Monday, November 23, 2009
The Prosecutions’ Closed-Court Reconstruction Of A Brutal And Prolonged Torture Attack
Posted by Our Main Posters
Prosecution video not entered in evidence; this is from the fairly accurate Lifetime Movie
1. The Presentation In Closed Court
The time-line and reconstruction of the attack below were presented in court on Friday 21 November 2009 by the national crime-scene team.
From interviews Italian media reported an account of a premeditated and prolonged attack on Meredith. It included a very graphic computer simulation which upset many in the closed court.
This post relies on those media reports and documents later filed with the court. The simulation was deliberately not placed in evidence as there were fears that if uploaded to YouTube the expected highly negative public reaction could be too prejudicial to the accused.
2. Timeline For Night Of 1-2 Nov
The timing of all the events depicted were multiple-sourced except for the arrival of Rudy Guede, the timing of which is unknown but seems to have been late - maybe around 11:30 pm. Prior to that Knox and Sollecito are depicted as being on watch from the park above while a disabled car is removed. Meredith is inside from around 9:00 PM.
15:48: Meredith texts to her English friends that she will be slightly late for her dinner meeting with them.
16:00 - Meredith leaves the house in Via della Pergola to go to the home of her friends. A few minutes later Raffaele and Amanda leave the cottage in Via della Pergola to go Sollecito’s place.
18:00 - Amanda Knox leaves Raffaele Sollecito’s house. This is indicated by cell phone records.
18:27 - Raffaele Sollecito interacts with his laptop to watch the film “Amelie” alone at home.
20:18 - Amanda Knox in Via Ulisse Rocchi receives a text message (sms) from Patrick Lumumba telling her not to come to work that night.
20.30 - Amanda Knox goes back to Via Garibaldi to the apartment of Raffaele Sollecito.
20:38 - Amanda sends a text message (sms) in reply to Patrick Lumumba.
20:46 - Sollecito turns off his mobile phone. He is still at home in Via Garibaldi.
20:45 ““ Meredith’s meal of pizza with her English friends ends. She starts off in the direction of Via della Pergola with a girlfriend who will leave her halfway to go to her own home.
21:00 - Meredith is at home, she eats a mushroom, she lies down on her bed, and she reads some university lecture notes.
21:10 - From this point on there is no more human interaction with Raffaele Sollecito’s computer.
21:45 - Amanda and Raffaele leave his apartment and go to the Piazza Grimana. Less than 100 meters away from the house in Via della Pergola, the two talk and watch the house and decide what to do. They show a suspicious attitude which is reported in court by the witness Curatolo
23:20 - Amanda opens the door of Via della Pergola.
23.20 - Amanda, Raffaele and Rudy enter the house in Via della Pergola, where Meredith is already present in her room [On the court video there is no simulation of the meeting between Amanda and Rudy, because the reconstruction is based on testimony, the autopsy evidence and medical findings.]
23:21 - Amanda and Raffaele go into Meredith’s bedroom, while Rudy goes into the bathroom.
23:25 - A scuffle begins between Amanda, helped by Raffaele, and Meredith. The English girl is taken by the neck, then banged against a cupboard. Rudy Guede enters and joins in.
23:30 - 23:45 [see Part 3 below] Depiction in the timeline and computer simulation of a prolonged struggle with Meredith at knifepoint, largely undressed, with her several times trying to regain her feet. She was not raped, though sexual humiliation occurred.
23:50 - Amanda and Raffaele take Meredith’s mobile phones and they leave the apartment. Guede goes into the bathroom to get several towels to staunch the blood, then puts a cushion under Meredith’s head.
00.10 - Meredith’s mobile phones are thrown into a garden in Via Sperandio.
00.15 - From this moment, there are no certainties on the times for the rearrangement of the crime scene carried out by Amanda and Raffaele Sollecito. However according to the prosecution in the wee hours of the night Knox and Sollecito returned to the scene of their crime to try and clean up some footprints and to break the window glass of Filomena’s room. The aim was to simulate a robbery that ended in murder and they are charged with this too.
3. Reconstruction Of Attack
It must be emphasized that these EXCERPTS of SUMMARY notes by the crime scene team are only intended to accompany (1) extensive narrative descriptions by various members of the team, (2) references to numerous items in evidence, (3) the simulation video, and (4) questions from the court.
It was made clear that the analysis indicates that Meredith put up a tremendous fight, over a period of approximately 15 minutes, with three strong attackers, before she finally succumbed holding one side of her neck to try to stop her lifeblood running out. She may not have died for as long as one hour.
Italian media reported that those in the closed court told them the Knox and Sollecito defenses raised no disputes or objections of any length except over having the video placed in evidence. Rudy Guede and his legal team had no standing in this court.
