Monday, June 01, 2020

Yet More Evidence That Knox And Meredith Fought On Fatal Night

Posted by The Machine

The excellent BBC report referred to below

Long post. Click here to go straight to Comments.


1. Our New Translations Continue To Talk

Hoax 4 “No firm DNA” in our right column actually consists of various sub-hoaxes, most of which I and many others here have demolished in the past. 

This post is about the “no mixed blood” sub-hoax. This is one of many evidence points quite pivotal to Amanda Knox’s major and continuing “I’m the real victim” fraud.

In this post, I’m going to debunk the myth that Dr Stefanoni never claimed there was mixed-blood evidence once and for all by providing verbatim quotations from her official report for the Massei court in 2009 and her testimony at the Micheli trial in 2008.

I’ll also put the mixed-blood evidence under the microscope and analyse the reasons why some of Italy’s top DNA experts from the Scientific Police and the RIS Carabinieri believe Amanda Knox’s blood was mixed with Meredith’s blood in different locations in the cottage.

2. Quotes From Experts And Reporters

Andrea Vogt and Barbie Nadeau

Andrea Vogt and Barbie Nadeau repeatedly reported that the prosecution’s experts from the Scientific Police had claimed that Amanda Knox’s blood was mixed with Meredith’s blood in different locations in the cottage.

Dr Stefanoni and the prosecution regarded this as damning evidence against Amanda Knox because it indicates that Knox and Meredith were both bleeding at the same time on the night of the murder and there must have been confrontation between the two.

Andrea Vogt and Barbie Nadeau are both fluent in Italian, they have access to the prosecution’s 10,000-page file and they observed the prosecution’s experts testifying in court at both Rudy Guede’s fast-track trial in 2008 and Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito’s trial in 2009. Despite this, a number of people have attempted to dismiss their reports as fake news or claim they didn’t understand what was being said in court.

However, it should be pointed out it wasn’t only Andrea Vogt and Barbie Nadeau who spoke about the mixed-blood evidence. Judge Gemelli specifically referred to the mixed-blood evidence in his Supreme Court report in 2008:

“to both the women the blood traces found in the bidet.” (Judge Gemelli’s Supreme Court report).

“quelle rinvenute nel lavandino, ad entrambe le ragazze le tracce di sangue rilevate nel bidet”

The Kerchers’ lawyer Francesco Maresca told the media outside the courtroom that the mixed-blood evidence was the most damning piece of evidence against Amanda Knox.

In Andrea Vogt’s excellent BBC documentary, the mixed-blood evidence is the first DNA evidence that is mentioned:

“First, there’s the DNA found in the bathroom. The prosecution says it shows the mixed blood of Amanda Knox and Meredith Kercher in the bidet drain, the sink drain and on a cotton bud box.  There’s also a large drop of Amanda’s blood on the bathroom tap.

“According to the prosecutor, this shows Amanda and Meredith were bleeding at the same time.

Strong evidence there was a fight.”

Trial Prosecutor Dr Comodi

Manuela Comodi also regards the mixed blood evidence as the main evidence against Knox:

“The principal evidence was mixed-blood traces from which were extracted mixed DNA of Amanda and Meredith. The only explanation for that mix is that Amanda was bleeding and touched objects covered in Meredith’s blood. There’s no other explanation.” (Manuela Comodi).

In case anyone doubts the quotations attributed to Manuela Comodi, she specifically refers to “sangue misto” - which is mixed blood - in the documentary.

Andrea Vogt and Barbie Nadeau, Judge Gemelli, Manuela Comodi and Francesco Maresca wouldn’t have specifically referred to the mixed-blood evidence if Dr Stefanoni hadn’t referred to in her official reports for the courts or whilst she was on the stand in court.

Victim’s Lawyer Dr Maresca

In Dr Maresca’s closing arguments at trial in 2009 he repeatedly refers to the mixed-blood evidence and cites the page numbers from Dr Stefanoni’s report to support his assertions:

“I refer to the report, in the records of Dr. Stefanoni acquired at the beginning of the hearing, sampling of presumed blood substance highlighted by luminol technique performed on the floor located in the room used by Romanelli Filomena, is described in page 219 finding 177 I repeat of fundamental importance, a measure of biological substance, two individuals, both women, provided a compatibility result, is compatible with the hypothesis of measurement of biological substance containing blood substance belonging to Knox Amanda and Kercher Meredith.

“Dr. Stefanoni papers 124 and 125 and the results that she inserts in her report tell us that beyond the drawing or not carried out with the same swabs also the other three report the same profile confirming that evidently the genetic profile obtained clearly corresponds to the fact there was a mixture of blood substance between the victim and Amanda Knox”.



Electropherogram of mixed-blood trace, cotton bud box #1 of 3

Dr Stefanoni’s testimony at the Massei trial

Dr Stefanoni categorically states there were three biological substances containing blood belonging to Amanda Knox and Meredith in the small bathroom and two mixed samples presumably containing blood belonging to Amanda Knox and Meredith in her official report for the Massei report.

