreigners, but rather at the University of Perutia. She was like, wow! I mean, that's kind of cool. And Meredith's like, come out with me tonight. I want you to meet my friends. Let's go! So during Amanda's first month in Italy, she spent it mainly with Meredith. So the two other girls, Laura and

Filomena, I mean, they were working. They were a little bit older, so they had like their their work schedules. These two girls, they were getting along because they didn't know Italian, they knew English, they were trying to learn Italian. They don't really know this area. They're they're fascinated by every little thing, whereas the other two girls are probably not. So they hang out practically every day. I mean, they knew a lot about each other. Meredith opened up about the fact that she wanted to be a journalist, just like her dad.

Her mom was really sick. And that's why she carries around two phones. So when she got to Italy, just like the rest of the girls, she had an Italian local phone, right? To make local calls to, you know, Amanda, her teachers or anybody nearby. And she kept her British phone roaming. So if something happened to her mom,

who is very sick, she could get an immediate call. And she was just terrified. What if something happens while I'm in Italy? They spend practically every lunch together. So Italy loves slow, relaxed lunches at home. So most schools and shops, they just close for hours on a day. In the middle of the day, you know how sometimes random stores in the US will close from 12-1

because everyone's on lunch break? It's like 12-3. Everybody's just closed. Nothing is open. They would eat lunch, watch Italians, soap operas, and with the extra time Meredith would read mystery novels and Amanda loved to play the guitar. Sometimes Amanda would even sneak off to visit the coffee shop that she took her sister to on the first day they arrived and there was a

new barista by the name of Mercco. So they start flirting here and there and eventually it seems like Amanda is enjoying coffee a lot more. She's becoming a coffee addict and she thought, well, maybe something's happening and he asks, Amanda, I thought of a place you'd really like for pizza. She's like, sure, let's go some time. How about today? I get off at five. So she walks out of there shaking.

She's like, oh my god, seriously, this is crazy, we're so nice. She's so down to earth, and now we're going on a date today. She gets ready. They head to the pizza shop. It's jam packed. Everybody's waiting for a table. There's a line out the door And he says do you want to eat pizza at my place instead? We can watch a movie

So what you're telling me is every guy no matter what country they're in are the same He's like you won't watch movie in my bed and she's like I Kind of know what this means. He probably is gonna try to have sex with me tonight. Do I want to do that? I'm in Italy, right? I was supposed to be like this mature person. Okay, sure. So they head back to Merkel's place and I'm in the trice to get to know him over dinner.

So we're do gotta school and he's just like, yeah, yeah, yeah. So what kind of movie you wanna watch? And of course, the TV isn't his bedroom. So this is the only place that they can watch it from. It's his bed. You know, you're not gonna sit on the floor in front of the bed and like break your neck to watch TV. He's like here. It's cold. Just get under my blanket. They watch the entire movie and silence and a man is freaking out the whole time. She doesn't know if she wants to sleep with him.

I mean, not because she thinks it's immoral to have a one-night stand, but because she's like traumatized. She got that cold sore from Cristiano. Is this really what she wants? But he doesn't even give her the time to make a permine. He turns off the TV and starts making out with her. And they do it. She said she felt exhilarated, but also really uncomfortable.

And after all of that, what does this amazing man do? He looks her in her eyes. Sorry, but you have to go. My sister's gonna be home soon. I mean, I guess I could walk you back to the University of Forners and I guess you can find your way home from there. What? They walk in silence. And at the end, he kisses both her cheeks.

We should do that again sometime, he says. At the end, he kisses both her cheeks. We should do that again sometime, he says. Wow, so romantic, right? Will not really, in places like Italy kissing on both cheeks is as cold as a handshake. It's just like a see-later. And so she rushes home and she screams at her roommates. Oh my God, guys, like what do I do?

I slept with the breeze. I don't know how I feel. It's so weird, but it was kind of fun. But it also really awkward in me. Don't feel fulfilled and I feel detached and her room is to calm down. You're young, you're free, don't think too much into it. Besides, he's hot, so you're fine. And a few days later, she's like, okay, yeah, it's just meaningless sex, I can do it.

What the heck, this is what Italy's about, and again, this is like the moment where Amanda keeps trying to talk herself into this So I think she really had a vision of you know how when we think of New York We might think of like gossip girl or sex in the city like just this exhilarating experience where you're just this mature person and you're living that single free life I think that's that was her vision of Italy. So she's like trying to force it to happen So she heads back to Marcos place, no pizza this time, just sex, and she briefly had a moment of like a full-on freak out

and she ran out of there before they can even have sex. She was like, I gotta go. She was so embarrassed, she never went back to the cafe and she confided in Meredith. Meredith, what do I do? I feel like such an idiot. And she comforted her and said, listen, maybe uninvolved sex just isn't for you. And that's okay. Besides, there's other things we could do, there's other things that we can have fun with. Why would you break into these apartments?

For money, for drugs, whatever was in there. Why aren't you afraid of getting caught at doing this? Why aren't you afraid of getting caught at doing this? No. Who's going to catch us? What a police. It was the height of the crack era, and instead of locking up drug dealers, some New York City cops had become them. I would suit up in my uniform, and we're going to want some drug dealers,

and I know how to do it really well. This is the inside story of the biggest police corruption scandal some drug dealers and I know how to do it really well. This is the inside story of the biggest police corruption scandal in NYPD history and the investigation that uncovered it all. Did you consider yourself a rat? 100% I saved my soul just like everybody else does. Listen to and follow the set, an Odyssey Originals documentary podcast series available now in the Odyssey app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your shows.

I'm not a big guy man, but I love being a dirty mother f***er. So there was something called the Euro Chocolate Festival. It would be held downtown. Nearly 1 million tourists will come just for the Euro Chocolate Festival. It's street performances, chocolate tastings, but people will also have a giant refrigerator-sized chunk of just full chocolate, and these artists will start sculpting things out of the chocolate. And those chocolate shavings that they're shaving away, assistance will grab them and throw them into the crowd. And you just get free chocolate. Sometimes in the beginning, though, they cut off giant blocks, like three pound blocks of chocolate

because, you know, you gotta get to the sculpture somehow. And that is when Amanda was in the crowd and a lot of the people were like, nope, don't throw that giant block of chocolate on me. That's gonna hurt. It's gonna hurt like a brick. But Amanda was like, me, me, me, me, me, me, me. So she reaches for it.

She escapes from the crowd, runs all the way home before it melted all over her shirt. It's not even in a bag, it's just a chunk of chocolate. She slams it down on the dining table and her roommates are looking at her, they're looking at the chocolate and she goes, Valla. And the girls made cookies out of it. Very cute, no?

The girls hung out with the guys downstairs. They were all very nice, very chill, they got along, they were all together and smoke weed. Amanda had never rolled a joint before, or even procured weed for herself. Like she never bought drugs from a drug dealer before. She just did it socially, like yes, she would pay whoever had the weed, but she never necessarily bought it herself. So one night she's trying to roll a joint. Everyone's like, come on Amanda, you got this, don't be such a witty, roll the joint. These are lessons you need to learn in life. Her roommates are giving her the directions, but it wasn't good. At the end of it, everyone gave her a pitiful round of applause. You ruined the weed, but it's fine. We have more.

