By
Karen Pruett
This article originally appeared on Gather.com
The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold. ~~Aristotle
These words exemplify the ordeal of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito when first the Perugian authorities, then the tabloids and finally the Internet trolls repeatedly and deliberately twisted the facts of a murder investigation to exact the most sordid angle possible. These false and defamatory factoids were embellished to create a number of Myths surrounding the murder of Amanda's roommate, Meredith Kercher, who was killed in 2007 by Rudy Guede during a home invasion.
But amongst the fables, we do find some truth.
The Perugians and THEIR Constantly Changing Stories, NOT a Myth
Public Minister Giuliano Mignini, Chief of Homicide Monica Napoleoni, Head of the Roman Scientific Police Edgardo Giobbi and their subordinates have been trying to turn angels into devils since November 2, 2007. The lies began the moment that the Public Minister arrived on scene and continue until today. The original fable began with the Public Minister and police calling Amanda what amounts to an insane, murderous, slutty, drug-addled Satanist. Then it became “Amanda is jealous of Meredith,” then “Amanda robbed Meredith.” And finally, after the appeal court’s experts ruled out the Double DNA Knife and proved once and for all that there was never any of Amanda’s DNA in Meredith’s bedroom (the murder scene) Mignini changed his story to “Amanda was out in the hall.” Couple these blatant lies with “Amanda let Guede into the apartment” and “Amanda is a slut who does not care about anyone” and it’s just disgusting what these “professionals” have tried to get away with.
The Tabloid Mistranslations, NOT a Myth
The British tabloids mistranslated Amanda’s June 26, 2011 appeal testimony and quoted her as saying that Guede " knows we were there, he knows we all got drunk that night," meaning the night Meredith was the murdered. Amanda actually said, “We were not together that night and Rudy knows the truth.” Another infamous mistranslation was from an interview with the appellate judge, Claudio Pratillo Hellmann, two days after he pronounced the 2011 innocence verdict that set Amanda and Raffaele free. The tabloids reported the day after his interview that Judge Hellmann had said, “ A truth that was created in the proceedings, but the real truth may be different. They may be responsible." What Judge Hellmann actually said was, “The truth is that there is no proof to condemn Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito for the murder of Meredith Kercher. Therefore they are innocent." These are but two of many examples of how the tabloids used online translators, like Google Translate, to garble information from nearly every Italian article written about this case. It’s simple to accomplish because the Italian to English conversion switches sentence structure, gender and certain words. Courtroom becomes classroom, cell becomes hut, he becomes she and murderer becomes murderess. I often envision the tabloid “journalists” cackling gleefully whenever they found a particularly juicy mistranslation.
The Internet Troll Hate Sites, NOT a Myth
The willing and eager helpers of both the Perugians and the tabloids are the trolls. Two hate sites sprang up in the United States within a year and a half of the unjust incarceration of Meredith Kercher’s innocent friends. One based in Seattle moderated by a neighbor of Amanda’s parents. The other site is in New Jersey and is moderated by a person who has been labeled as a stalker by a dancer in New York. Neither of these moderators nor any of the members of these Hate Sites have ever met Amanda, Raffaele or their families, yet they have collected massive amounts of both case related and personal information on all of them. They also collect information on every person who has supported these innocent people; myself included. From 2007 to present they have provided false and misleading information to the public so that many people with scant knowledge of this case believe that Amanda and Raffaele got away with murder. None of the information posted on either site is provable in any court of law except the corrupt Trial of the First in Perugia. History will bear witness that from 2007 until 2010 true justice was not known in Perugia, only during the Appeal, with the world watching, did Fair Play enter that courtroom.
Much to the chagrin of trolls.
The Legend of Harry Rag
Harry Rag is the Uber Troll who carpet-bombed the Internet with false and misleading information based directly on the prosecution’s point of view. More than 99% of the online articles and blogs written about this case have the document created by Harry Rag pasted into the comment section; a Google search turns up over 9,000 hits. The poorly written early version may have been a compilation of at least three documents, later versions were similar but the grammar and syntax were corrected. Some think that this persona is several people working together because the time and energy that must be spent to canvass thousands of websites. Whoever it is possesses a single-minded hatred of Amanda and Raffaele, as well as, the dedication to smearing their reputations even in the face of hard facts, perhaps a cadre of Kercher family associates or the Perugians themselves. This persona pretends to fight for justice for the Kerchers when they are actually prolonging the suffering of all concerned because Harry Rag, coupled with the Hate Sites, have confused the public; the widely spread misinformation has led the public to believe that “the American got away with murder.” That is Harry Rag’s real goal, to confuse the public and veil the truth, this persona is a tool of the prosecution whether or not the Perugians are personally involved. While the true identity of Harry Rag remains elusive, this troll(s) will go down in history as one of the most prolific.
The Wiki War
The “Murder of Meredith Kercher” Wikipedia page has been a battleground for the truth for the past two years and exemplifies the fact that Wikipedia is not considered a proven source by academics for good reason. This page is being held hostage by Wiki Trolls who undo every true fact and replace them with prosecution held beliefs and in 2011 Jimbo Wales, Wikipedia’s moderator, was called upon to intervene in the blatant misuse of the this page as a platform to spread lies. He saw first hand how certain Guilter editors were undermining and banning Truther editors who tried to correct information. Since then the page is making improvements, but is only about 50% correct. The War continues to wage.
From the deception and lies masterminded by the Perugians, then perpetrated by the tabloids and trolls arose a mythology where each Myth is a chapter in the Smear Campaign orchestrated to assassinate the character of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito. Each one an attempt to deceive the public. Each a heinous lie.
The Sexy Satanist Myth
The first Big WTH? Public Minister Mignini, on the advice of a spirit channeler, advanced the Satanism Theory because Meredith was killed a day after Halloween, but there is no evidence of Satanism from either Amanda or Raffaele, or their family and friends. The prosecution then portrayed Amanda as an alluring mastermind who was able, using her sexuality, to turn Raffaele Sollecito and Rudy Guede into her Purse Dogs. The spirit channeler even insinuated that Meredith and Amanda were recruited on the campuses of Leeds University and the University of Washington. I demand to see evidence that the Order of the Red Rose is secretly recruiting on the Husky campus. I mean really, if your red flag is not up right now, then we ARE in trouble.