RECONSTRUCTION OF ATTACK - FRIDAY 21 NOVEMBER 2009
Excerpts from pages 4 to 14 of the technical report on file with the court.
On the left door of the white wardrobe with sliding doors is found, at a height of approximately 50cm, a high concentration of blood traces.
It is reasonable to suppose that, at the moment of the assault, the victim was kneeling down, or in a similar position, in front of the same wardrobe.
The woman then dragged herself (or was dragged by the attacker or attackers) along the floor to the inside left shoulder of the same piece of furniture, and was later found dead in this same spot (this consideration is drawn from the presence of clear blood streaks).
This reconstruction is further confirmed from a technical scientific point of view, by the results of the technical report on B.P.A. (Blood Pattern Analysis) performed by the Principal Technical Director [D.T.P.] Physics, Dr. Francesco Camana, as a result of the site inspection on 18 December 2007”¦
On the left hand of the victim it is possible to observe numerous blood spots and, in particular, a larger patch on the tip of the index finger of the same hand.
The circumstances lead us to believe that the victim’s hand was near the wound when the blow was inflicted or was brought to that point a few moments later.
This consideration can lead us to think that the individual who was holding the victim still, immediately after this blow, struck in all likelihood by another person, relaxed his or her grip and the woman was able, at the same time, to put her left hand on the wound.
It is interesting to observe that there were no stains of a similar nature on the woman’s right hand.
It cannot be excluded, therefore, that the victim’s right arm remained in the grip of the attacker who, in so doing, probably held the body of the victim until the moment she fell onto the floor.
“¦ The observation, in sequence, of the light blue sweatshirt, of the white T-shirt worn by the victim, of the type of stain in the breast area of the victim and of the bra, allow us to develop other important evaluations.
Firstly we must focus our attention on the characteristics of the stain on the aforementioned sweatshirt.
In fact, this appears to be soaked with blood on the right hand side, i.e., in correspondence of one of the lesions produced in the victim of the attack.
This aspect is a confirmation of the possibility that the garment was worn [by the victim] at the moment of the crime.
Further observations lead us to believe the garment was rolled towards the neck and that the zipper was open.
Further, it must be held that the aforementioned sweatshirt was removed in a second moment from the body of the victim who still wore it. “¦
The clear splashes of blood found on the central part of the breasts allow us to argue as follows.
At the moment the blow was struck the breasts were covered only by the bra and as the sweatshirt and the white T-shirt were rolled up towards the shoulders….
The victim’s bra was found near the feet of the dead body, both straps and the closing band appear to be neatly cut.
On the bra cups and on the breasts of the victim there are numerous traces of blood.
Therefore, the bra was certainly worn by the victim before the violent action by the attacker [started and] caused its removal, allowing blood spray to cover that part of the body. “¦
An analysis of the autopsy photographs shows the presence of bruises on both elbows and on the right forearm of the body, caused by the tight grip of one of more persons who in one or more stages of the event interacted violently with the arms of the victim.
Such lesions are, in fact, due to the rupture of subcutaneous capillaries following strong pressure on the point “¦.
Posted by Our Main Posters on 11/23/09 at 07:45 PM in Various hypotheses, Various scenarios, Pondering motive, The officially involved, The prosecutors, Evidence & Witnesses, Various timelines, Trials 2008 & 2009, Massei prosecution, Hoaxes against Italy, 3 No evidence hoax, Hoaxes Knox & team, 13 AK persona hoax, Hoaxes re Guede, 33 Sole attacker hoax
Comments
What time was the failed call to Meredith’s mother? If I remember correctly, it was before 10 o’clock. I always thought perhaps the attack interrupted her call, or she made the call in an attempt for help. If the murder didn’t happen until much later, why did she never call her mother back? I suppose she could have accidentally called her mom and then hung up when she realized it before she could answer…
This scenario doesn’t even have Amanda and co. entering the house until 11:20 pm. Why so late? Couldn’t the murder have taken place prior to 9:45, and then Amanda and Raffaele went up to the Piazza to watch the house to see if cops would arrive, etc.??
Has the consensus always been that the murder occurred this late?
Posted by chira385 on 11/23/09 at 09:43 PM | #
@chira385
Nara Capezzali heard a long piercing scream from a woman at approximately 23:30.
That kind of scream, the witness described, suggests the physical attack was already in progress. Subsequently after the loud scream they killed the victim and left the cottage.
The scream heard by Nara Capezzali fits the timeline presented by the prosecution.
Posted by Nell on 11/24/09 at 03:08 AM | #
Hi MfromBoston. It sometimes doesnt seem like it but this really is the trial for Sollecito too. He did not speak on the stand during the evidence phase and his team was lower-key than Knox’s. His lead attorney was absent from the court quite often, as she is a member of the ruling party in Rome. His defense summation is coming up next.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 11/24/09 at 04:29 AM | #
This timeline now puts something into perspective for me that has never quite make sense: i.e. why did RG use the toilet and not flush (which generally speaking is an automatic action after using a toilet, particularly in someone else’s home) when he would have known that this was leaving evidence if he was planning a murder.