And she took a very dramatic picture. One of the roommates, Laura or Philomina, had taken a picture of her posing with her very first joint that she had ever rolled, and she posed with it as if they were a cigarette, and she powered it, like kind of like a sexy pinup girl. This photo, what they'd essentially go viral, an Amanda would be thought of as just this sexual, sex pot smoking girl in Italy. You're like, how is she doing so much? Doesn't she have school? And yeah, Amanda was really passionate. She always worked hard in school. Her classes, though, were two hours a day, five days a week, and her professors did not give homework. Yeah, I guess I don't know,

maybe it's the Italian way. Maybe it's not, maybe it's just the school. Maybe she didn't load up on a lot of courses, but Amanda took it upon herself to study more outside of school. She honestly did have a lot more free time than she thought she would, so she asked Laura, do you know any part time jobs I can do? Just because I have all this time. She gets introduced to a guy named Patrick, who is essentially a club owner and he tells her, okay it's straightforward. I give you flyers, you hand them out at school, you invite your classmates to come to Les Chic, my bar. You keep asking them. Ask them until they make it there. You drag them there. Around 9 p.m. you come to the bar, help us get ready, and then you go into town. You hand out more flyers for all of the college students that are probably downtown. Just walk in by their bar hopping, tell them to come to Les Chic.

When you're done with that, the club should be packed. Yes, if you're doing your job right. Once the club is packed, you come, you help us get the drinks, you stock the snacks, you make sure everybody's having a good time. If you see customers leaving, you better go back out and get more customers. The hours are 9 to 1 a.m.

And the pay is about $7.25 an hour. Handing out flyers at school does not count as work, so you will not be constipated. You will not be compensated. Okay, you will be constipated for sure though. And the job is hard. Amanda was exhausted. She had to keep drunk people.

We'll drunk. She had to make sure everybody is having a good time, make sure nobody's drink ran out. And it was a lot all in the wee hours of night, and she's not even great at Italian. And imagine how vulnerable you feel out in the middle of a downtown busy street, there's drunk people in groups, in hordes, and you have to approach them and say, do you want to come to a club? Most of the clientele right now were older men, which were friends of the owner,

and unless she could self-was in a dangerous place, but it could have easily well-bent. I think Amanda states looking back, she was naive about a lot of things. She was taken by the glamour of being out of the country, of being in a place like Italy. But what she didn't know is that Prusia has the highest concentration of heroin addicts in Italy. There are high rates of trafficking and drug use. So, you know, there were some warning signs that there was definitely some crime going on

or dangerous things taking place, but Amanda didn't want to psych herself out. Besides Amanda and Meredith, they always had a plan. When they get home and the other one is not home, you just text them and say, hey, I got in safely for the night. So one night, when Le'Sheek was super slow, Amanda's boss told her that he was

going to close early. She's like, okay sounds gut. She texts Meredith, why don't you meet me downtown? I got off early tonight. Maybe we can have some fun. Near the fountain. Meet me near the fountain. The night's still young. So they made up near the fountain and the center is just filled with drunk students and they even run into two of their downstairs neighbor, Gia and Marco. So they were drinking beers, and they wanna introduce the girls to another friend of theirs. He moved to Italy as a kid, his name is Rudy. Oh, we play basketball with Rudy. Rudy, meet the girls.

Rudy, this is Meredith, Rudy, this is Amanda. So the five of them are talking for a while, and they decide, let's just all walk back to our place. Do you girls wanna come downstairs, and maybe smoke some weed, smoke a joint? Uh, sure, but we gotta put our stuff away. Like we have our purses and our work stuff so we'll just head upstairs and then when we're ready we'll come downstairs. Sounds good. So Amanda and Meredith, they head upstairs and Amanda was ready first. She said are you

ready to go? Uh you go downstairs, I'll just meet you down there, I just need a second. Okay, sounds good. When she opens the door to the downstairs apartment, she sees three guys giggling, sitting around the table. The three guys that she had just walked back with, and the new friend Rudy, the chair just met, and she said, what's up, honey? Are you guys laughing? Oh, nothing. October 25th rolls around.

There was a classical music concert at the University of Foreigners. There would be tens of thousands of people coming from all over the world in attendance. Most of them, being old people, like most of them in their 50s or 60s, and that's not old, but you know, when you're in college, that's kind of old. Old men in their 50s, typically. Rafael Solicito and Amanda Knox were two of the very few young people at the concert. So let's talk about Raphael Solicito. He was born in a pretty successful household. His dad was a urologist and he was the type of dad that was difficult to say no to. He always pushed Raphael to do better and a few years ago in 2005,

Raphael's mom died suddenly, right after a divorce. So some people suspected that she had killed herself, but Raphael was adamant that she didn't. She would never do that. Her heart was bad and it just gave out. It was horrible for Raphael. They were super close and he misses her every single day. So when Raphael is about to graduate, with a computer science degree from the University of Perugia, His dad is pushing him.

Instead of your dream of designing video games, you need to apply for a nine-month internship at the university in Milan. You need to come back home so his dad is living in Milan. He's like, you need to come to Milan. So he's feeling all of that pressure and he decides, you know what, I've got to just let loose at this classical music concert. So he ends up going and he sees a girl across the room. And she was one of the only few young people there and she looked happy to be there. Like she wasn't dragged to there. He's intrigued and he was immediately taken.

Without even just saying a word to her, she was pretty beautiful. She had this long hair, blondish brown hair and those eyes, he said those eyes were just so striking. Normally, he's too shy to approach girls like this, but he just, you know, he's about to graduate. Life is short, he's going to Milan, I mean, if it sucks, it's not like he has to live with the embarrassment.

So he introduces himself in Italian. The beautiful girl responds, oh, I'm Amanda. He says, oh shit, she's American. Okay, let me speak English. Sorry. Like, I speak English to the union Amanda, I'm Amanda. He says, oh shit, she's American. Okay, let me speak English. Sorry, like I speak English to the union Amanda, I'm Raphael. And she says, oh, sorry, my Italian isn't very good. I just got here. Well, no problem.

We're from America. Seattle. Do you know Seattle? Seattle, of course. I'm a computer scientist. Seattle for us is like the center of everything. Of course I've heard of Seattle. So they sit next to each other for the rest of the concert.

Raphael said it was love. He said he could even pinpoint the moment he fell in love. He said it's like one of those things. You don't know this person. You don't even speak the same language, but somehow you feel connected to that. Like there are kindred spirit. You find yourself locking eyes, exchanging smiles, and you feel this instant instant connection and it's like a lightning bolt And that's what he felt with Amanda it sounds dramatic, but Raphael is a very romantic guy now the question is does Amanda feel the same? Yes, okay

She said, man, this dude so annoying Swole me alone. Why does he keep looking at me? Oh? God, we just made eye contact. That's so awkward. Turned out this is the show you. Yeah. So Raphael said he was waiting for someone to take his breath away. His friend always teased him.

