Amanda Knox reveals if she sees a manner ahead with Meredith Kercher‘s household after being wrongfully arrested for her former roommate’s homicide.
Throughout an unique interview with Us Weekly about her memoir Free: My Seek for That means, Knox, 37, revealed the place she stands with Kercher’s family members.
“Each of her mother and father have handed. Her mom had a coronary heart situation, even again then. I keep in mind one of many issues Meredith advised me was that she was in very, very frequent contact along with her mother as a result of she had a coronary heart situation, and there have been issues about her well being,” Knox recalled. “So she finally handed due to that situation — however then, additionally, her father very tragically died. Hastily, he was strolling round his neighborhood and received hit by a automotive.”
Knox acknowledged how Kercher’s household have confronted much more tragedy for the reason that change pupil’s demise, including, “The remaining a part of her household is her two brothers and sister. I do not know what her brothers take into consideration me. I do know that her sister has spoken very publicly about her regrets that Meredith has been misplaced in all of this story.”
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Kercher and Knox’s paths crossed in 2007 once they lived overseas in Italy collectively. Later that yr, Knox was accused of murdering Kercher and sentenced to 26 years in jail after she and then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito have been each convicted of the crime regardless of an absence of proof.
An appellate court docket then discovered the previous couple not responsible in 2011, however they have been once more discovered responsible three years later throughout a retrial. The Italian supreme court docket cleared Knox of Kercher’s homicide in 2015, and she was exonerated.
Ivorian migrant Rudy Guede was sentenced in 2008 to 30 years for Kercher’s homicide after his DNA was recognized on the crime scene. His sentence was later lowered, and he was launched from jail in November 2021.
“That is one thing I discuss in my guide of how her demise grew to become intertwined with my id. When you ever hear any information about her case, it’s sometimes with a headline that has my identify in it and never hers,” Knox advised Us in regards to the aftermath of the high-profile case. “And I’m in utter settlement with them about how unfair and fallacious that’s. So I really feel like there’s alternative for lots of frequent floor and in addition lots of alternative.”
Knox admitted she remained hopeful a few recent begin with Kercher’s family members.
“I nonetheless am actually hoping to have the chance to go to Meredith’s grave — however I don’t need to try this with out their blessing as a result of I perceive that Meredith belongs to them first,” she continued. “Though I’ve a particular sort of connection to her — actually as a result of her demise is intertwined with my id — I’m actually hesitant to be very direct about speaking to them.”
The precedence for Knox was respecting Kercher and her household, saying, “You need to watch out as a result of who is aware of what traumas they could affiliate with my id which can be no fault of my very own — however are however very actual for them. I’ve made it recognized from back-channeling and all of that that I want to talk with them. However I’m not making an attempt to push them in any manner.”
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Knox’s sophisticated emotions about being thrown into the highlight along with her wrongful conviction — and the method of making an attempt to make peace with the scandal — is the topic of her memoir Free: My Seek for That means. The guide, which is out now, follows Knox from the day she was arrested to her present life as a mom of two and an advocate for felony justice reform.
Regardless of going through backlash for utilizing her expertise to talk out in regards to the rights of the wrongfully convicted, Knox stands agency.
“What occurred to Meredith is horrific and traumatic and completely legitimate. Additionally, what occurred to me is horrific and traumatic and completely legitimate. So once I’m speaking about my expertise, I’m solely taking possession of mine, and I’m on no account taking away from hers,” Knox shared with Us. “If something, I’m making an attempt to make clear hers as a result of it’s continuously filtered by way of my expertise. So whereas I admire that which may be complicated as a result of the narrative that you just have been fed over the course of your younger life was that I’m a villain, and due to this fact the whole lot that I do is on the expense of Meredith — that’s really only a lie. That’s the false narrative that you’ve got been given.”
She continued: “I actually attempt to empathize with that perspective as a result of I write in my guide that I’ve my very own survivor’s guilt. Why did I get to outlive my wrongful conviction or my examine overseas expertise and he or she didn’t? There’s no rhyme or cause to it. It’s simply the randomness of life. However the way in which that I carry Meredith in my life is as a relentless reminder of how valuable life is and the way the reality issues. If she fought for her life, I’m going to battle for mine and nobody can inform me that I don’t matter.”
Free: My Seek for That means is out now and preserve scrolling for a breakdown of Knox’s mentions of Kercher and the way she used her memoir to pay tribute:
Making Peace With the Previous
Knox didn’t return to Italy for almost a decade after her wrongful conviction. In 2019, she returned to provide a speech on the Prison Justice Competition, which allowed her to revisit the house she shared with Kercher.
“Meredith was an integral a part of my life. However I feel it’s additionally as a result of I’ve by no means actually had the prospect to mourn her. As I shortly realized in freedom, many individuals thought I had no proper to mourn Meredith. They believed that I had one thing to do along with her homicide, or that Meredith had been forgotten within the wake of my trials, and that this was by some means my fault,” Knox wrote in her memoir. “Both manner, Meredith and I have been inextricably linked, and so it was by some means an extra injustice that I lived whereas she perished. To these vocal critics, the one dignified path for me was to vanish and quietly rely myself fortunate to be alive.”
Knox admitted that she “by no means needed” the “burden” of upholding Kercher’s reminiscence, including, “[It is] one which’s particularly awkward contemplating that I actually didn’t know Meredith all that effectively. However I really feel privileged that I received to know her, as briefly as I did, for who she was, and never, like the various tens of millions who know her identify, merely within the context of her homicide. Meredith stays a central determine in my trauma, however she performed no position in the reason for my very own victimization.”
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Dealing With Criticism
Regardless of the journey to Modena marking a recent begin, Knox known as out the Kercher household’s lawyer, Francesco Maresca, for calling her return “inappropriate.” Knox referred to Maresca as a “jerk” for the general public statements he made about her — however she didn’t fault Kercher’s household.
“I don’t blame the Kerchers for the angle of their lawyer. Like many grieving households in such instances, they have been advised a comforting lie by the prosecution and their attorneys,” she wrote in her guide. “It was extraordinarily irritating to be but once more accused of traumatizing the Kercher household by talking about my wrongful conviction and making an attempt to make use of my expertise to deliver consideration to points that impacts tens of 1000’s of individuals.”
Attempting to Attain Out
John Kercher Sr., John Kercher Jr., Stephanie Kercher, Lyle Kercher, and Arline Kercher. Mirrorpix/MEGA
In her memoir, Knox identified that she “ought to have been allies” with the Kerchers since they have been each “victims” of Guede and the Italian justice system. She revealed she reached out to Kercher’s household a number of instances over time through varied channels.
“I’ve been reluctant to push greater than that as a result of I perceive how painful the very thought of me have to be to them, particularly in the event that they nonetheless assume I had one thing to do with Meredith’s homicide,” she added. “However whether or not they notice it or not, we’ve at all times been on the identical facet.”
The Acknowledgments
Knox talked about Kercher on the finish of her memoir, writing, “To Meredith (RIP), whose legacy I’ll by no means cease honoring, and her household, as a result of I nonetheless hope we are able to share our grief at some point.”
