Amanda Knox was found guilty of murder for the second time six months ago. She was found guilty by an Italian court, of killing her roommate, British exchange student Meredith Kercher in a drug-fuelled frenzy. Now, Knox has reportedly been linked to local cocaine dealers by Italian authorities and this could derail her forthcoming appeal.
Knox was arrested back in 2007 after the Nov. 1 murder of her Perugia, Italy, roommate, Kercher. Knox’s boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito and an alleged local drug dealer and petty thief, Rudy Guede, were also charged with the crime. Guede took a fast track trial, and was subsequently sentenced to 30 years. But Knox and Sollecito were subjected to a media circus of a trial that saw several hypotheses floated by the prosecution.
Two years ago, a local news media reported that a cocaine ring in Perugia had been uncovered thanks to information police found on Knox’s seized cellphone. On January 14, 2011, Terni magazine reported that a local man had been sentenced to two years and eight months for dealing cocaine.
Knox never commented on those reports, but readily admitted to her acquaintance with alleged thief and accused drug dealer Guede. He and Knox reportedly spent time together at Le Chic nightclub, where she worked, and at the home she shared with Kercher, where he visited the group of boys that lived downstairs from them at the house.
At the same time, Knox’s bank statements from WaMu bank shows she spent roughly $638 in Seattle in the month of July before leaving for Italy. In August, her spending skyrocketed to $2,765.33. That time did include travel to Germany, but still clocked in at nearly four times the $750 per month the local Umbra study abroad programs advises students to budget for typical expenses while abroad.
In September, she took out $2,452.60 from European ATMs, generally taking out in excess of $300 in cash each time. And in October, she took out $1,637.25, all in cash. In the first week of the month alone, she withdrew more than $700. Sollecito also reportedly had only around $50 in his bank account at the time of the murders.
Where did their money go? At the time, Knox was living a largely nocturnal lifestyle. As an employee at Le Chic nightclub, she worked every night from 9:30 p.m. on. Her schedule would later be cut to 10 p.m. on and then only two days a week — Tuesdays and Thursdays, but she still remained a mainstay of the Perugia party circuit until she met Sollecito.
Together, the two admittedly dabbled in the use of marijuana, which became a central issue both during the 2007-2009 trial, and the later appeal.
Even as recently as the December 2013 re-trial closing statements, Kercher family attorney Vieri Enrico Faviani told the court, “We have seen that all of this happened… in conjunction with taking drugs.” And Knox herself has admitted, “Around out house, marijuana was as common as pasta.”
Now, with the appeal process and potential extradition looming, that admission and her alleged connections to harder drugs could send her to jail for the rest of her life.
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