I've never met a guy who goes to college. He leaves home a virgin, comes back a virgin. I mean, what's wrong with you, Raphael? But after the concert, he quickly jumps at the chance to ask her on a date, and it was a magical one. He picks her up from work after she gets off, and they went on a stroll afterwards. They had their first kiss under their stars. This is what Amanda had to say about their first kiss.

It wasn't an electric first kiss that bound us together. It was gentle and soft comforting and reassuring. Even after the kiss, we hugged for a really long time. And it was the most comforting warm hug that I had experienced since I hugged my family goodbye in Seattle. That's nice. And Rafael said, I asked Amanda if she wanted me to take her home

or if she wanted to come back to my place to watch a movie in Smokes & Wheat and she accepted my invitation which I was shocked because I was just shooting my shot. I didn't think that she would say yes, but she said, okay, I can come to your house. And he was just so shocked, really? Like me? You're not afraid of me? Like how can you even trust me? We just met. And she grabbed his hand,

held it in hers and smiled and said, I don't know, but I trust you. And he said, that was the moment that lightning struck him and his heart melted and he fell in love. She just seemed like this genuine wholesome trusting person. So he had heard a lot of like, you know, guys talking saying, if a girl comes home with you on the first day, she's not wifey material. You get it, like guys they're like, saying, if a girl comes home with you on the first day, she's not wifey material. You get it, like guys, they're like,

oh, if she sleeps with you, she's not wifey material. But Amanda wasn't like that at all. She just seemed so genuine. Just like, yeah, I'll come over. Sure. And it was both ways. Amanda really liked Raphael, said that he was her type. Kind of nerdy, adorable, just really nice.

Just a nice person, someone that seemed comforting. So he lived super close to the University of Foreigners, and the locals actually called this the bad zone, meaning at night a ton of drug dealers would come out and just hang out around there, but Amanda had no clue. Rafael said that he never felt it was dangerous, but regardless, they get into his one bedroom apartment, and the plan was to watch was dangerous, but regardless, they get into his one bedroom apartment and the plan was to watch a movie, but they didn't. Instead, they talked about their lives. They had another language in common, German, and after all that talking, eventually they had a

sexual connection on his bed. And Raphael was in love, I tell you. This would be the beginning of a very passionate, long, seven-day, inseparable relationship before both of them are arrested for murder. And everything about this meeting was pure luck and chance too. So Amanda had actually gone to the concert with Meredith, to the classical music concert, but Meredith left early on. If Meredith had stayed, Raphael most likely would never have approached Amanda because it's so just a lot of pressure to approach a girl in front of her friends and

Raphael doesn't even approach girls when they're alone. He is very shy. Would that have changed anything? Amanda thought about that a lot. She said for me, maybe, for Raphael, probably. He would never have written this book nor would he have been thrown in prison. So the relationship continues and its intense. They spent every single second together. Amanda says in her book that after breakfast she would run home to shower. So at her apartment change for class and then meet back at his apartment for lunch and in the afternoons you know she studied he edited his thesis which he's graduating in two weeks.

Sometimes I would shower together and he would wash her hair, towel her dry, even clean her ears with a Q-tip. I mean, she said he was so intimate and tender. It felt almost as intimate as sex. So when my file finds out that Amanda doesn't have her own signature scent, he told her, that Amanda doesn't have her own signature scent, he told her. Every good Italian woman has a signature scent, so he takes her to a fragrance shop and they chose one that was light and earthy, made of sandalwood, Raphael paid for it without any hesitancy. Amanda felt like she was on cloud nine, so of course she's spending less time with Meredith. But there were no hard feelings, Meredith had started dating a guy too, a guy that lived downstairs. But she was a little bit sad.

She kept telling Amanda, he's too shy. When we're around other people, like, here's roommates or my roommates, he won't even acknowledge me. It's so strange. Like, I don't know what to do with it. But isn't that so strange that we started dating people at the same time?

It's like, we're living the same lives. And they'd be like, yeah, that's crazy. I mean, I can't believe we both came in here like, we're not going to date anyone in Italy and then now we're dating people like, what is this life? Amanda opened up, she was worried. Raphael is going back to Milan after he graduates and she's going back to Seattle at the end of summer. Like, what do we do? So that week Halloween night was approaching. Now, there's no trick or treating like in the US, but it is a big, big excuse for college students even in Italy to put on costumes and go clubbing.

Amanda was so busy with Raphael that she forgot to pick one out. She made one. She put on black pants, a black sweater, she drew on whiskers, she was a black cat. She said, yeah, I saw the irony because of the superstition associated with black cats. They're bad luck. On Halloween night.

It would prove to make sense. Amanda Tech's Meredith. What are you doing? Do you want to meet up? Do you have a costume? And Meredith texted her? Yes, I have one. But I'm going to a friend's house for dinner. What are your plans? This text would later be used to try and prove something shady was going on. So anyways, Amanda gets home and she crashes in bed pretty late. The next morning, it's a quiet morning in the house everyone's hungover.

Around 12 p.m., Amanda's in the kitchen table reading when Filomena and her boyfriend Marco they stop in the apartment to change clothes before heading out again. This is November 1st now, right? Hey Amanda, how are you? Where's Meredith? I'm good, I'm just waiting for a ride to come over for lunch. Meredith is probably still asleep. The couple leave before Meredith wanders out. Ah! Meredith, she's alive! Hey you still have vampire blood on your chin. She's like yeah, I couldn't get it off. I was so tired. I got home at 5 in the morning. I didn't even wash my face. I went to the dinner party. It was amazing.

They had filled this surgical glove with water. They froze it and they put it on the punch bowl and it just looked like this hand. This ice hand was floating in the punch bowl. Then we went dancing at a pub. What about you? What did you do? My Halloween was lame. I thought it was gonna be fun, like watching everyone in their costumes, but mostly I was bored. So Raphael comes over, the two of them make pasta for lunch, and Meredith does some laundry before going out to meet up with friends again. So Raphael comes over, the two of them make pasta for lunch, and Meredith does some laundry before going out to meet up with friends again. So November 1st is kind of a holiday in Europe. It's like a big holiday, right? So it's a pretty lazy day. Most businesses aren't that busy.

Everybody's just spending time with friends and family. Sometime around 4 to 5 p.m. the couple go to Raphael's place to hang out. They make dinner and Raphael realizes that his sink is leaking. And he's like, damn it! There's water all over the kitchen and I don't even have a mop. Like I just have like random towels. That's okay! Like we can just fix it tomorrow. I have a mop at my place. I'll just bring the mop tomorrow, right? She's like, I gotta go to work soon. She's a little bit stressed. She doesn't like working out less chic, but she gets a text message from her boss that says, Hey, slow night, it's a holiday. I'm just gonna close up shop. No need to come in for your shift. So she texts him back.

