The Investigation

2 November 2007 The police arrive at the student flat to find Knox and Sollecito outside. The couple tell them that that there’s been a burglary. But when the Italian flatmate, Filomena, enters her room she notices that the broken glass is on top of the clothes strewn around her room. As she left the room tidy, the clothes must have been chucked on the floor after the entry and then the glass smashed onto them, meaning that entry came first, the stone through the window, second.The door to Meredith’s room is forced open.The murder scene looks less like a human being has been murdered and more like an animal has been messily slaughtered.The police initially think it’s a heroin addict robbery gone wrong as the place wasn’t far from a known dealing spot. The lead investigator arrives but doesn’t enter the crime scene till after the forensic team finish (four days later) because he’s worried his hair was too dirty and it might contaminate the scene. There is indeed blood everywhere that needs to be examined including blood on the door handles and a bloody footprint on the bathroom mat. Knox later says she never noticed this blood which is why when she went to wash, she touched the blood and left a bloody fingerprint in the bathroom.The media descend and one of the first images they seize upon is film of Knox and Sollecito kissing. They’re questioned but give conflicting statements. Knox says they were both at his place watching the French film, ‘Amelie’. Sollecito says that he was there, and on his computer, but is unsure if Knox was there all night or not. Knox says she’s shocked to be a suspect but not as shocked as a detective who sees her doing a cartwheel and splits. This is later explained away as a Yoga stress relief exercise but, combined with her inappropriate kiss, many are starting to draw conclusions about the American abroad.Knox then claims that Italian police mistreat her over 41 hours of questioning which culminates in a 14 hour interrogation. She alleges that a policewoman hit her twice on the head during interrogation, a claim that leads to a defamation case being taken by the Italian Police. The result of the interview is that she changes her story at 1:45am and at 5:45am and now indicates that Lumumba is the murderer. She says he killed her when Knox was in the kitchen. He’s soon cleared with an alibi by a customer and joins the police in seeking a defamation case.