The Foxy Knoxy Myth
Amanda has wings on her feet, like her father, and a short stature, like her mother. Small, fast and smart, just like a fox. Her soccer teammates dubbed her "Foxy Knoxy" about age 10 not only because she was exceptionally quick on the pitch, but also because of how quickly her mind worked while running that fast. The 1967 hit “Foxy Lady,” by Seattle native Jimi Hendrix, is a hugely popular song in the United States and to have “foxy” bestowed as nickname is a great compliment, not just anybody gets to use it. It was a monstrous insult when British journalist, Nick Pisa, hacked Amanda’s MySpace page just after her arrest and stole her charming childhood nickname so that he could turn it into a sexy, sordid moniker to sell his articles. Amanda Knox did not choose this lascivious persona; the unscrupulous media forced it on her.
The Knife-Boy Myth
Like many young men, Raffaele is interested in guy stuff and that includes knives. Like many guys he carried a pocketknife and he had it on his person the day he was arrested. His Facebook page was also hacked and a silly Halloween picture surfaced showing him wrapped up like a Mummy holding a cleaver. Raffaele also read Manga in the course of his studies as a computer graphics student. Manga is a Japanese genre of science fiction or fantasy themed cartoons, comic books, and animated films that is popular with today’s high school and college students. The trolls spun these two interests together to create the persona called “Knife Boy” and added to it a completely false accusation of "porn addicted" to “prove” that Raffaele is a violent, lecherous monster who uses knives to heighten his depraved sexual experiences. In reality Raffaele epitomizes the concept of gentleman and only the Hate Sites call him this false and inappropriate name.
The Poor Black Boy Myth
Rudy Guede killed Meredith Kercher in a violent home invasion and his DNA alone was present in than 100 samples of the more than 400 collected at the apartment. In Meredith’s bedroom, the murder scene, only Guede and Meredith’s DNA is present. Yet with all this obvious connection to the murder, Guede has been continually swept under the rug by the Perugians and “excused” as a hapless bystander by the trolls. The Race Card has been played continually to try and paint Guede as a “poor black boy” with the defense, and Americans by extension, as racist. But one must ask oneself why the Perugians feel the need to use racism in an attempt to excuse this obvious guilty murderer? Why are they protecting this killer and trying to frame innocent people by insinuating that Amanda was the mastermind and controlled Raffaele and Guede.
The Massei Motivation Myth
A Motivation is written by an Italian judge to explain his verdict in a trial and this is the motivation from the Trial of the First. It gives the reasoning for the 2009 Guilty Verdict and one would think that much care would be taken when sentencing two 20-somethings to a quarter of a century in prison for murder. Yet this important proclamation is riddled with inaccuracies and contradictions, it looks as if it was written by a staffer who did not bother to fact-check and it is shocking that any judge would sign it, yet that is exactly what Judge Massei did. The trolls are quite fond of this document and hold it up as proof that Amanda and Raffaele are murderers, while explaining away the mistakes it contains. It's important to note that Judge Massei is also part of the Good Ol' Boy network that caters to Public Minister Mignini, which may explain why he did not fact check his own Motivation.
The 10,000 Pages of Legal Documents Myth
The prosecution heaped a mountain of libelous factoids upon the murder investigation and the trolls often point to the "10,000 pages" as proof of proper handling of the case in the court system, but I say to you, dear readers, doesn’t EVERY legal case produce that and more as a matter of course? In fact, the defense has also produced more than 10,000 pages. Trying to say that any legal discourse is to be judged by the amount of paperwork it produces is silly.
The Constantly Changing Alibi Myth
Amanda did not have a firm grasp of the Italian language when she was illegally interrogated without a lawyer or accredited interpreter present. She struggled to make sense of the questions she was being asked and her attempts to clarify her answers was used against her by painting her lack of understanding as “attempts to change her story.” Then during the Illegal Interrogations, an 8-hour period overnight on November 5th and 6th, 2007, both Amanda and Raffele were encouraged by police to imagine certain scenarios, those imaginations were artfully spun as fact. Except for this 8-hour period, the innocent university students have never wavered from their original statements; “We were at Raffaele’s apartment when Meredith was killed.” It was the Perugians who created this Myth.
The 47 Stab Wounds Myth
One of the crueler fables centers on Meredith's autopsy in which there are over 40 abrasions and bruises in addition to the three knife wounds. Of the three only the stab wound on the left side of her neck was fatal, the two on the right side were what police call "control" wounds, meaning that Guede cut Meredith while trying to control her. The trolls spun the abrasions, which include cuts on her fingers as she tried to grab the knife, as Amanda "pricking her repeatedly" with the knife as a form of terrorizing and torture. By reading the coroner's report is it easy to see that this myth is not true and is deliberately misleading the public in order to ramp up what is already a heinous crime against an innocent woman.
The Amanda Did Not Speak Up for Patrick Myth
Amanda’s Perugian employer, club owner Patrick Lumumba, was caught up in the drama when police forced Amanda to “imagine” where she was in the apartment when Patrick “killed” Meredith. This scenario occurred during the illegal interrogation and it was the police who told Amanda that Patrick was the killer. She was in shock, sleep and water deprived when she imagined a scenario for them. Patrick was taken into custody along with Amanda and Raffaele based on this false confession. Then Public Minster Mignini sought a year of solitary confinement for Amanda in an effort to ‘break’ her; she was not allowed access to anyone until her parents had secured a lawyer. Patrick was held for two weeks, even with an airtight alibi, until Rudy Guede was arrested. Amanda, once she understood what had happened, retracted her "accusation" of Patrick in her second memoriale, the day after her arrest, and also in a letter to her lawyer a few days later, but she has been chided by the trolls ever since for not speaking up for Patrick during this period of time. They ignore the fact that she was not allowed to talk to anyone other than the Perugians until her lawyers took over and, through them, has repeatedly expressed her sorrow for dragging Patrick into the mess and “not being strong enough” to resist interrogation tactics used on Mafia Dons. Patrick, once released, quickly joined the Perugians and sued Amanda for slander.