My take on this now is that RG did not really understand what AK & RS were planning. They had waited for him to arrive so that they could stitch him up. When they entered, he had an urgent call of nature.
AK & RS set their plan in motion to teach MK a violent lesson, perhaps with the clear intention of killing her. RG jumped up off the toilet in a frantic hurry when the screams started, yanked up his trousers, obviously didn’t think to flush, and was drawn directly into the attack by either AK or RS (or both) who then rearranged the crime scene at a later stage to implicate RG.
If this is indeed correct, then RG could have negotiated his sentence (initially) with a plea bargain and turning State’s Witness. It would be appropriate that AK & RS get a much harsher sentence if found guilty, because they seem to be the conniving master-minds behind this atrocity.
RIP MK.
Posted by Terence on 11/24/09 at 11:22 AM | #
i thought there was RG dna on meredith in such a way as to suggest some sexual involvement if not completed rape. i always thought that rudy’s stomach problems were a result of nerves, i.e. he was involved in the sexual part of the attack and when it went too far (with his assistance) he got sick. so sad we will probably never know the truth.
Posted by gramjan on 11/24/09 at 02:02 PM | #
Hi Gramjam. In several Italian newspapers, the attack is described in harrowing detail. And the court of course saw considerably more. Guede is depicted as attacking Meredith just as you understood.
There is not much Italian readers dont know. There were DOZENS of evidence points. Those many that Judge Micheli listed in his report sending Knox and Sollecito to trial, and many more.
We translated the whole of the Micheli report, but we never posted those worst sections - that autopsy etc evidence was heard behind closed doors and it had several of our translators in tears, so enough seemed enough at the time.
Had we translated and posted the whole of the Micheli report, could that have impacted American opinion a year ago and changed its whole course on the case?
Almost certainly yes. The descriptions are HORRIFIC. And there is no way in the world that that attack on Meredith was carried out by a single person.
But at least we put much of Micheli out there in the English-speaking world. .
Most Italian watchers of the case will know full well all that Micheli said. The UK media published only brief, mild excerpts of Judge Micheli’s report. The US media published NONE AT ALL.
Had the US media done so, we might have avoided a year of the “there is no evidence” claims, and the American media doing cartwheels over those mean anti-American Italians framing two poor innocent Americans.
Oops! Wasn’t one of them Italian?
Posted by Peter Quennell on 11/24/09 at 02:30 PM | #
yes, and with all that said, it is curious why AK’s parents continue to protest about no evidence. have they seen/read all that you have mentioned? are they just not in touch with reality or just assuming that NOONE in the united states has access to the micheli report and continue to ignore the obvious truth?
Posted by gramjan on 11/24/09 at 08:54 PM | #
Hi Gramjan. The new post at the top now addresses your point. which others were curious about too. Thanks for posting it here. It helped.
Posted by Peter Quennell on 11/24/09 at 09:10 PM | #
Hello all. To be “introduce” myself, I have been reading all I could find on this case since the assault and murder of Meredith. The evidence conclusively points to the guilt of all three (RG, AK, RS). I have a question about the post above: “21:00 - Meredith is at home, she eats a mushroom, she lies down on her bed, and she reads some university lecture notes.” Is that mushroom psilocybin (magic mushrooms) or the regular fungus? Maybe this is a just a matter of an odd translation or typo? I never read anything about her doing drugs, ever in her life, not that any use would excuse or rationalize the violence she endured. Thank you to the posters/webmasters and translators involved with this site! It is the only one with the real story in English.
Posted by all4justice on 11/26/09 at 09:02 PM | #
The premeditative action is that of switching off their mobile phones, which points towards some plan that none of their statements provide a plausibile reason.
The evidence presented about the staged break-in is the crux of the argument that links Amanda (or someone know to Meredith) to the crime. Further to this the sequence of telephone calls around the time the body was discovered directs the finger of suspicion towards the accused.
The written confession by Amanda where she agreed that she was at the apartment and then named a black man of being the perpetrator cannot be dismissed as pure coincidence when later it was discovered that Rudy was there.
The timelines above sit fairly comfortable with me, but I do feel that Rudy’s role was more prominent in this that is suggested. He was the person that forensics link to the sexual assault and the reason of his presence there is not easily explained. I have my own conclusions, but don’t want to write them here.
I am ready for a guilty verdict now and hope this will be the catalyst to push the 3 to divulge more of what they know.
Posted by morrisoc on 11/29/09 at 03:58 PM | #
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