Okay, sounds great. See you later. Have a great night. And her and Raphael spend the rest of the night, you know, making out, watching a movie, and they even plan a road trip tomorrow through the countryside. He's like, let me take you through, let me show you the beautiful sights of Florence, where there's no monster. So, let's do that. So that next morning, November 2nd, it was beautiful outside sunny and Raphael is sleeping and he's exhausted. They had a late night. Amanda leaves him, walks home to take a shower and get her things so that she could head off to the road trip, right? But when she gets home, the door to their house, to their villa, is open. Strange.

But sometimes it did that, you know, the old latch, it wouldn't shut correctly unless the door was like locked shut. So, yeah, it's like you almost have to like push in the door and then lock it at the same time, do you know what I mean? Otherwise, if it's not pushed in, you can do the locking motion and you can genuinely think that it's locked, but the wind could just brush it open. So she screams, Filomena, Laura, Nerdyth, hello! Anybody home? No response. All the bedroom doors were closed. I mean, to be fair, this is the morning after a holiday, everyone had gone out to party, and it's pretty early. So Amanda goes to the bathroom that she shared with Meredith and she sees as she's washing her face two pea-sized droplets of blood in the sink and a smear of blood on the faucet. It's strange, but I mean Meredith might have cut herself

shaving. So I mean when I shave my legs in the sink I end up cutting myself a lot more frequently for some reason than if I were in the shower. But sometimes you don't have time for a full shower, so you might shave your legs in the sink. So I think maybe she was thinking, oh, it's probably something like that. Amanda hops into the shower. And then when she gets out, she notices on the bath mat as she's getting out. Another spot of blood.

But this one is the size of an orange. So she's thinking, okay, maybe, maybe it's, maybe murder this on her period. But okay, I, if you have your period, you might have droplets coming out while you're standing and you don't have like a tampon or a pad in, but an orange-sized splotch of blood, you would have to stand in that position and bleed for quite a bit of time. And I know that most people who menstruate when they get out of the shower like they're, they're rushing, they're like, I'm not trying to to stand in that position and bleed for quite a bit of time. And I know that most people who menstruate when they get out of the shower, they're rushing. They're like, I'm not trying to spill no blood,

no wear, I'm getting to the bathroom, putting on a pad, putting on a tampon, ASAP. So it's just unlike Meredith. And Meredith is a very neat person. If this really did happen, she's not the type to just be like, eh, I'll just leave it. She's the type to clean it, she really doesn't like being a burden to others, and it just doesn't make any sense.

Amanda was so confused, but regardless, she went about her shower routine and the next step was to go to Philomina's bathroom to grab the blow dryer. So she's blow drying her hair. Once she's done, she goes to put it back and she notices, poop! Poop in the other girl's toilet what she's like what the heck like none of the other girls in the apartment whatever not flush the toilet like that's disgusting nobody would just unlike them I don't care how drunk they are I don't care if they're smoking weed nobody's gonna just leave poop in the toilet bowl did

does I want to have a friend over or the door was open when I got here. Maybe it was open and a stranger came in and maybe they're drunk and maybe they pooped. What if the person is still in the house? Oh my god, I just been showering. Like I was literally showering our so vulnerable as naked. She felt so much panic. She hurried, grabbed her things, her purse, somehow she remembered the mop and grabbed that too

from the kitchen to bring to Raphael because his sink leaked to the night before and she runs out the place. She runs about a block away and she slowly starts feeling less anxious. She's out in the sun, it's daytime, there's people nearby and she's like, I was so dramatic for no reason.

But she was still anxious enough that she wanted to talk to somebody. But she didn't know who? None of her roommates were home, nor were they like picking up. Well, she didn't know if they were home, but they weren't answering her. She didn't want to wake them up. She didn't know if she should call Raphael because he seemed like he was still asleep, so she called her mom for getting the time difference. It was the middle of the night in Seattle. And her mom's like, hello, Amanda, are you okay? Hey, mama, I'm on my way back to Raphael's, but I just wanted to check in. I found some strange things in my house.

Like the door was open and there was poop in the door, but like it's just weird. It's not necessarily like a break in, but it's weird, right? Okay, Amanda, call your roommates, go tell Raphael and call me back, okay? Be safe. Oh yeah, good point. So Amanda calls Filomena.

And she says, oh, hey, you're up. I'm calling because our front door is open. Are you home? There were a few drops of blood in the bathroom and there was like poop in your toilet. And Filomena's freaking out. What do you mean? I didn't go home last night.

I stayed at my boyfriend's house and Laura's in Rome for work. Have you talked to Meredith? No, I called you first. Okay, well, I'm at, I'm kind of out of town right now. I'll try to call Meredith and go back to the house when you can. We need to see if anything was stolen, because that's just weird. Okay. Amanda tries to call both of Meredith's phones, her British phone, and her Italian one.

Both of them went to voicemail. She gets to Raphael's and he just gets out of the chat where and she tells them everything. He's like, well, yeah, I'm sure it's nothing, but why don't we have some breakfast. If you're really worried, we can walk back to your place before we leave. And honestly, he was really calming her down. Like, his reaction to the story wasn't like, oh my god, we got to get over there right now. We got to call the cops. It was just like,

that's weird, but I'm sure there's an explanation. Like, can you really be that scared about poop in the toilet? Maybe it got clogged. Maybe one of the girls thought that it had flushed and they're like, why would that not flush? You know, and they didn't realize it's just weird. So when they get to her place, Amanda's so scared. She's like, what if someone's in there? Okay, let's just go in. Hello, is anyone in here? Everything was quiet. There was no signs of a struggle or ransacking. They checked Laura's room. It was fine. They opened Filomena's room and that is where they're shocked. There is glass shattered everywhere. Close all over the bed. The floor,

her cabinets were open. Oh my god. Oh my god. Somebody broke in. Somebody broke in. But they noticed that Filomena's laptop and digital camera were sitting on her desk like just in plain view. So somebody broke in, why wouldn't they take her laptop? That's probably one of the most expensive things that like someone her age might own, like a college student, or like a former college student. It's so strange. That doesn't make any sense. So just at that moment, Filomena calls.

Hello? Oh my god, Filomena, somebody's been in your room, they smashed your window, but it's strange, it doesn't look like they'd take anything. Filomena says, okay, I'm coming home right now and she hangs up. Okay, okay, we'll wrap it up. We gotta look for Meredith. Meredith, are you home? Maybe she spent the night at her boyfriend's house.