The Text Message Myth
Amanda worked for Patrick Lumumba at his club, a job found she shortly after arriving in Perugia and her text message to him the might of the murder, “See you later” was twisted to mean “let’s commit murder tonight” instead of “I’ll see you tomorrow.” Patrick spent two weeks in prison, even with an airtight alibi, until police caught Rudy Guede. He was released and is suing Amanda for implicating him the murder. Patrick is going with the flow.
The Amanda is an Insane, Drug-addled Slut Myth
The focus on Amanda's sex life by both the prosecution and the trolls is disturbing, she is a normal and mundane 20-something, yet these people persist in feeding the public a steady stream of lies. The prosecution has been trying to prove that Amanda was strung out on nuclear-powered pot, straddling Meredith, butcher knife in hand, drooling and yelling, “You prissy girl!” But after the court-appointed DNA experts ruled that Amanda’s DNA was nowhere to be found in Meredith’s bedroom, Public Minister Mignini said that “maybe she’s in another room,” strung out on nuclear-powered pot, yelling orders to her lapdogs Raffaele and Rudy. PM Mignini and his team set out to prove that Amanda is an insane, slutty American coed, but the only people they convinced were trolls and the uninformed public. In 2008, the foreign media came to Seattle to find dirt on Amanda and they brought blood money, we are still snickering that they left with their wallets intact. The foreign media found a nice girl who was well known for her kindness and sense of humor, then they went home and focused only on the prosecution’s version of events because a Nice Girl is boring, unlike a crazy slut. Before Amanda had an attorney, a prison official, costumed as a physician, tricked her into giving up personal information regarding sexual partners by telling her she was HIV, a callous and blatant lie, causing her emotional harm. Then her sexual encounters were released to the public saying that she “had sex with seven men” in the 45 days that she had been in Italy, including an encounter on a train. All of it false, Amanda is a normal 20-something from a nice family.
The Kissing Myth
A simple kiss for comfort on a tragic day became one of the very first myths to damn the behavior of Amanda and Raffaele. This “infamous kiss” was broadcast to the world that the university students were “making out” at the murder scene and adults everywhere were horrified. First of all, anyone with experience “making out” can tell that smooch was not a slobbery, passionate, French kiss. They were not undulating in a sensuous embrace. And the horrified adults should have some experience in such behavior, suffice it to say, “Too bad for them if they do not.” If you revisit this kiss in the context of how it was given you see an emotionless buss, mechanical and perfectly in keeping with people who are in shock and grieving. Much was made of Amanda’s eyes as she looked away, the trolls call them “the dead, cold eyes of a murderess” in the most dramatic way possible, but Amanda’s eyes to the compassionate or the professional show her to be in deep shock at the loss of her friend. Plus these two were acutely aware they were under the watchful gaze of several cameras and many gawking bystanders standing in the road just above them. What is interesting, when you consider it, is that out of more than an hour of filming the two walking around the yard, trying to stay warm, talking with police and the other young people at the scene, only this few seconds of film made the news. More than likely it was hand picked by Public Minister Mignini himself.
The Sexy Undies Myth
The day Meredith was discovered Amanda was locked out of her apartment with only the clothes on her back, the next day, essentially homeless, she bought underwear and this poignant act became fodder for the tabloids and trolls as they speculated on her personal garment. Amanda will not have access to clothing until her mother bought some after her arrival in Perugia, weeks later Amanda’s father was able to retrieve what is left of her personal belongings from the apartment. Perhaps the trolls felt that she should not have access to clean clothing.
The Cartwheel Myth
Chief of Homicide Napoleoni is the source of the cartwheel story. Amanda, after sitting in a cramped waiting room while Raffaele was being interrogated (unknown to her) stood to stretch and a male officer observing her, asked her to demonstrate the splits, not a cartwheel. Chief Napoleoni witnessed the interaction but did not admonish her own officer for his lewd and unprofessional conduct, then, an hour later, the prejudiced chief was intimately involved in Amanda’s interrogation. After Amanda’s arrest she spun the story that Amanda had turned a cartwheel and the media embellished it saying that Amanda was “merrily turning cartwheels in the police station, glad that Meredith was dead.” It was a particularly cruel untruth that hurt Meredith’s grieving family.
The Amanda acted ‘Quirky’ Myth
The police reported that Meredith’s British girlfriends said Amanda was acting strangely, that Amanda and Raffaele were kissing at the police station, that she refused a hug, that she didn’t cry enough, Meredith’s British girlfriends saw every nuance as an insult. The Head of the Scientific Police, Edgardo Giobbi, decided that Amanda was a murderer because he saw her eating pizza four days after the murder, he felt that she should have been in bed, crying and grief stricken, not hungry. During a walk-though of the downstairs apartment the day Meredith was found, unseen by anyone but him, he claimed that she swiveled her hips and acted silly, adding to the sexual undertones that police advanced when referring to Amanda. Giobbi also saw her cry uncontrollably at the crime scene. He found all of this suspicious and stated to the press that he did not need to see any forensics to ‘know’ that she was guilty of murder.
The Amanda Didn't Cry Myth
Amanda was crying uncontrollably when Meredith’s body was found, that is why she looks so ragged in the ‘infamous kiss’ video. She was in shock. When taken in context, her behavior proves is that she acted like a kid who was suffering through a tragedy. She was also seen crying by a number of people at the scene, Filomena Romanelli and her boyfriend, the police and the press. Although the press somehow forgot to release that part of the film while they were busily focusing on the Kiss.