Mixed blood in Filomena’s room (Rep.177, page 219)

‘‘un profilo genetico derivante da mistura di sostanze biologiche (conententi presumibilemente ematica)appartenenti ad almeno dui individui entrambi di sesso femmminile. Il confronto effettuati tra il genotipo derivante dalla traccia del Rep.177 con quelli appartenenti a KERCHER Meredith Susanna Cara e KNOX Amanda Marie’‘.

‘‘a genetic profile deriving from a mixture of biological substances (presumably containing blood) belonging to at least two individuals both of female gender. The comparison made between the genotype deriving from the trace of the Rep. 177 with those belonging to KERCHER Meredith Susanna Cara and KNOX Amanda Marie’‘.

Mixed blood in the bidet (Rep.66, page 119 )

‘‘The bidet: un profilo genetico derivante da mistura di sostanze biologiche conententi sangue umano appartenenti KNOX Amanda Marie (in misura minora) e KERCHER Meredith Susanna Cara (in misura maggiore)’‘.

‘‘a genetic profile deriving from a mixture of biological substances containing human blood belonging to KNOX Amanda Marie (to a lesser extent) and KERCHER Meredith Susanna Cara’‘.

Mixed blood on the cotton bud box and the basin (Rep 136-7, page 175)

‘‘contenenti certamente sostanze ematica appartenenti ad almeno dui individui entrambi di sesso femminile. Il confronto effettuati tra il genotipo derivante dalla due tracce analizzate con quelli appartenenti a KERCHER Meredith Susanna Cara e KNOX Amanda Marie’‘.

‘‘a genetic profile deriving from a mixture of biological substances certainly containing blood substances belonging to at least two individuals both of female gender. The comparison made between the genotype deriving from the two traces analyzed with those belonging to KERCHER Meredith Susanna Cara and KNOX Amanda Marie’‘

Mixed blood in the hallway (Rep.183, page 224)

‘‘un profilo genetico derivante da mistura di sostanze biologiche (conententi presumibilemente ematica)appartenenti ad almeno dui individui entrambi di sesso femmminile. Il confronto effettuati tra il genotipo derivante dalla traccia del Rep.183 con quelli appartenenti a KERCHER Meredith Susanna Cara e KNOX Amanda Marie’‘.

‘‘a genetic profile deriving from a mixture of biological substances (presumably containing blood) belonging to at least two individuals both of female gender. The comparison made between the genotype deriving from the trace of the Rep. 183 with those belonging to KERCHER Meredith Susanna Cara and KNOX Amanda Marie’‘.

Dr Stefanoni’s testimony at the Micheli trial

Dr Stefanoni categorically stated Amanda Knox’s blood was mixed with Meredith’s blood in three different spots in the small bathroom when testifying at Rudy Guede’s fast-track trial in 2008:

“mi spiego, almeno cerco di spiegarmi, allora bagno io non ho trovato soltanto una traccia ematica mista, ne ho trovato soltanto tre, piu o meno in zone molte vicinie quindi sulla scatola del cotton fioc, nel lavindo e vicino, nei pressi della scarico del bidet, tutte tre queste tracce apparivano ad occhio non essere sangue intero, mi spiego, non essere sangue cosi come viene fuori du una ferita, questa e sangue contente acqua, per il fatto del colore era practicamente rosato, per cui il fatto che per coincidenza questa tre tracce siano state poste in temp diversi mi sembra improbabile ma non lo escludo perche il DNA non datible cioe si. puo ritrovare DNA anche dopo anni.

“I’ll explain myself, at least I try to explain myself, then in the bathroom I didn’t just find one mixed-blood trace, I found three, more or less in areas very close to the cotton swab box, in the washbasin and nearby, near the drain of the bidet, all three of these traces appeared to the eye not to be whole blood, I mean, not to be blood as it comes out of a wound, this is blood containing water, due to the fact of the color it was practically pink, so it seems unlikely to me that these three traces have been placed at different times by some coincidence, but I do not exclude it because the DNA is not datable, that is yes. You can find DNA even after many years.” (Dr Stefanoni’s trial testimony, 4/10/2008 page 168)

“Una traccia ematica mista” is a mixed-blood trace.

Professor Torre asked her to confirm there was mixed blood and here’s her answer.

“Yes, the blood of both”

“Si, il sangue dell’uno e dell’altro” (Yes, the blood of one and the other).



Electropherogram of mixed-blood trace, cotton bud box #2 of 3

Confirmation from other experts

Which other experts believe Amanda Knox’s blood was mixed with Meredith’s blood?

Some of Italy’s top DNA experts from the Scientific Police and the RIS Caribinieri are sure Amanda Knox’s blood was mixed with Meredith’s blood in different locations in the cottage.