Remember the guy downstairs or maybe one of the friends from the UK so Amanda runs downstairs to see if the downstairs neighbors are home to see if maybe Meredith spent the night with her boyfriend there. So she's slamming on the door but most of them had gone home for the holidays. No room for first is a big holiday. So Amanda runs back up, goes to Meredith's room, Meredith, are you in there? No answer. She knocks harder. She actually tries to open the handle, and it was locked. This is weird. I mean Meredith's literally never locks a door. Maybe when she's changing clothes, but that's it. She never locks it when she's in there doing her studying, she never locks it when she's sleeping, it's never locked. So she starts

banging on the door. Why isn't she answering me, Raphael, like do something? Maybe she fell asleep with like earbuds in. I mean that doesn't make sense, unless she was knocked unconscious, there's no way that she couldn't hear them and wake up. But also, if she was gone from the house, how could her door be locked? I mean, it's a bedroom door. It's not like things that you can lock out like your front door from the outside. And she would never do that. She's never done that. So Amanda gets low to the ground. She tries to see under the gap of the door. I can't see anything. I'm gonna go outside and see if I can look through her window from the terrace. She tries to climb over the railing and she could not get into a position without falling

to see through the window because this is not a ground floor apartment. You know they're on the top floor of this little villa. So Raphael tells her, get down and you're gonna fall like, I'll just kick her door down! So they run back inside, he kicks. It doesn't budge, he tries harder. Nothing, he kicks at the handle, nothing. So Raphael decides, let's call the police. Well first, actually, let's call my sister.

Raphael's sister Vanessa, she worked as a police officer in Rome. So he calls her, what do I do? What do you think I should do? I mean, obviously, this is not your jurisdiction, but I need some advice. She advises him to call 112, which is essentially more like the federal police rather than the Perugian town police. So call them, I wouldn't say they're like the federal police rather than the Perugian town police so call them like I wouldn't say

They're like the FBI but more so that versus your local town police department Because they're gonna be a little bit more sophisticated They're gonna probably be a little bit nicer to you like local town departments are gonna be like oh What are you so worried about? She's probably drunk, you know so call those people Amanda suggested well It's probably gonna take them a? So call those people. Amanda suggested, well, it's probably going to take them a while. Way longer than the local police department, so we should like wait outside. I don't want to be inside. And as she's grabbing her things to head out, she glances.

And philomena's bathroom. And the poop is gone. You're kidding me. She's like the poop is gone. Oh my god. Someone must have been hiding here when I was here the first time or maybe they came back after I left! Oh my god, oh my god!

So they ran out of the house and a man in jeans walks up to them. Hi, I'm from the police. We're with the postal police. So this is the Department of Cybercrimes. We wanted to talk to whoever lives here. Two cell phones were turned into us this morning. One is registered to a filomena. Do you know her?

Yes, she's my roommate, but it's not her phone because I just talked to her. I've been trying to reach out to our other roommate Meredith. She's not answering. Where did you find these phones? Maybe they're Meredith's phones because she has two phones. Can I see the phones? The cyber unit is like, uh, no. Like, we don't want to give you a ball of cards. She's like, no, I swear, it might be my roommate. So can I just give you the phone numbers? And maybe you can try calling it. And if it rings, then we can at least confirm that it's my roommates, Meredith, you know?

They hear two cars pull up, and it was Philomena and three of her friends. While they were talking to this. The Cybercrime Unit. So Philomena Storms Unit. Cybercrime Unit is just one person? Two. So Philomena Storms in turn around.

She's like, I don't care about the cybercrimes unit. Like, I need to see what happened in my room and she's so confused. My room is a disaster. There's glass everywhere. There's a rock under the desk for some reason. So maybe someone threw the rock through the window to break it. But everything's there. I don't know if there's something missing. The police police show the two found phones finally and she says, oh I'm Filomena. This one is registered to me but it's actually Meredith's phone. So this is her Italian phone and this is her British phone. She uses it to talk to her mom and we later find out that the

phone was Meredith and both were, um, they were found by a neighbor. So a neighbor wakes up in the morning and she hears ringing, coming from her garden. And she's like, what the heck, that's so weird. So she goes out to her garden and she's snooping around and she sees these two phones. They were tossed over her fence into the garden. And the ringing was from Amanda Colley. Now the police were content. Okay.

We'll make a report of a break in and I guess the phones were stolen during the break in and then they maybe they realized they don't want the phones or they were password protected so they threw the phones in the neighbor's yard. Are you sure nothing else was stolen guys? Uh, yeah, an Amanda's but, but, Mary's story is still locked and I'm really worried. And Filomena. She hears that. She did not know this before.

She says, her door is locked? What? And she starts screaming at the cops like do something. Her door is never locked. You better break down that door right now. They tell her, ma'am, we can't do that. It's not in our authority. We can't just go around knocking down doors because your roommate's not home yet. And everyone just starts screaming in Italian. Filomena's three friends are screaming at the cops. One of them just starts banging on the door.

In front of the cops, just kicking it down. Boom, boom, and on the third one, the door swings open. And Filomena screams. Oh my God, oh my God. And in Italian, she screams a foot, a foot. Amanda Codazzi, she wasn't close enough, but she heard, oh my God, so much blood, my my god so much blood my god blood blood Then she screams filomena is screaming in this hysterical blood

Curtling scream everything starts going in slow motion the police jump up everybody out now They call in for backup a man just confused everybody screaming in Italian and she's like what's going on? Somebody please just tell me what's going on all she's picking up is someone saying a foot a foot in the closet a body a body in the closet with the foot sticking out like that's what she's gathering and blood What's going on filomena is too hysterical to answer questions. She just keeps screaming Meredith Meredith my god Meredith They finally tell her that filomena and the others saw a blue foot poking out of Meredith's blanket, blood was splattered all over the walls and streaking on the floor, and Meredith was dead. Amanda was in shock, Filomena was in shock, but Amanda wasn't just in shock, she wasn't crying. Amanda never cried in public, it just wasn't her. Her parents taught her

that crying is for when you're alone, and she didn't understand this. It wasn't clicking in her head that Meredith was dead. Everybody else was crying because they saw the crime scene. Amanda was just outside in the hallway. Everybody goes berserk and they tell her Meredith's dead. So I think in her brain she's like, that doesn't make any sense. What? What? It's not like she's like this high-powered, you know, crazy person who has a ton of enemies like why would a random college student be dead? Like it's not clicking. Maybe it's somebody else. So Raphael tries to comfort her. She pushes her face into his chest because honestly they were so confused. So he's kind of like God is arm around her and her face is like honest chest. She's just trying to cope but this would later

be used against her that the couple were cuddling. At the crime scene. The police question Amanda. She says I came home, I found the door open, Filomena's room was ransacked, nothing was stolen and Meredith's door was locked. When Amanda was done talking to the police, she was sitting with Rafael again and she was like oh shit, I forgot to tell them about the poop. I don't even know how to say that in Italian. Can you please just explain to them what I told you? And he says, yeah, I'll explain. So he finds a female officer and he describes what happened. So this is the head of homicide. So he's like, okay, so then she found the poop and blah blah blah. And she goes, you know, we're gonna investigate this, right? I mean, yeah, and Amanda's like, yeah,

that's why I'm telling you. So you can investigate it. Maybe it's like the poop of the killer. I don't know, that's why I'm telling you. And she goes inside, she comes out and she looks, Adam and it gives her the worst stare, just disgustingly looks at her and says, the poop is still in there,

so I don't know what you're talking about. Okay. I guess I had glanced too quickly and I didn't realize the poop had sunk to the bottom, but doesn't that still mean something that none of us would have pooped in the toilet without fleshing it? Like, maybe he didn't flesh the toilet because they, he heard, like, I was in the shower and thought that if he flushed the toilet, I would have heard and then be like, oh my god, somebody's home, but then nobody's home. Like, like come on do something about the poop what if the poop is the killers and the police look at her and say you know we're gonna check out the blood in the bathroom right and Amanda was just so taken aback she was like what why are you talking to me as if that's my blood or something yeah obviously

