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Murder of Meredith Kercher
The murder of Meredith Kercher occurred in Perugia, Italy, on 1 November 2007.
The case received much media attention in Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Meredith Kercher
Meredith Susanna Cara Kercher, known to her friends as "Mez", was born on 28 December 1985 in Southwark, London, England, and lived in Coulsdon, South London. She had two older brothers and an older sister. Her father is a freelance journalist, and her mother, Arline Kercher, is a housewife, born in India.
Meredith Kercher
Kercher attended the Old Palace School in Croydon and then she took a degree in European Studies at the University of Leeds. At the time of her murder, she was studying for one year at the University of Perugia, as part of the ERASMUS student exchange programme. She appeared in a music video for singer Kristian Leontiou's song "Some Say" shortly before her death.
In Perugia, she shared a flat with Amanda Knox and two Italian women. Kercher's funeral was held on 14 December 2007 at Croydon Parish Church, with more than 300 people in attendance. She has been awarded a posthumous degree by the University of Leeds.
Events surrounding the murder
At 8:40 pm on the night of the murder, witness testimony placed Knox at Sollecito's flat. Kercher spent the early evening with three friends and set off for home at about 8:45 pm, accompanied by a friend. They parted company near the friend's flat shortly before 9 pm.: Kercher then walked the remaining 500 yards (460 m) to her flat.
At some point during the evening, a neighbour heard a "chilling scream" and, soon after, the footsteps of "at least two people" running from the flat. According to investigators, Kercher died in the flat at around 11 pm.
At 12:08 pm the following day, Knox called a flatmate, telling her that she had returned to the flat and found the front door open, a broken window, some blood, and that Meredith was missing. She also called Kercher's two mobile phones. At 12:51 pm and 12:54 pm, Sollecito made calls to 112, the Italian emergency number. Before the Carabinieri arrived in response to these calls, two officers of the Italian Post and Communications Police came to investigate the discovery of the mobile phones carried by Kercher in a nearby garden. Knox and Sollecito were standing outside and told the police that the premises had been burgled, that a window had been broken and that there were bloodstains in the bathroom.
The communications police found blood in several rooms of the flat and near Kercher's locked bedroom. The window in one of the bedrooms had been smashed and there was broken glass and a large stone in a bag on the floor. At around 1 pm, the flatmate whose window had been broken arrived and said that nothing had been taken.
The door to Kercher's room was forced open and the police found Kercher lying beneath a duvet, soaked in blood, with pools and smears of blood around the room. The area was secured for investigation.
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