Death in Perugia

In Perugia, the judge's report records a pattern of inconsistent statements by Knox and Sollecito, who had been dating less than a month. (Sollecito's Facebook page included a photo of himself wrapped in bandages and brandishing a meat cleaver; his Oct. 19 blog post expressed a desire for "extreme sex" to break up the monotony of a regular relationship. According to supporting documents attached to Matteini's report, the couple called the police on the morning of Nov. 2, when, they say, they discovered the door to the villa at 7 Via della Pergola open. Police broke down the locked door to Kercher's room and found her body in a pool of blood, with blood also spattered high on the walls. A photo of the crime scene printed in Italian newspapers shows Kercher's foot sticking out from under her bloodied duvet.

Investigators report finding 120 fingerprints, among them some said to be Knox's, on Kercher's pillow, along with three bloody Nike sneaker footprints on the floor, an exact match in size and style, they say, to Sollecito's shoes. Knox and Sollecito have denied being anywhere near the house that night, insisting they spent the evening at Sollecito's nearby apartment. In Knox's own room, according to her arrest warrant published in the Italian press, not a single fingerprint was found—not even her own—suggesting that someone may have scrubbed it down to hide any evidence. In the latest development, Italian press reports on Thursday say police found that the knife taken from Knox's boyfriend's house has Knox's DNA near the handle and Kercher's on the blade.

According to the Italian authorities, Knox initially denied being at home the evening of the murder. A day later, investigators say, she confessed that she was at home and that her roommate's screams were so loud she had to "cover her ears." In her second statement she named Lumumba, who owns the Le Chic nightclub, where Knox is a waitress, as the perpetrator. Knox said Lumumba had a crush on Kercher and had been invited to their apartment "for sex" that night. In a third version of events, say the authorities, Knox then claimed she had been under the influence of drugs on the night of the murder and indeed had been at her boyfriend's apartment nearby until the next morning.

But it is not just Knox's inconsistencies and fingerprints that Italian authorities are using to build the case against her. The judge's report includes cell phone records indicating that Knox sent a message to Lumumba earlier that evening, telling him her roommate was home and "see you later." Closed-circuit TV footage from a nearby parking garage shown on RAI television clearly shows the 20-year-old American entering the apartment the night of the murder. Investigators have also released information that electronic tagging of the SIM cards in the cell phones of all three suspects placed them in the area of Via Pergola during the evening hours of Nov. 1. Finger marks found on Kercher's body are compatible with Knox's hand, according to Knox's arrest warrant. And, along with a matching footprint, an 8.5cm switchblade knife seized from Sollecito's apartment days after the murder has been identified as consistent with the murder weapon based on the incisions on Kercher's neck. Sollecito has since distanced himself from his American girlfriend. In a behind-bars interview with the Roman daily La Repubblica on Tuesday, Sollecito wrote, through his attorneys Marco Brusco and Luca Mauri, "I never want to see Amanda again. Above all, it is her fault we are here."

Kercher, who watched the movie "The Notebook" with a friend across town on her last night alive, is believed by the investigating judge to have returned home at 9:30 to find Knox, Sollecito and Lumumba waiting. "Initially the American gave a version of events we knew was not correct," Perugia police chief Arturo de Felice told reporters. "She buckled and made an admission of facts we knew were correct and from that we were able to bring them all in. They all participated but had different roles." Under Italian law, the judge's report contains enough incriminating details to hold the suspects for up to a year without charge. But given the mound of evidence presented so far, the case could go to court quickly once charges are filed.

Meanwhile, the allegations against Lumumba, a legal immigrant, have tapped into a larger Italian debate over multiculturalism. Police statistics saying that nearly two-thirds of violent crimes in Italy are carried out by immigrants have triggered a wave of resentment against the new residents; Kercher's murder has done little to cool these passions. In Perugia this has given rise to bitter divisions over the alleged involvement of Lumumba, who has denied being at the students' house that night and offered a receipt printed from the till of his bar at 10:29 p.m. as proof that he was elsewhere. Of the 120 fingerprints lifted from Kercher's bedroom, none has been identified as Lumumba's. Still, there is evidence that Lumumba sent a text message to Knox telling her not to come to work, because he was not opening the bar that night. Investigators also say that his cell phone SIM card was detected in the area around Kercher's house that evening; the next day, the judge says, he changed phones.