Murder of Meredith Kercher
| Murder of Meredith Kercher | |
|---|---|
Meredith Kercher in 2007
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| Born | Meredith Susanna Cara Kercher 28 December 1985 Southwark, London, England |
| Died | 1 November 2007 (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) |
 Via della Pergola 7, courtesy of the BBC. |
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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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