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Meredith Kercher

Murder of Meredith Kercher
Meredith-Kercher.jpg
Meredith Kercher in 2007
Born Meredith Susanna Cara Kercher
(1985-12-28)28 December 1985
Southwark, London, England
Died 1 November 2007(2007-11-01) (aged 21)
Via della Pergola 7, Perugia, Umbria, Italy
Cause of death Knife wounds leading to blood loss and suffocation
Burial 14 December 2007
Mitcham Road Cemetery, Croydon, London
Prosecutors Giuliano Mignini
Manuela Comodi
Giancarlo Costagliola
Giovanni Galati (General Prosecutor of Perugia)
Arrested Rudy Guede
Convicted of sexual assault, murder Rudy Guede
(29 October 2008)
External image
Via della Pergola 7, courtesy of the BBC.
Timeline
2007

Late Aug: Meredith Kercher arrives in Perugia.

10 Sep: Kercher moves into Via della Pergola 7,
renting a room from two Italian flatmates.

20 Sep: Amanda Knox rents the fourth bedroom.

Mid Oct: Rudy Guede meets Kercher and Knox.

25 Oct: Knox starts dating Raffaele Sollecito.

1 Nov: Kercher murdered in her bedroom.

2–6 Nov. Knox and Sollecito questioned by police
without lawyers.

6 Nov: Knox implicates herself and Patrick Lumumba.
Knox, Sollecito, and Lumumba arrested.

19 Nov: Fingerprints at crime scene identified
as Guede's; DNA later identified as his.

20 Nov: Guede arrested in Germany; Lumumba
released.


2008

1 Apr: Supreme Court of Italy upholds detention
of Knox, Sollecito, Guede.

29 Oct: Guede sentenced to 30 years. Knox and
Sollecito charged with murder, sexual assault.


2009

16 Jan: Trial of Knox and Sollecito begins.

18 Nov: Guede's appeal begins.

21 Nov: Prosecution requests life for Knox, Sollecito,
and nine months' solitary confinement for Knox.

4 Dec: Knox sentenced to 26 years, Sollecito 25.

22 Dec: Guede's sentence reduced to 16 years on appeal.


2010

May: Guede files second appeal.

24 Nov: Knox, Sollecito appeal opens.

16 Dec: Italy's Court of Cassation upholds Guede's conviction.


2011

29 Jun: Independent experts say forensic evidence
against Knox, Sollecito is flawed.

3 Oct: Second level trial finds Knox and Sollecito not guilty.


2013

26 Mar: Verdict set aside. Case to be reheard.


2014

30 Jan: Second level reheard.


2015

27 Mar: Italian Supreme court definitively exonerates Knox and Sollecito.



Sources


Meredith Susanna Cara Kercher (28 December 1985 – 1 November 2007) was a British student on exchange from the University of Leeds who was murdered at the age of 21 in Perugia, Italy, on 1 November 2007. Kercher was found dead on the floor of her bedroom. By the time the bloodstained fingerprints at the scene were identified as belonging to Rudy Guede, police had charged Kercher's American flatmate, Amanda Knox, and Knox's Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito. The subsequent prosecutions of Knox and Sollecito received international publicity, with forensic experts and jurists taking a critical view of the evidence supporting the initial guilty verdicts. Knox and Sollecito were released after almost four years following their acquittal at a second-level trial, and in 2015 they were exonerated by the Supreme Court of Italy. Guede was tried separately in a fast-track procedure and in October 2008 was found guilty of the sexual assault and murder of Kercher. He subsequently exhausted the appeals process and is currently serving a 16-year sentence.

Meredith Susanna Cara Kercher (born 28 December 1985 in Southwark, South London), known to her friends as "Mez", lived in Coulsdon, South London. She had two older brothers, John and Lyle, and an older sister, Stephanie. Her father, also named John, is a freelance journalist, and her mother, Arline, is a housewife. Kercher attended the Old Palace School in Croydon. She was enthusiastic about the language and culture of Italy, and after a school exchange trip she returned, aged 15, to spend her summer vacation with a family in Sessa Aurunca.

Kercher studied European politics and Italian at the University of Leeds. Working as a barmaid, tour guide and in promotions to support herself, she made a cameo appearance in the music video for Kristian Leontiou's song "Some Say" in 2004. She aspired to work for the European Union or as a journalist. In October 2007, she attended the University of Perugia, where she began courses in modern history, political theory, and the history of cinema. Fellow students later described her as caring, intelligent, witty, and popular.


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