I told you all of these things so that you would investigate it. That's the whole point. No? She's just shocked. So around 3 p.m. everybody has told to meet the police at the at the station. And this is actually when reality hits Amanda. She was sitting in one of Filomena's friends cars just hunched over uncontrollably sobbing. Everyone had to like pattern on the back. She was hyperventilating. It was bad. So the police questioned Amanda first because technically she used the one that you know was first there to witness the scene. Nobody else was around. Maybe she had heard something. So for the first hour they questioned Amanda in Italian. Now I just want to say Amanda knows German. She knows a little bit of Japanese. She knows

English. But she doesn't really know Italian. I can't even be questioned in Korean and I was raised trying to learn it as a second language. This is insane. What are you talking about? I think even in your primary language being questioned is incredibly scary. She's just so confused and it took the police an hour to finally bring in an English speaking detective. Then she was questioned for like another 5 hours.

Amanda tried to give her best, just every detailed information that she could. They asked a ton of random questions like where did Meredith party? Who was she seeing? Does she like the guys downstairs? And she was like, I don't know what this has anything to do with anything, right? Listen, anything can be a clue for us. Don't hold back even if it seems trivial or like the smallest detail. It's all important for us.

You know, you never know what the key is to finding the person that did this. Okay, I mean, I guess that makes sense. So she went on and on and on and she just kept talking because she just wanted to help. Amanda had no idea that every detective watching the interrogation wanted her to go down for murder. They suspected her of killing Meredith that it was an inside job. The burglary was fake to nothing was stolen. She was the only one home.

How convenient. While she was being questioned, the police were bugging her and Rafael's phones. The police also did some very off-color things. Amanda still didn't believe that Meredith was dead, so she was in shock and she kept asking, are you sure it was Meredith though? Like she was killed? The police sat there and the detective nodded. Almost in like a patronizing way. Like, and he used his finger to do the cutting motion on his neck. Like, her throat had been slit. An Amanda gasped and she shook her head and she had her head, like her head in her hands and she said, I can't believe it.

And they kept nodding like, mm-hmm. Once she gets out of the interrogation room, she's met with a ton of Meredith's other friends, like her friends from the UK and they keep asking, oh my God, what happened? And in the police lobby, Amanda starts explaining to them what happened, except it wasn't necessarily true. So Amanda was picking up frantic screaming Italian and she had picked up body in the closet.

So she had initially assumed a bear-dirt's body was in the closet. This is what she told all the other friends, but Meredith's body was actually in the bed. Laura, their other roommate showed up, she gave Amanda a big hug, but also warned her very discreetly. I know this is very serious, but you cannot, under no matter what, no circumstances, tell the police that we are smoking weed in our house, okay? Okay, I haven't yet, and I won't. So even with this six-hour interrogation, it never occurred to Amanda to call an attorney, or even to go

back to Seattle to be around her support system. Honestly, the latter would have been a great choice. So after all this questioning, everyone was fingerprinted and I think at this point Amanda is going through the stages of grief. She's getting pissed now. She kept thinking, how can this happen? Why married it? She was a good person. Nobody hated her. This doesn't make any sense. Why would they break in and not take anything? How did they know that she was home alone? Why did it happen on a night where I wasn't there? Maybe if one of us was home, this would have prevented everything. And what about her mom? Her mom has health issues. What is going to happen to her mom when she finds out this news? She's getting pissed and Amanda

was shaking and she she does this a lot ever since she was young when she's super angry. She starts hitting her forehead with the heel of her palm. I think everybody has a go-to response to trauma. Some people will rock, some people will self-sue, then put their arms around themselves. This was hers. It's a little bit more intense than maybe a normal trauma response, but this was hers. She also kept saying no, no, no, over and over again, and a police officer approached her. A man that you need to calm down. I just can't imagine who would do this, it just doesn't make sense to me. Well, we're gonna try and find out and anything you can remember will only help us. So she stands up and she starts pacing back and forth and one of Meredith's British friends said out loud.

I hope she didn't suffer. Amanda was pissed, not at the front, but she was just confused. Like, why would you say that? Of course she did. How could she not have? She said, how could she not have? She got her fucking throat slit, those fucking bastards talking about the killers. I mean, it makes sense. Something like that is just said to make the people that are still alive feel better. It's not necessarily the facts of the case. Maybe you're almost downplaying the murder, being like, I hope she didn't suffer. But it's like, no, we

know the facts of the case. They did suffer. We need to find the killers. I mean, this is a very gruesome thing that happened. But it just, from the outside perspective, it looks strange. The whole scene was strange. Everybody was calm. They were self-contained. Yes, they were grieving. They were sobbing, but they were more silent But Amanda was pacing. She was cursing and Moments she was pissed She went from showing no emotion outside the house to showing too much emotion Raphael realized oh crap my girlfriends about to have a full-on mental breakdown So he had Amanda come sit on his lap and he was kind of rocking

her back and forth, kind of pecking her on the cheek, making funny faces at her trying to tell her jokes. He was trying to distract her, soothe her from her thoughts because, yeah, is it a little inappropriate to do this at a police station when you're being interrogated as witnesses for a murder of one of your roommates? Yes, but also when you think of mental breakdowns, sometimes this is the only thing that helps. And it worked. She did not have a mental breakdown, so she finally gets it together and she's like, you're right, I need to have my down so that I can help the cops.

Like, I can't help them if I'm pacing back and forth and literally on the verge of like dying. So she does know that she's being investigated. No, no idea. So she grabs her journal from her bag and she wants to be a writer. She writes a lot. So she starts just writing down random things in her mind like her stream of consciousness. She wrote down about how unreal this felt.

She wished that one day she could write a song about Meredith's death as a personal tribute to her because Amanda loved the guitar. She found a lot of solace in music. Maybe it would help her channel her emotions. I think the way that I see this is like Your brain is already trying to help you and ways and steps to recover from a trauma like this Because I think without you know thinking about your own future. You're like, I'm gonna what am I? I'm gonna be a shell of a human. This is so traumatic and she also wrote something that was very off-color, a bit of dark humor.

She wrote, I'm starving, and I'd really like to say that I could kill for a pizza, but it just doesn't seem right. She distracted herself and wrote in the journal for over an hour. She had no idea that this little action of trying to avoid a mental breakdown every sentence, every page, was going to be publicly scrutinized when she was on trial for murder. Meanwhile, Amanda's family are blowing up her phone. They're saying things like, listen, we thought the killer could have been watching your house for days and realize that Meredith was alone.