The Fictional Catfight Myth
Bratty schoolgirl gossip became “proof of a catfight” for Public Minister Mignini as he zeroed in on any negativity that Meredith's British girlfriends said. Mignini mined their statements and led the conversations specially to highlight any friction between Meredith and Amanda. Of course it is all here-say and none of it provable in court. In fact, what was entered into the court record by Amanda and Meredith's roommates was that there was "no discord" between them. Only Mignini continued to try and use gossip to prove that the young women were not friends, only the trolls continue to advance Mignini's theory.
The Staged Break-in Myth
Rudy Guede assumed that the cottage tenants were gone for the weekend when he threw the rock through Filomena’s bedroom window and then waited to see if someone would be alerted. When no one noticed, he climbed in. Police know that a rock serves these two purposes in burglaries, yet it was they who decided that the rock was thrown from the inside and then played down that Filomena, checking for stolen items, tampered with the room before the Scientific Police arrived on scene. The room was never processed, by accident or design, as the Point of Entry and police advanced the theory that the break-in was staged.
The Mixed Blood Myth
Although it was not testified to in court, the trolls claim that Amanda’s blood was found mixed with Meredith’s blood in samples collected from various locations in the apartment, but these samples are of Amanda’s cellular DNA mixed with blood tracked around by Rudy Guede or a sample of Meredith and Amanda's cellular DNA mixed together. Amanda and Meredith lived together so their DNA would be mixed in their apartment, as would their roommates and guests, but it’s important to note that the police did not check for the other roommates DNA in any of the samples in question. And it’s also important to note that the police cross-contaminated the entire crime scene on the very first day by not following international forensic collection protocol.
The Double DNA Knife and The Bra Clasp Myth
The experts appointed by Judge Hellmann in the independent review were astonished that the Bra Clasp and Knife ever made it into the courtroom as neither item were collected or processed under international protocols. What does that say for the rest of the evidence collected? The samples used were too miniscule to be tested twice, as required by law. But the Knife did test positive for bread starch and not bleach, as insinuated by the prosecution. The Bra Clasp, collected 47 days after the murder from an unsecured scene should have never been entered into evidence, it was contaminated.
The Clean Up Myth
Amanda and Raffaele were accused of buying bleach and cleaning up the crime scene. No bleach receipts were found, as the Perugians reported, and it was never proven exactly how they could clean up only their DNA while leaving Rudy’s. The truth is, they could not have done it, no one can.
The Mighty and Much Feared Knox PR Machine Myth
The trolls call us the “Groupies” who drank “Kool-Aid,” but in reality we are simply volunteers who stepped up to help the innocent. Just after Amanda’s arrest her parents hired a crisis management firm, Gogerty-Marriott, as a buffer from the press who had camped out on their doorsteps. Hundreds of requests for interviews inundated the family while they were trying to focus on their terrified daughter, they and their other children were followed and pictures taken, their mail was rifled through and there were phone calls at all hours of the day and night. Assaulted on two fronts, both in Italy and at home, the family sought advice and was directed to Gogerty-Marriott who forced the media to behave. Europeans in particular were suspicious of this need, unaware that hundreds of media outlets were besieging the family in Seattle, and accused Amanda’s family of trying to influence public opinion. In reality they were trying to get a pack of baying hounds back into the kennel.
As the case progressed through the Italian courts, people who studied it began to speak out against the illegalities occurring in the Perugian court. Websites like Friends of Amanda and Injustice in Perugia brought together a faction of unpaid supporters, like myself, who worked together to get the Defense Point of View into the news so that the uninformed public had access to both sides of this compelling story.
The trolls began to call us the Knox PR Machine and alluded that we were “employees” of and groomed by Gogerty-Marriott to toe the party line. We say, “Show me da money!” and laugh at the trolls. In reality we are the epitome of a Grassroots Effort and only Amanda’s family uses Gogerty-Marriott to handle the media. Neither Gogerty-Marriott nor the Knox family has any influence on what the unpaid volunteers say or print, they don’t need to because we can see the truth for ourselves and the trolls don’t like us to have freedom of speech.
The real Amanda Knox is an American girl who made friends easily and is well known for her compassion. She is funny, laughs often, and has a dedicated group of friends helping her family. Amanda is a serious student who belongs to the National Honor Society and the Dean’s list at the University of Washington. She spoke fondly of her new friends, Meredith, the beautiful English girl with whom she attended the famed Perugian Chocolate Festival and a concert, and Raffaele, the cute Italian guy she dated who looked like Harry Potter.
The real Raffaele Sollecito is what every Italian man aspires to be, cultured, courteous, and well educated. He is soft spoken with a witty sense of humor and also has a dedicated group of friends helping his family. While in prison he finished one degree and had nearly completed another by the time he was released. He was attracted to Amanda, in part, because she was an American and he planned to continue his studies and/or find an internship in the United States. When Meredith was murdered, rendering Amanda homeless, he elected to stay with her until her mother arrived, as any true gentleman would have done. He endured prison with grace and serenity and has remained Amanda's faithful freind.
In essence, the vast majority of what you have read and heard about Amanda and Raffaele is false and was reported to the English-speaking world by the British media. The same people who are now under scrutiny for hacking the phones of murder victims and celebrities. The same people who enjoyed mistranslating Italian articles to an unsuspecting American public.
The American public, who would not be caught dead believing that the National Enquirer was reporting facts, had no idea that the British version of that American tabloid was spoon-feeding them pabulum directly from the Perugians. They had no idea that the Public Minster of Perugia, Giuliano Mignini, had mounted a Smear Campaign against Amanda and Raffaele. Or that the media and Internet trolls were perpetrating it to the point that only those who closely studied the case were able to separate fact from fiction.
That’s why I began to write first for Amanda’s community and now for you, dear readers. You deserve to know both sides of this compelling story. You deserve to know that Rudy Guede killed Meredith Kercher in a violent home invasion and that he acted alone. You deserve to know that Amanda and Raffaele had nothing to do with the murder and were not present when it occurred.
Everyone deserves to know the truth about Amanda and Raffaele.
