The Amanda Knox Case: A Chronology
March 26, 1984
Raffaele Sollecito is born in Giovinazzo, Italy
December 28, 1985
Meredith Kercher is born in South London.
December 26, 1986
Rudy Guede is born in Abidjan, Ivory Coast
July 9, 1987
Amanda Knox is born in Seattle, Washington
July 9, 2007
Amanda Knox leaves Seattle for Europe, with plans to study abroad beginning in September in Italy.
September 10, 2007
Meredith Kercher, a British student spending a year studying in Italy, moves into a villa at 7 via della Pergola in Perugia.
September 20, 2007
Amanda Knox moves into 7 via della Pergola.
October 25, 2007
Amanda and Raffaele meet at a concert and become lovers. Amanda begins spending every night at Raffaele’s apartment.
October 27, 2007
Rudy Guede is arrested inside a nursery school and discovered to have with him stolen items.
November 1, 2007
Sometime after 8:30 pm, Meredith Kercher is murdered in her bedroom.
November 2, 2007
Meredith Kercher is found dead. Police say her body is partially clothed, with her throat cut.
November 3-5, 2007
Police question numerous people, including Knox and Sollecito.
November 6, 2007
Knox signs a statement, called a confession, in which she says she was at her home when Kercher was killed. She implicates Patrick Lumumba, the owner of a bar where she worked. Lumumba, Knox, and Sollecito are all arrested.
November 19, 2007
Police announce that Rudy Guede is a suspect in the murder of Meredith Kercher.
November 20, 2007
Lumumba is released after two weeks in prison when his alibi is corroborated. He later sues Knox for slander for implicating him in the Kercher murder.
November 22, 2007
The text of a note Knox wrote on November 6, while in police custody, is published by media outlets. Knox retracts her confession and says she signed the statement because of exhaustion, police pressure, and being hit on the head twice.
December 2007
After being caught without a train ticket in Germany, Rudy Guede is extradited to Italy. His DNA matches a vaginal swab taken from Kercher. Guede says he had sexual relations with Kercher but says another man killed her while he was in the bathroom.
July 11, 2008
Italian prosecutors formally charge Knox, Guede and Sollecito with murder.
September 6, 2008
Rudy Guede asks for a separate fast-track trial, carrying with it a reduced maximum sentence.
October 28, 2008
Knox and Sollecito are indicted on murder charges. Guede is found guilty of murder and sentenced to 30 years. (The sentence is reduced to 16 years in 2009.)
December 16,2009
Donald Trump urges Americans to boycott Italy because of their mistreatment of Knox.
January 16, 2009
Knox and Sollecito's murder trial begins.
April 4, 2009
Rudy Guede is called as a witness, but refuses to testify.
June 12, 2009
Knox testifies that during police interrogations she was confused and that interrogators pressured her, called her a "stupid liar" and hit her in the head.
September 27, 2009
Final witnesses are heard in the trial.
December 4, 2009
The jury finds Knox and Sollecito guilty on all counts in the stabbing death of Kercher. Knox gets a 26-year sentence; Sollecito gets 25 years.
November 24, 2010
Knox and Sollecito's murder appeal process begins.
December 11, 2010
Knox addresses the court and breaks down in tears. She says that she and Sollecito are innocent and unjustly accused. "I've been condemned for the crime I did not commit."
May 21, 2011
A jury of two judges and six citizens is scheduled to hear Knox's appeal starting in late May.
June 18, 2011
Two prison inmates testify during Knox's appeal that Guede told them that Knox was not involved in the killing of Kercher. Prosecutors question the credibility of the witnesses.
June 29, 2011
Forensic specialists tell the court that DNA evidence linking Knox and Sollecito to the alleged murder weapon and bra clasp is unreliable.
July 25, 2011
Court-appointed experts testify that police forensic scientists involved in the murder case badly handled theirr investigation.
September 7, 2011
Judge Claudio Pratillo Hellman rejects a prosecution request for new DNA testing.
September 23-24, 2011
Final arguments by prosecutors are presented in the appeal trial.
September 26, 2011
Lawyers for the civil parties to the case, including Kercher's family and falsely accused bar owner Lumumba, present their final statements.
September 27, 2011
Sollecito lawyer Giulia Bongiorno says there is no physical evidence placing Knox and Sollecito at the scene of the crime, attacks the credibility of DNA evidence and says Knox's statements to police the night of the murder should be discounted because of hostile questioning by police.
October 3, 2011
The jury overturns the 2009 murder conviction of Knox and Sollecito. Knox is, however, judged guilty of slander against Lumumba, an early suspect in the case.
February 17, 2012
Knox signs a reported $4 million deal with HarperCollins to write a memoir about her case..
March 26, 2013
The Italian Supreme Court rules that Knox and Sollecito should stand trial again.
September 30, 2013
Retrial begins without either Knox or Sollecito present.
November 6, 2013
Sollecito takes the stand, describing the charges against him as "absurd."
December 17, 2013
Knox’s lawyers present a statement from Amanda in which she asserts her innocence: "I must repeat to you. I'm innocent. I did not rape, I did not steal ... I did not kill Meredith."
January 30, 2014
An Italian appeals court convicts Knox and Sollecito of murder charges.
February 3, 2014
Sollecito says he has returned to Italy to fight his new murder conviction, but Knox has said that she "will never go willingly" back to Italy.
March 27, 2015
Italy's Supreme Court overturns the murder convictions of Knox and Sollecito. The case is closed.