That's why he struck. He might even know where Raphael lives. I mean, he might have even followed you. You have to be careful. Pay attention to everything around you, Amanda. Make sure you're never alone. Don't even go back home. Don't even be at Raphael's alone.

And then they even asked her, should we buy you a ticket back home? We don't feel safe, like you should just come back to Seattle right now. And Amanda told them, no, I have to help the police. I might remember something or maybe I can help in some way, besides this is the adult thing to do, remember? No matter how much you want me home, I have to help Meredith. Like this is not a small thing that I can just run away from. I'm not 16 where my parents are just gonna hide me. I need to see this through.

If it were me, I would want justice and maybe I can help get justice for Meredith. But Amanda was terrified on the inside. She was putting on a brave front because I'm sure you do this with your family too. The minute that she shows weakness, her parents are like, that's it, we're buying you a ticket, that's it, no questions if and or buts right.

So she's trying to be brave but she was terrified. So were her other roommates don't get me wrong but at least they were more familiar with the area. They had a support group in place. Amanda wasn't, she was so lost. All she had was Raphael and everything was so scary, everything was an Italian. They're not even really questioning her in English. I mean, she's so confused. That night she leaves the station, but Amanda and Raphael are told to come back tomorrow at 11 in the morning sharp.

That night Amanda only gets about two hours of sleep. She gets to the station the next day, and immediately the police send Raphael home, and they start questioning Amanda. They sit her down in front of an old computer monitor and they have her identify all of Meredith's Facebook pictures from that very Halloween. They're like, who's this person? Who's this person? And she's like, I don't know. First of all, you gave me a potato quality camera, like a potato quality computer screen. It's so grainy, it's so blurry, but everybody's wearing a mask and they have fake blood all over their faces. And these aren't even people I grew up with. They're not childhood friends

I met them like a few weeks ago. Maybe I met this person once and then Amanda was questioned over and over again in Italian Do you ever smoke weed? No, they were getting pusher and a lot more aggressive than the day before and understress Amanda remembered something her parents offered. Why don't you go stay with your aunt in Germany? Just recoup for a week, you know get over the trauma and then you can come back to Italy Can I can I go to can I go to Germany to be with my aunt guys is that okay? What no you are not to leave perusia. You're an important part of the investigation Well, how how long do you guys think you need me? We don't know, maybe months. What, months?

I was planning on being in Seattle for Christmas with my family. Well, we'll let you know if you can do that. The officers wanted to drive her back to the villa to recreate the crime scene, and she's in the backseat, and she admitted, maybe to herself, maybe to the officer, she said, I'm completely exhausted. And the driver, the officer whipped around and said,

do you think we're not tired? We're working 24-7 to solve this crime. You need to stop complaining. Do you not care that someone just murdered your best friend? Oh my god. So she didn't say anything, but she felt like, wait, that's not what I meant. She doesn't even know how to communicate this in Italian.

But what she wants to say is, wait, sorry, that's not what I meant. Like, she doesn't even know how to communicate this in Italian. But what she wants to say is, wait, sorry, that's not what I meant. Like, I just, I wasn't saying like, I'm exhausted of helping you guys. Like, I'm just, I'm just tired. Like, you know, like, with, so they ask her question after question about the state of the crime scene when she gets to the village. And this is like retraumatizing, right? There were a ton of press outside trying to snap pictures. They eventually led Amanda to the basement into the guy's loft and the door was smashed

and she's screaming, oh my god, they were burglarized, too, are they okay or is what of them did? No, we did that ourselves. They're fine. Here, put these on. These are protective covers for your shoes so that the glass shards don't go through them and we're trying to not contaminate the crime scene. So she slips them on and while she's doing it, she's kind of thinking, okay, well, this is

my chance to prove to them that I want to help because in the car, maybe they got the wrong idea that I am lazy and I don't want to help this investigation. So she puts on the slippers and she gets up and she weekly puts her arms up next to her like above her head and goes, ta-da. As I need to like you put on your shoes and you go ta da and they did not like that. Will I say that it's a little bit weird? Yes, will I say that I would be a little bit off put by something like this? Yes, but would I immediately say ah she's the killer, we don't even need forensic evidence, we don't even need to do our job. She's just so weird, she's the killer. No.

And a lot of people on Reddit say, this is a true situation of where someone is literally just a bit quirky, and the investigation cannot handle it. They just cannot. So they take her to one of the guys rooms first, and the comforter on the bed was crumbled up and had blood everywhere. So she screams, oh my god, oh my god.

And the police opened the closet, and there's a thriving collection of marijuana plants. Does this look familiar? No. So next they go into the other two guys' rooms, which one of them was the guy that Meredith was seeing at the time. Do you know that Meredith was seeing this guy?

Yes. Well, what about Meredith's sex life? Did she like anal sex? Did she use Vaseline? And she's like, what? This is so crazy. Why are you asking me stuff like this? We don't really talk about stuff like that.

How would I know? She had no idea yet that Meredith had been whipped before she was killed. Amanda has taken back to the police station to be questioned. She was finally able to go at 7 p.m. So like full eight hours. And she was drained of life. Her phone rings and her aunt from Germany says

I need you to contact the American Embassy get a lawyer I think you need to leave parucia immediately and right as this phone conversation is ending She sees the guy from downstairs entering the police station the guy roommates all of them And she knew that this was a bad idea, but she just couldn't help herself because you know the killer's still out there They're still dangerous. so she says hey I was at your apartment today and you should know that your blanket had blood on it it made me wonder if Meredith was down there before she died this is just awful so Amanda's thinking these guys were not home so when they came back it was already taped off as a crime scene so these guys have no idea what happened in their house That's what she's thinking so she's letting them know there was blood in your apartment

Like maybe Meredith was down there and then the killer drag drops there Like she's letting them know like be safe, you know Because the killer might have been in your apartment too But they just say yeah, that was my cat's blood not Meredith And she just thought that was weird she was like what? But regardless Raphael drives up and he's honking, so she's like, OK, well, got to go. She gets into the car and they decide

to blow off steam by going shopping. Not necessarily retail therapy. Trust they're not going to the house of Gucci and buying crazy things. She couldn't get most of her clothes, because they're in the crime scene. She had no underwear. She was wearing raffiles clothes for most of this. Like she was barring his sweatpants.

She had no undies. So one of the places that they stopped by was a nicer lingerie store. And she buys a pair of red cotton bikini briefs. And cotton bikini briefs are like literally undies. They're not like thongs which honestly thongs are really comfortable to but they're just like regular undies just in the color red while checking out Rafael was comforting her hugging her kissing her later the press would say Rafael took her to buy a skimpy saucy g-string and he announced to the workers I'm gonna take her home

so we can have wild sex together. Can you believe it? A day after her roommate was viciously murdered. This is when Amanda's mom calls and says, okay, if you're not coming to Seattle, I can take a couple days off and I'm gonna go to Italy because I need to be with you. You're my daughter, I need to at least come for you and we gotta sort this out.

