Nina Burleigh - The Fatal Gift of Beauty: The Trials of Amanda Knox

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Copyright 2011 by Nina Burleigh
Epilogue 2012 by Nina Burleigh

All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Broadway Paperbacks, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com

BROADWAY PAPERBACKS and its logo, a letter B bisected on the diagonal, are trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Originally published in hardcover by Broadway Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, in 2011.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Burleigh, Nina.
The fatal gift of beauty: the trials of Amanda Knox / by Nina Burleigh.
1. Knox, Amanda. 2. MurderItalyPerugiaCase studies. 3. Homicide investigationItalyCase studies. 4. Trials (Murder)ItalyCase studies. I. Title.
HV6535.I83P438 2011
364.1523092DC22 2011012669

eISBN: 978-0-307-58860-9

Map and diagram by Mapping Specialists, Ltd.
Photographs by Erik Freeland
Cover design by Alison Forner and Jim Massey
Cover photographs by Daniele la Monaca/Reuters (Amanda Knox);
Pjr Travel/Alamy (brick wall); Stefano Stefani/Getty Images (street)

v3.1_r3

In memoriam:
female victims of sexual violence

Italia! Oh Italia! Thou who hast
the fatal gift of beauty.

LORD BYRON

MEREDITH KERCHER . Born December 28, 1986, in the United Kingdom. Died November 1, 2007, in Perugia. A student at Leeds University, she was in Italy on an Erasmus scholarship, studying political theory and history of cinema, when she was murdered.

AMANDA MARIE KNOX . Born July 9, 1987, in Seattle. A junior at the University of Washington, she was in Perugia studying Italian at the Universit per Stranieri when she was arrested in November 2007.

RAFFAELE SOLLECITO . Born March 26, 1984, near Bari, Italy. A student at the University of Perugia, he met Amanda Knox on October 25, 2007, and became her lover that night. He was two weeks from getting his degree in virtual reality computing when he was arrested in November 2007.

RUDY HERMANN GUEDE . Born December 26, 1983, in Agou, Ivory Coast. His father, Roger Guede, brought him to the outskirts of Perugia when Rudy was five years old. He was later adopted, as a teen, by one of the richest families in Perugia. A high school dropout, he had no occupation when he was arrested in Mainz, Germany, in November 2007.

JOHN AND ARLINE KERCHER . Merediths parents.

CURT KNOX . Amandas father, an accountant at the time of the murder, working in the finance department of Macys in Seattle.

EDDA MELLAS . Amandas mother, a Seattle elementary school math teacher.

CASSANDRA KNOX . Curts second wife, a housewife and the mother of their two daughters, Ashley and Delaney.

CHRIS MELLAS . Eddas second husband, an IT professional.

DEANNA KNOX . Amandas younger sister.

FRANCESCO SOLLECITO . Raffaeles father, a urologist based in Bisceglie, Italy, with his second wife, Mara.

VANESSA SOLLECITO . Raffaeles older sister, a Rome-based carabiniere who lost her job after her brother was arrested.

ROGER GUEDE . Rudys father, a bricklayer born in Ivory Coast and living in Bastia, Italy.

FILOMENA ROMANELLI . Intern at a Perugia law firm, age twenty-six at the time of the murder.

LAURA MEZZETTI . Intern at a Perugia law firm, age twenty-six at the time of the murder.

STEFANO BONASSI . Student from Marche, lived in the downstairs flat.

MARCO MARZAN . Student from Marche, lived downstairs.

GIACOMO SILENZI . Student from Marche, Meredith Kerchers lover in the two weeks before her murder, lived downstairs.

RICCARDO LUCIANI . Student from Marche, lived downstairs.

DIYA PATRICK LUMUMBA . Congolese immigrant, musician, bar owner, and Amandas employer.

PAOLO CAPORALI . Wealthy Perugia businessman, owner of the Liomatic vending company and the Perugia basketball team; adopted the teenage Rudy Guede, then disowned him.

ILARIA CAPORALI . Paolos daughter.

IVANA TIBERI . Rudys first Italian teacher and de facto Italian mother.

NARA CAPEZZALI . Elderly woman neighbor of 7 via della Pergola who testified that she heard screams on November 1.

ANTONIO CURATOLO . Homeless heroin addict who testified that he saw Amanda and Raffaele near the murder scene on November 1.

MARCO QUINTAVALLE . Perugia grocery owner who testified that Amanda entered his shop as it opened the morning after the murder.

HEKURAN KOKOMANI . Cocaine dealer and Albanian immigrant who testified that he saw Amanda and Raffaele together with Rudy in the days before the murder.

BISCARINI FAMILY . Wealthy villa owners who found Merediths phones.

FRANK SFARZO . Perugia-based blogger whose case files were confiscated by police.

FRANCESCA BENE . Reporter for the Perugia daily Il Giornale dellUmbria, detained by police for her investigation into the witnesses.

SOPHIE PURTON . Leeds University Erasmus student in Perugia, the last person to see Meredith alive.

SAMANTHA RODENHURST . Erasmus student in Perugia, friend of Meredith.

AMY FROST . Erasmus student in Perugia, friend of Meredith.

NATALIE HAYWORTH . Erasmus student in Perugia, friend of Meredith.

ROBYN BUTTERWORTH . Erasmus student in Perugia, friend of Meredith.