This article originally appeared on Gather.com
The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold. ~~Aristotle
These words exemplify the ordeal of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito when first the Perugian authorities, then the tabloids and finally the Internet trolls repeatedly and deliberately twisted the facts of a murder investigation to exact the most sordid angle possible. These false and defamatory factoids were embellished to create a number of Myths surrounding the murder of Amanda's roommate, Meredith Kercher, who was killed in 2007 by Rudy Guede during a home invasion.
But amongst the fables, we do find some truth.
The Perugians and THEIR Constantly Changing Stories, NOT a Myth
Public Minister Giuliano Mignini, Chief of Homicide Monica Napoleoni, Head of the Roman Scientific Police Edgardo Giobbi and their subordinates have been trying to turn angels into devils since November 2, 2007. The lies began the moment that the Public Minister arrived on scene and continue until today. The original fable began with the Public Minister and police calling Amanda what amounts to an insane, murderous, slutty, drug-addled Satanist. Then it became “Amanda is jealous of Meredith,” then “Amanda robbed Meredith.” And finally, after the appeal court’s experts ruled out the Double DNA Knife and proved once and for all that there was never any of Amanda’s DNA in Meredith’s bedroom (the murder scene) Mignini changed his story to “Amanda was out in the hall.” Couple these blatant lies with “Amanda let Guede into the apartment” and “Amanda is a slut who does not care about anyone” and it’s just disgusting what these “professionals” have tried to get away with.
The Tabloid Mistranslations, NOT a Myth
The British tabloids mistranslated Amanda’s June 26, 2011 appeal testimony and quoted her as saying that Guede " knows we were there, he knows we all got drunk that night," meaning the night Meredith was the murdered. Amanda actually said, “We were not together that night and Rudy knows the truth.” Another infamous mistranslation was from an interview with the appellate judge, Claudio Pratillo Hellmann, two days after he pronounced the 2011 innocence verdict that set Amanda and Raffaele free. The tabloids reported the day after his interview that Judge Hellmann had said, “ A truth that was created in the proceedings, but the real truth may be different. They may be responsible." What Judge Hellmann actually said was, “The truth is that there is no proof to condemn Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito for the murder of Meredith Kercher. Therefore they are innocent." These are but two of many examples of how the tabloids used online translators, like Google Translate, to garble information from nearly every Italian article written about this case. It’s simple to accomplish because the Italian to English conversion switches sentence structure, gender and certain words. Courtroom becomes classroom, cell becomes hut, he becomes she and murderer becomes murderess. I often envision the tabloid “journalists” cackling gleefully whenever they found a particularly juicy mistranslation.
The Internet Troll Hate Sites, NOT a Myth
The willing and eager helpers of both the Perugians and the tabloids are the trolls. Two hate sites sprang up in the United States within a year and a half of the unjust incarceration of Meredith Kercher’s innocent friends. One based in Seattle moderated by a neighbor of Amanda’s parents. The other site is in New Jersey and is moderated by a person who has been labeled as a stalker by a dancer in New York. Neither of these moderators nor any of the members of these Hate Sites have ever met Amanda, Raffaele or their families, yet they have collected massive amounts of both case related and personal information on all of them. They also collect information on every person who has supported these innocent people; myself included. From 2007 to present they have provided false and misleading information to the public so that many people with scant knowledge of this case believe that Amanda and Raffaele got away with murder. None of the information posted on either site is provable in any court of law except the corrupt Trial of the First in Perugia. History will bear witness that from 2007 until 2010 true justice was not known in Perugia, only during the Appeal, with the world watching, did Fair Play enter that courtroom.
Much to the chagrin of trolls.
The Legend of Harry Rag
Harry Rag is the Uber Troll who carpet-bombed the Internet with false and misleading information based directly on the prosecution’s point of view. More than 99% of the online articles and blogs written about this case have the document created by Harry Rag pasted into the comment section; a Google search turns up over 9,000 hits. The poorly written early version may have been a compilation of at least three documents, later versions were similar but the grammar and syntax were corrected. Some think that this persona is several people working together because the time and energy that must be spent to canvass thousands of websites. Whoever it is possesses a single-minded hatred of Amanda and Raffaele, as well as, the dedication to smearing their reputations even in the face of hard facts, perhaps a cadre of Kercher family associates or the Perugians themselves. This persona pretends to fight for justice for the Kerchers when they are actually prolonging the suffering of all concerned because Harry Rag, coupled with the Hate Sites, have confused the public; the widely spread misinformation has led the public to believe that “the American got away with murder.” That is Harry Rag’s real goal, to confuse the public and veil the truth, this persona is a tool of the prosecution whether or not the Perugians are personally involved. While the true identity of Harry Rag remains elusive, this troll(s) will go down in history as one of the most prolific.
The Wiki War
The “Murder of Meredith Kercher” Wikipedia page has been a battleground for the truth for the past two years and exemplifies the fact that Wikipedia is not considered a proven source by academics for good reason. This page is being held hostage by Wiki Trolls who undo every true fact and replace them with prosecution held beliefs and in 2011 Jimbo Wales, Wikipedia’s moderator, was called upon to intervene in the blatant misuse of the this page as a platform to spread lies. He saw first hand how certain Guilter editors were undermining and banning Truther editors who tried to correct information. Since then the page is making improvements, but is only about 50% correct. The War continues to wage.
From the deception and lies masterminded by the Perugians, then perpetrated by the tabloids and trolls arose a mythology where each Myth is a chapter in the Smear Campaign orchestrated to assassinate the character of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito. Each one an attempt to deceive the public. Each a heinous lie.
The Sexy Satanist Myth
The first Big WTH? Public Minister Mignini, on the advice of a spirit channeler, advanced the Satanism Theory because Meredith was killed a day after Halloween, but there is no evidence of Satanism from either Amanda or Raffaele, or their family and friends. The prosecution then portrayed Amanda as an alluring mastermind who was able, using her sexuality, to turn Raffaele Sollecito and Rudy Guede into her Purse Dogs. The spirit channeler even insinuated that Meredith and Amanda were recruited on the campuses of Leeds University and the University of Washington. I demand to see evidence that the Order of the Red Rose is secretly recruiting on the Husky campus. I mean really, if your red flag is not up right now, then we ARE in trouble.
