Murder in Italy

Before reading Murder in Italy, I was intrigued by the case of Amanda Knox, the University of Washington student accused of murdering British roommate Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy in November 2007. Shocking headlines exploded to tabloid proportions claiming Knox and boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito murdered Kercher in an evil sex game gone wrong. News stories contained pictures of the UW coed nicknamed Foxy Knoxy by the press. Was this young woman capable of murder? If she was guilty, how and why could she do such a thing?

Prior to reading the true crime tale by Italian American author and journalist Candace Dempsey, I’d seen news reports on local TV stations and read a few articles about the now-infamous UW student. I’d seen her parents in film footage, arguing Knox’s innocence, and I’d read posts about the case on Twitter and Facebook. Based on my cursory knowledge of the case, I presumed Knox was guilty.

Then I met Dempsey and was excited to learn that she’d chronicled the case on a Seattle PI reader blog and had just completed a book, Murder in Italy, about the murder and subsequent trials of Rudy Guede, Knox and Sollecito. Anxious to hear the real story, I offered to review the book for Dempsey. It arrived in my mailbox a few weeks later, and I immediately dove in, eager for the facts.

The author sets the stage in romantic Italy, explaining life in Perugia and how Knox and Kercher came to be roommates. Based on countless interviews with friends, families and acquaintances, Dempsey describes the roommates in great detail, outlining their brief friendship, life in their shared home with two other girls, and their differing personalities.

The story quickly unfolds from young students making plans for Halloween into an unbelievable tale of mystery and murder. Dempsey deftly reconstructs the events of fall 2007 from case files, witness reports, court testimony, crime scene videos, diaries, online posts, interviews and other sources. She chronicles the facts of the case, the players, the evidence, and odd events like Knox showering before reporting the blood in her bathroom on the day Kercher’s body was found and doing a cartwheel in the hallway at the local police station during questioning.

As I got past photos of the case and deeper into the book, it was evident that the police investigation and trial were flawed. Many of the presumptions were circumstantial and arguable at best. From cover to cover, I was intrigued by the case and riveted by the astounding revelations and the cold-blooded murder of Meredith Kercher. No matter who was guilty, Kercher died a violent, senseless death.

What impressed me most about Murder in Italy was Dempsey’s ability to ferret out the facts in such a twisted tale and to present them in such a way that I could draw my own conclusions. The author carefully stuck to the facts, never professing Knox’s innocence or making assumptions about her or the case. Instead, Dempsey recounts the story and other details by speaking to those involved in the case or who were witnesses to various events or relationships. The author didn’t skew the facts by drawing her own conclusions. She leaves that onerous task to the reader, allowing us to decide for ourselves if Knox is innocent as her parents and so many others claim or if she is guilty of the cold-blooded murder. Read Dempsey’s Murder in Italy and decide for yourself.