UW honor student a suspect in Italy rape, killing

Back home, those who know Amanda Knox recall an outgoing Seattle girl, a University of Washington honor student, a young woman making the most of a year studying abroad.

None could have foreseen this: The 20-year-old from Arbor Heights placed squarely at the center of a case that's riveted Europe -- the throat-slashing slaying and rape of Knox's female roommate.

Knox

Police questioned Knox late last week in connection with the violent attack that bloodied her apartment in the central Italian city of Perugia. Early Tuesday, after detectives interrogated her about inconsistencies in her account, she reportedly confessed to playing a role in the slaying.

Also under suspicion are Knox's Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, 23, and Congolese musician Patrick Diya Lumumba, 37, who owned the local bar where Knox worked. All three have been arrested, with charges expected later this week.

Kercher

Meredith Kercher, a 21-year-old British exchange student, was found dead in her room on Friday, the morning after attending a Halloween party. Perugia Police Chief Arturo de Felice said Kercher, who was found half-naked, died trying to fend off a sexual attack.

A coroner said Kercher was stabbed in the neck, but police said no murder weapon has been found. Details about the crime remain sketchy.

"The motive appears sexual, but Meredith was morally innocent," de Felice told The Daily Telegraph of London. "She was the victim, not a participant."

Sollecito

Knox and Sollecito, a doctor's son, initially told police they'd returned to the apartment early Friday to find Kercher dead and the apartment ransacked by burglars.

Police began to question their story when clues found at the scene -- including the bloody print of a woman's shoe near Kercher's body -- didn't gibe with Knox's version of events. Knox also offered an alibi but recanted after 10 hours of police grilling, according to published reports.

European newspapers reported Tuesday that Knox admitted to police that she and the men sexually assaulted and killed Kercher. Italian authorities expect to charge all three with murder and participating in an act of sexual violence.

Knox and Kercher were both studying in Perugia, about 105 miles north of Rome. UW spokesman Norm Arkins said that Knox was "a student in good standing" in a foreign study program. "It's not a UW program," Arkins said. "But she does get credit for it."

According to college records, Knox, a junior studying German, Italian and creative writing, made the dean's list this spring.

Knox was raised in Seattle, graduating from Seattle Prep before enrolling at the UW. Until leaving for Italy late last year, Knox was a fixture at the University District's World Cup Espresso & Wine as a barista.

Calls to her parents' West Seattle home were not returned Tuesday. Knox's mother, Edda, told the Telegraph that her daughter said she had "freaked out" after the slaying.

"The police were there and asking her questions and she was in state of shock. She said it was horrific," said Edda Knox, an elementary schoolteacher.

Among Knox's many friends at the UW, the grim news spread quickly. Each expressed shock Tuesday that the outgoing student they'd known for years had apparently confessed to involvement in a killing.

"I trusted Amanda with my life on a regular basis -- we were climbing partners for a good couple of months," said Andrew Cheung, also a UW student, who corresponded with Knox via e-mail while she was abroad.

		Daily Mail
	Amanda Knox answers detectives' questions at her Perugia, Italy, apartment.

"I never would have seen this coming," he said. "It's strange when you think you have good judgment about somebody and then to have that perception altered so quickly."

Knox "loved people" and enjoyed partying, some former dormmates said, but the darkly sexual nature of the charges came as a blow.

"This just isn't Amanda -- that's the first thing that came to my mind; that something must be wrong and this can't be the whole story," said Sarah Belton, who lived down the hall from Knox during their freshman year.

"One time when she was sick she said all she really wanted to do was watch the movie 'The Princess Bride' because she likes love stories," Belton said. "I don't think of her as someone who could ever be violent."

But writings posted by Knox on her MySpace page show another side. One short story -- "Baby Brother" -- posted to the social networking site describes a young man ashamed but unapologetic after raping a drunk woman. The story ends with a bloody, damaging fistfight between two roommates.

Her writings were front page news in the United Kingdom and fueled speculation in the British media that Knox -- who used the online nickname "Foxy Knoxy" -- and the men linked to the killing were "lust-crazed pals."

TO LEARN MORE

For updates on the murder case, try these British papers:

Daily Mail: uk250.co.uk/frame/21972/daily-mail.html

The Daily Telegraph: uk250.co.uk/frame/3219/daily-telegraph.html

Daily Express: uk250.co.uk/frame/10139/express-the-daily.html