The Foxy Knoxy Myth
Amanda has wings on her feet, like her father, and a short stature, like her mother. Small, fast and smart, just like a fox. Her soccer teammates dubbed her "Foxy Knoxy" about age 10 not only because she was exceptionally quick on the pitch, but also because of how quickly her mind worked while running that fast. The 1967 hit “Foxy Lady,” by Seattle native Jimi Hendrix, is a hugely popular song in the United States and to have “foxy” bestowed as nickname is a great compliment, not just anybody gets to use it. It was a monstrous insult when British journalist, Nick Pisa, hacked Amanda’s MySpace page just after her arrest and stole her charming childhood nickname so that he could turn it into a sexy, sordid moniker to sell his articles. Amanda Knox did not choose this lascivious persona; the unscrupulous media forced it on her.
The Knife-Boy Myth
Like many young men, Raffaele is interested in guy stuff and that includes knives. Like many guys he carried a pocketknife and he had it on his person the day he was arrested. His Facebook page was also hacked and a silly Halloween picture surfaced showing him wrapped up like a Mummy holding a cleaver. Raffaele also read Manga in the course of his studies as a computer graphics student. Manga is a Japanese genre of science fiction or fantasy themed cartoons, comic books, and animated films that is popular with today’s high school and college students. The trolls spun these two interests together to create the persona called “Knife Boy” and added to it a completely false accusation of "porn addicted" to “prove” that Raffaele is a violent, lecherous monster who uses knives to heighten his depraved sexual experiences. In reality Raffaele epitomizes the concept of gentleman and only the Hate Sites call him this false and inappropriate name.
The Poor Black Boy Myth
Rudy Guede killed Meredith Kercher in a violent home invasion and his DNA alone was present in than 100 samples of the more than 400 collected at the apartment. In Meredith’s bedroom, the murder scene, only Guede and Meredith’s DNA is present. Yet with all this obvious connection to the murder, Guede has been continually swept under the rug by the Perugians and “excused” as a hapless bystander by the trolls. The Race Card has been played continually to try and paint Guede as a “poor black boy” with the defense, and Americans by extension, as racist. But one must ask oneself why the Perugians feel the need to use racism in an attempt to excuse this obvious guilty murderer? Why are they protecting this killer and trying to frame innocent people by insinuating that Amanda was the mastermind and controlled Raffaele and Guede.
The Massei Motivation Myth
A Motivation is written by an Italian judge to explain his verdict in a trial and this is the motivation from the Trial of the First. It gives the reasoning for the 2009 Guilty Verdict and one would think that much care would be taken when sentencing two 20-somethings to a quarter of a century in prison for murder. Yet this important proclamation is riddled with inaccuracies and contradictions, it looks as if it was written by a staffer who did not bother to fact-check and it is shocking that any judge would sign it, yet that is exactly what Judge Massei did. The trolls are quite fond of this document and hold it up as proof that Amanda and Raffaele are murderers, while explaining away the mistakes it contains. It's important to note that Judge Massei is also part of the Good Ol' Boy network that caters to Public Minister Mignini, which may explain why he did not fact check his own Motivation.
The 10,000 Pages of Legal Documents Myth
The prosecution heaped a mountain of libelous factoids upon the murder investigation and the trolls often point to the "10,000 pages" as proof of proper handling of the case in the court system, but I say to you, dear readers, doesn’t EVERY legal case produce that and more as a matter of course? In fact, the defense has also produced more than 10,000 pages. Trying to say that any legal discourse is to be judged by the amount of paperwork it produces is silly.
The Constantly Changing Alibi Myth
Amanda did not have a firm grasp of the Italian language when she was illegally interrogated without a lawyer or accredited interpreter present. She struggled to make sense of the questions she was being asked and her attempts to clarify her answers was used against her by painting her lack of understanding as “attempts to change her story.” Then during the Illegal Interrogations, an 8-hour period overnight on November 5th and 6th, 2007, both Amanda and Raffele were encouraged by police to imagine certain scenarios, those imaginations were artfully spun as fact. Except for this 8-hour period, the innocent university students have never wavered from their original statements; “We were at Raffaele’s apartment when Meredith was killed.” It was the Perugians who created this Myth.
The 47 Stab Wounds Myth
One of the crueler fables centers on Meredith's autopsy in which there are over 40 abrasions and bruises in addition to the three knife wounds. Of the three only the stab wound on the left side of her neck was fatal, the two on the right side were what police call "control" wounds, meaning that Guede cut Meredith while trying to control her. The trolls spun the abrasions, which include cuts on her fingers as she tried to grab the knife, as Amanda "pricking her repeatedly" with the knife as a form of terrorizing and torture. By reading the coroner's report is it easy to see that this myth is not true and is deliberately misleading the public in order to ramp up what is already a heinous crime against an innocent woman.
The Amanda Did Not Speak Up for Patrick Myth
Amanda’s Perugian employer, club owner Patrick Lumumba, was caught up in the drama when police forced Amanda to “imagine” where she was in the apartment when Patrick “killed” Meredith. This scenario occurred during the illegal interrogation and it was the police who told Amanda that Patrick was the killer. She was in shock, sleep and water deprived when she imagined a scenario for them. Patrick was taken into custody along with Amanda and Raffaele based on this false confession. Then Public Minster Mignini sought a year of solitary confinement for Amanda in an effort to ‘break’ her; she was not allowed access to anyone until her parents had secured a lawyer. Patrick was held for two weeks, even with an airtight alibi, until Rudy Guede was arrested. Amanda, once she understood what had happened, retracted her "accusation" of Patrick in her second memoriale, the day after her arrest, and also in a letter to her lawyer a few days later, but she has been chided by the trolls ever since for not speaking up for Patrick during this period of time. They ignore the fact that she was not allowed to talk to anyone other than the Perugians until her lawyers took over and, through them, has repeatedly expressed her sorrow for dragging Patrick into the mess and “not being strong enough” to resist interrogation tactics used on Mafia Dons. Patrick, once released, quickly joined the Perugians and sued Amanda for slander.