So that afternoon, Amanda meets up with Laura and Filomena and they were talking about who they thought Meredith was killed by. What Amanda didn't know was that these two girls had already contacted lawyers. They were told how to handle the case going forward. I don't know if they thought and assumed Amanda had loyered up or maybe their lawyer advised them against saying that they have lawyers, I don't know. Finally, the third day of the investigation rolls around.

An Amanda was oblivious to the fact that all fingers were pointing at Amanda. This entire case was going crazy in the UK, because think about it. I mean, a British exchange student dies in a place like Italy where a lot of other students probably want to visit. It sounds like heaven.

It sounds like this magical place. And they're wild. It's crazy. What are the Italian police going to do? She's a British citizen. We need to get justice, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and articles were published saying that the police are investigating the killer to be a woman, someone that Meredith was closed with, and they're even questioning her female roommates as well as her friends. Without knowing any of this. Amanda gets called to the police station again. Raphael was not. So Raphael stopped by in the middle of the day because she has been spending like all day in the police station. And he stopped by and said, hey, can Amanda leave now like I want to take her out for lunch? No. Okay, can I at least see her for a second? So they let them talk in one of the interrogation rooms I was being recorded. And they didn't talk about much, but he did kiss her, and this was kind of his way of comforting her,

and right then, the head of the investigation passes by and says, what are you guys doing right now? It's completely inappropriate. You need to stop this instant. An Amanda was so shocked. This is a quote from her book. It's not like we are making out. what could she think is possibly improper about a few tender hugs and kisses? Raphael was being compassionate, not passionate. He was giving me the reassurance that I needed and we were offending her. So Raphael leaves the station and Laura and Filomena join Amanda.

They're all escorted to the house again and Amanda has to series of bizarre questions. They show her Filomena's room which is still a mess, like glass everywhere, window still broken, and they ask her, is this exactly how you found it? I don't know. I mean, it was a mess then, it's still a mess now. I know that filomena went through it before it was taped off as a crime scene, but I don't know. Can I say I don't know? No. Is this exactly how you found it? Were these clothes in this exact order? Did nothing move?

I don't know how would I know. Like I know that certain things didn't move. Like the laptop and those things are still, I don't know. How would you know? Like this is crazy. Like if I say yes and something was taken or moved, that is so trivial that I didn't see then I don't want to be held viable for that. I don't know

Well, what about in the kitchen? I guess it looks like nothing's taken. Okay. We'll open that bottom drawer Are you sure there's no knife smithing? Look look harder? So she kind of moves a knife this so they're kind of like Jumbled up in there. She picks a couple up and she goes I don't really know how to answer this question I don't really cook and I don't know what knives they had. I don't know if this is the question to ask me I don't know And the pressure was too much she starts to cry and they just kind of look at her with disdain

The only comfort for Amanda that night when she left the police station was that her mom was coming to soon be with her. And her aunt called again saying, you need to call the American Embassy in Rome. Feel them in on what's happening. It's good for you to have a record of these things. And Amanda did not get it. She said, there's no point. I'm innocent. Innocent people don't need that. And a record of what? Like the police keep records of these things. What do I need? Call them. I'm an American what do I need to call that? I'm an American and my friend died. Like that's weird and innocent people don't do that.

Like that sounds shady. The next day, day four of the investigation, Meredith's autopsy report was released and it was all over the British tabloids. She had been stabbed to death with a pocket knife. She struggled. There was potential evidence of rip and a bloody hand print on the wall.

A bloody shoe print on the floor were the leading clues right now, as well as a blood-soaked hankerchief lying on the street nearby. Just as if someone was like the hankerchief just... they tossed it. So out of everyone, in all of these articles, the only other name that kept being mentioned by name other than Meredith was Amanda Knox the American. Amanda Knox the American roommate. Amanda Knox the fellow exchange student. Amanda Knox knew none of this. So that night there was gonna be a candlelight memorial service for Meredith and Amanda was nervous. So in class she had tried to go back

to class and everyone just kept asking her about the investigation and she knew she's not allowed to talk about it. So she felt really stressed like guys don't because can you stop asking me? Like I don't know okay, we're just all trying to work with the police. So she felt that if she went to this memorial service Everyone would ask her and she didn't want to jeopardize the case And she also felt like what if the killer comes to the memorial service like that sounds like something our crazy killer would do So Raphael said I have somewhere to be like, I can't go. I have something for my own school stuff. So she makes the choice. I can't go alone. I didn't even know how I could go in the first place. She ends up staying home. Very bad idea.

This is a very, very bad idea that she does not go to the memorial service. That night around 9pm, after the service is done, after Raphael gets back, they're eating dinner and he gets a call. The police want him to come to the station immediately. And he says, we were just eating dinner, would you mind if I finished first? Bad. Bad idea, very bad idea. Now Amanda was too scared to be home alone, so she went to the station with Raphael.

But the police told her she couldn't come inside. She used to wait in the car. And she says, but I'm scared to be in the dark, right? And it just seems like the police is setting this all up. Like they know that she's terrified to be home alone. They call Raphael asking him to come to the station. They tell her, no, you got to be in the car. So she begs them, can I just be in the waiting room?

So they give her a chair. And while she's sitting there, she starts of studying filling up her time and an officer comes up and says Can I just casually ask you some questions while you're here? Okay, but I've already told you guys everything that I know. I don't know what else to say Well, why don't you start with the people that have been in your house? Especially men. Let's talk about it. Who has been in your house? That's a male Sure, I mean, I guess the guys that I've mentioned, yeah, the roommates, maybe some guys,

maybe some of the boyfriends. Oh, and there was this guy, I don't remember his name, but he plays basketball with the guys downstairs. We met him once at the plaza, and we walked to the villa together and we had put our purses up before we went downstairs to meet up with him. And that's about it.

Like, that's it. God, I'm just feeling a little stiff. So Amanda felt super stiff, so she gets up and she starts to stretch a little bit. She's touching her toes and the officer says, you seem really flexible. Yeah, I used to do a lot of yoga. Oh, really?

Can you show me something? What else can you do? And in the middle of the police waiting room, Amanda does a split. And in that moment, the police waiting room, Amanda does a split. And in that moment, the head of homicide walks out and says, what are you doing? Waiting in the officer's assay, I was just asking her a few questions. Well, if that's the case, we need to put it on record. Follow me. Amanda was taken into another interrogation room and that night, three

people would be arrested for the murder of Meredith Kircher. And that night three people would be arrested for the murder of Meredith Kircher. In that night Amanda would be taken to prison where she would spend the first of 1,427 nights in prison for the murder of Meredith Kircher. But that is going to be it for part one of the Amanda Knox story. This case is really long. There's so much that happens during the trial and even just the way that the press handle this situation. This is by far one of the craziest well-known cases of, did she do it? Why was she arrested? What the fork happened? Why are people saying these things about her? And they would turn every little picture, every little thing into such a big, out of proportion, type of explanation, it gets wild.

So I hope you guys enjoyed this main episode, and I will see you guys on Sunday for the mini-sode where we will finish this case. Bye.