The Text Message Myth
Amanda worked for Patrick Lumumba at his club, a job found she shortly after arriving in Perugia and her text message to him the might of the murder, “See you later” was twisted to mean “let’s commit murder tonight” instead of “I’ll see you tomorrow.” Patrick spent two weeks in prison, even with an airtight alibi, until police caught Rudy Guede. He was released and is suing Amanda for implicating him the murder. Patrick is going with the flow.
The Amanda is an Insane, Drug-addled Slut Myth
The focus on Amanda's sex life by both the prosecution and the trolls is disturbing, she is a normal and mundane 20-something, yet these people persist in feeding the public a steady stream of lies. The prosecution has been trying to prove that Amanda was strung out on nuclear-powered pot, straddling Meredith, butcher knife in hand, drooling and yelling, “You prissy girl!” But after the court-appointed DNA experts ruled that Amanda’s DNA was nowhere to be found in Meredith’s bedroom, Public Minister Mignini said that “maybe she’s in another room,” strung out on nuclear-powered pot, yelling orders to her lapdogs Raffaele and Rudy. PM Mignini and his team set out to prove that Amanda is an insane, slutty American coed, but the only people they convinced were trolls and the uninformed public. In 2008, the foreign media came to Seattle to find dirt on Amanda and they brought blood money, we are still snickering that they left with their wallets intact. The foreign media found a nice girl who was well known for her kindness and sense of humor, then they went home and focused only on the prosecution’s version of events because a Nice Girl is boring, unlike a crazy slut. Before Amanda had an attorney, a prison official, costumed as a physician, tricked her into giving up personal information regarding sexual partners by telling her she was HIV, a callous and blatant lie, causing her emotional harm. Then her sexual encounters were released to the public saying that she “had sex with seven men” in the 45 days that she had been in Italy, including an encounter on a train. All of it false, Amanda is a normal 20-something from a nice family.
The Kissing Myth
A simple kiss for comfort on a tragic day became one of the very first myths to damn the behavior of Amanda and Raffaele. This “infamous kiss” was broadcast to the world that the university students were “making out” at the murder scene and adults everywhere were horrified. First of all, anyone with experience “making out” can tell that smooch was not a slobbery, passionate, French kiss. They were not undulating in a sensuous embrace. And the horrified adults should have some experience in such behavior, suffice it to say, “Too bad for them if they do not.” If you revisit this kiss in the context of how it was given you see an emotionless buss, mechanical and perfectly in keeping with people who are in shock and grieving. Much was made of Amanda’s eyes as she looked away, the trolls call them “the dead, cold eyes of a murderess” in the most dramatic way possible, but Amanda’s eyes to the compassionate or the professional show her to be in deep shock at the loss of her friend. Plus these two were acutely aware they were under the watchful gaze of several cameras and many gawking bystanders standing in the road just above them. What is interesting, when you consider it, is that out of more than an hour of filming the two walking around the yard, trying to stay warm, talking with police and the other young people at the scene, only this few seconds of film made the news. More than likely it was hand picked by Public Minister Mignini himself.
The Sexy Undies Myth
The day Meredith was discovered Amanda was locked out of her apartment with only the clothes on her back, the next day, essentially homeless, she bought underwear and this poignant act became fodder for the tabloids and trolls as they speculated on her personal garment. Amanda will not have access to clothing until her mother bought some after her arrival in Perugia, weeks later Amanda’s father was able to retrieve what is left of her personal belongings from the apartment. Perhaps the trolls felt that she should not have access to clean clothing.
The Cartwheel Myth
Chief of Homicide Napoleoni is the source of the cartwheel story. Amanda, after sitting in a cramped waiting room while Raffaele was being interrogated (unknown to her) stood to stretch and a male officer observing her, asked her to demonstrate the splits, not a cartwheel. Chief Napoleoni witnessed the interaction but did not admonish her own officer for his lewd and unprofessional conduct, then, an hour later, the prejudiced chief was intimately involved in Amanda’s interrogation. After Amanda’s arrest she spun the story that Amanda had turned a cartwheel and the media embellished it saying that Amanda was “merrily turning cartwheels in the police station, glad that Meredith was dead.” It was a particularly cruel untruth that hurt Meredith’s grieving family.
The Amanda acted ‘Quirky’ Myth
The police reported that Meredith’s British girlfriends said Amanda was acting strangely, that Amanda and Raffaele were kissing at the police station, that she refused a hug, that she didn’t cry enough, Meredith’s British girlfriends saw every nuance as an insult. The Head of the Scientific Police, Edgardo Giobbi, decided that Amanda was a murderer because he saw her eating pizza four days after the murder, he felt that she should have been in bed, crying and grief stricken, not hungry. During a walk-though of the downstairs apartment the day Meredith was found, unseen by anyone but him, he claimed that she swiveled her hips and acted silly, adding to the sexual undertones that police advanced when referring to Amanda. Giobbi also saw her cry uncontrollably at the crime scene. He found all of this suspicious and stated to the press that he did not need to see any forensics to ‘know’ that she was guilty of murder.
The Amanda Didn't Cry Myth
Amanda was crying uncontrollably when Meredith’s body was found, that is why she looks so ragged in the ‘infamous kiss’ video. She was in shock. When taken in context, her behavior proves is that she acted like a kid who was suffering through a tragedy. She was also seen crying by a number of people at the scene, Filomena Romanelli and her boyfriend, the police and the press. Although the press somehow forgot to release that part of the film while they were busily focusing on the Kiss.
The Fictional Catfight Myth
Bratty schoolgirl gossip became “proof of a catfight” for Public Minister Mignini as he zeroed in on any negativity that Meredith's British girlfriends said. Mignini mined their statements and led the conversations specially to highlight any friction between Meredith and Amanda. Of course it is all here-say and none of it provable in court. In fact, what was entered into the court record by Amanda and Meredith's roommates was that there was "no discord" between them. Only Mignini continued to try and use gossip to prove that the young women were not friends, only the trolls continue to advance Mignini's theory.
The Staged Break-in Myth
Rudy Guede assumed that the cottage tenants were gone for the weekend when he threw the rock through Filomena’s bedroom window and then waited to see if someone would be alerted. When no one noticed, he climbed in. Police know that a rock serves these two purposes in burglaries, yet it was they who decided that the rock was thrown from the inside and then played down that Filomena, checking for stolen items, tampered with the room before the Scientific Police arrived on scene. The room was never processed, by accident or design, as the Point of Entry and police advanced the theory that the break-in was staged.
The Mixed Blood Myth
Although it was not testified to in court, the trolls claim that Amanda’s blood was found mixed with Meredith’s blood in samples collected from various locations in the apartment, but these samples are of Amanda’s cellular DNA mixed with blood tracked around by Rudy Guede or a sample of Meredith and Amanda's cellular DNA mixed together. Amanda and Meredith lived together so their DNA would be mixed in their apartment, as would their roommates and guests, but it’s important to note that the police did not check for the other roommates DNA in any of the samples in question. And it’s also important to note that the police cross-contaminated the entire crime scene on the very first day by not following international forensic collection protocol.
The Double DNA Knife and The Bra Clasp Myth
The experts appointed by Judge Hellmann in the independent review were astonished that the Bra Clasp and Knife ever made it into the courtroom as neither item were collected or processed under international protocols. What does that say for the rest of the evidence collected? The samples used were too miniscule to be tested twice, as required by law. But the Knife did test positive for bread starch and not bleach, as insinuated by the prosecution. The Bra Clasp, collected 47 days after the murder from an unsecured scene should have never been entered into evidence, it was contaminated.
The Clean Up Myth
Amanda and Raffaele were accused of buying bleach and cleaning up the crime scene. No bleach receipts were found, as the Perugians reported, and it was never proven exactly how they could clean up only their DNA while leaving Rudy’s. The truth is, they could not have done it, no one can.
The Mighty and Much Feared Knox PR Machine Myth
The trolls call us the “Groupies” who drank “Kool-Aid,” but in reality we are simply volunteers who stepped up to help the innocent. Just after Amanda’s arrest her parents hired a crisis management firm, Gogerty-Marriott, as a buffer from the press who had camped out on their doorsteps. Hundreds of requests for interviews inundated the family while they were trying to focus on their terrified daughter, they and their other children were followed and pictures taken, their mail was rifled through and there were phone calls at all hours of the day and night. Assaulted on two fronts, both in Italy and at home, the family sought advice and was directed to Gogerty-Marriott who forced the media to behave. Europeans in particular were suspicious of this need, unaware that hundreds of media outlets were besieging the family in Seattle, and accused Amanda’s family of trying to influence public opinion. In reality they were trying to get a pack of baying hounds back into the kennel.
As the case progressed through the Italian courts, people who studied it began to speak out against the illegalities occurring in the Perugian court. Websites like Friends of Amanda and Injustice in Perugia brought together a faction of unpaid supporters, like myself, who worked together to get the Defense Point of View into the news so that the uninformed public had access to both sides of this compelling story.
The trolls began to call us the Knox PR Machine and alluded that we were “employees” of and groomed by Gogerty-Marriott to toe the party line. We say, “Show me da money!” and laugh at the trolls. In reality we are the epitome of a Grassroots Effort and only Amanda’s family uses Gogerty-Marriott to handle the media. Neither Gogerty-Marriott nor the Knox family has any influence on what the unpaid volunteers say or print, they don’t need to because we can see the truth for ourselves and the trolls don’t like us to have freedom of speech.
The real Amanda Knox is an American girl who made friends easily and is well known for her compassion. She is funny, laughs often, and has a dedicated group of friends helping her family. Amanda is a serious student who belongs to the National Honor Society and the Dean’s list at the University of Washington. She spoke fondly of her new friends, Meredith, the beautiful English girl with whom she attended the famed Perugian Chocolate Festival and a concert, and Raffaele, the cute Italian guy she dated who looked like Harry Potter.
The real Raffaele Sollecito is what every Italian man aspires to be, cultured, courteous, and well educated. He is soft spoken with a witty sense of humor and also has a dedicated group of friends helping his family. While in prison he finished one degree and had nearly completed another by the time he was released. He was attracted to Amanda, in part, because she was an American and he planned to continue his studies and/or find an internship in the United States. When Meredith was murdered, rendering Amanda homeless, he elected to stay with her until her mother arrived, as any true gentleman would have done. He endured prison with grace and serenity and has remained Amanda's faithful freind.
In essence, the vast majority of what you have read and heard about Amanda and Raffaele is false and was reported to the English-speaking world by the British media. The same people who are now under scrutiny for hacking the phones of murder victims and celebrities. The same people who enjoyed mistranslating Italian articles to an unsuspecting American public.
The American public, who would not be caught dead believing that the National Enquirer was reporting facts, had no idea that the British version of that American tabloid was spoon-feeding them pabulum directly from the Perugians. They had no idea that the Public Minster of Perugia, Giuliano Mignini, had mounted a Smear Campaign against Amanda and Raffaele. Or that the media and Internet trolls were perpetrating it to the point that only those who closely studied the case were able to separate fact from fiction.
That’s why I began to write first for Amanda’s community and now for you, dear readers. You deserve to know both sides of this compelling story. You deserve to know that Rudy Guede killed Meredith Kercher in a violent home invasion and that he acted alone. You deserve to know that Amanda and Raffaele had nothing to do with the murder and were not present when it occurred.
Everyone deserves to know the truth about Amanda and Raffaele.