They quote a number of specific reasons i.e. there was more of Knox’s DNA in some of these mixed samples, the peaks were were of similar heights, indicating similar concentrations of DNA from both women in the samples, and some of Knox’s peaks were extremely high.

Touch DNA results in minute amounts of DNA being deposited, compared with that in blood. You can expect to find roughly ten times the number of cells in blood compared to the number of cells left from touching an object. White corpuscles provide an immense quantity of DNA compared with other substances.

According to the authors of Darkness Descending Dr Stefanoni explained to Dr Mignini how she knew Amanda Knox’s blood was mixed with Meredith - and not another substance like saliva.

“She said that she had identified a large blob of Amanda’s blood on the tap, and their blood was mixed in the basin, bidet and the cotton bud box. This meant Meredith and Amanda must have been bleeding at the same time. The implication was that Amanda had cut herself in the violence of the murder struggle. Stefanoni wanted to confirm this.

“‘Excuse my ignorance, sorry to interrupt,’ Mignini said. ‘Can you explain to me how you know the sample contains blood both from the victim and Knox? Couldn’t be just be the victim’s blood and say, another biological substance, saliva for example, from Knox?’ Stefanoni explained she knew both samples were blood because white corpuscles provide an immense quantity of DNA compared with other substances, and this sample contained a lot of Amanda’s DNA. ‘This in itself proves it is blood,’ said Stefanoni, and added ‘Actually, in some cases we see more of Amanda’s DNA than Meredith’s, such as here in the basin. This means that there is a lot of Amanda’s blood, not a smudge.’”

The explanation attributed to Dr Stefanoni is basically the same as General/Professor Garofano’s in the book.

“However, here is the electropherogram and you can see that the RFU value is very high, so the sample is undoubtedly blood, which is the body fluid that provides the greatest amount of DNA.

In some cases you see higher peaks of Amanda’s DNA than Meredith’s. Amanda has been bleeding. (Luciano Garafano, Darkness Descending, page 371).

“Let’s say the assassin used the basin and bidet to wash the knife: if you look at the electropherograms you’ll see that there seems to be more of Amanda Knox’s blood than Meredith’s. There is a copious blood loss by Amanda.”  (Luciano Garofano, Darkness Descending, page 374).

Back to Dr Stefanoni again

Dr Stefanoni testified in court that it’s possible to tell from the electropherogram who left the greater amount of blood in a mixed-blood sample:

‘‘the trace is composed of two DNAs in a quantitively different manner: maybe one has lost a tiny drop of blood and a big drop blood of the other ended up on top of it - thus a larger quantity of DNA - even this can be seen in this graph.”

Click below for a larger image. You can see in the overlay graph that some of Amanda Knox’s peaks are higher than Meredith’s.



Electropherogram of mixed-blood trace, cotton bud box #3 of 3

3. Closer look at mixed-blood evidence

This further analysis now proceeds location-by-location within the entire crime scene.

Mixed-blood evidence in hallway and Filomena’s room

Professor Garofano says the Luminol-revealed prints at the cottage are in blood because of their high luminosity and the DNA test indicated the presence of Meredith’s blood:

“But let’s see what the prints actually mean. First of all, from their sheer luminosity they are blood. The DNA test showed Meredith’s blood in all cases except for two places in which we have a mixed Amanda and Meredith sample.”

Dr Stefanoni made the same points when speaking about the Luminol prints when she was being questioned on the stand during the Massei trial:

“So I, with genetic analysis, can say with certainty that there was blood”.

She also pointed out the Luminol reacts to differently to blood compared to other substances:

“in other words everything that is not blood, is nonetheless different even if it is still a bluish fluorescence: that is, the colour does not change, [but] the intensity and the duration change. So in effect, the intensity, thus, of that blue or that azure, so intense, is not given off, in general, by other reagents that are not blood: they give a weaker fluorescence”.

Prosecutor Manuela Comodi pointed out that Dr Stefanoni had ruled out the Luminol could have been reacting to a substance other than blood:

“Remember, Stefanoni also took samples of those traces on the floor, sometimes finding the victim’s DNA, sometimes the victim’s / Knox’s mixed DNA, specifying: she would never have been able to find any DNA if the trace had been produced from rust, fruit juice or bleach.”

Here’s the relevant courtroom testimony:

QUESTION - Excuse me, doctor, you said before that since luminol enhances different substances not only blood cannot assert precisely the biological nature of those traces enhanced with luminol, but I ask you: you sampled in the biological inspection those traces there enhanced with luminol and found genetic profiles, if that trace had been produced by bleach would the genetic profiles have found them?

ANSWER - No, because bleach destroys DNA.

QUESTION - Exactly I say it was material other than biological material, let’s not call it blood, let’s call it generically biological material, it was rust, it was fruit juice, etc., would it have found genetic profiles?

ANSWER - No, DNA is specific ... that analysis is specific to human DNA. We said this.

Mixed-blood evidence in small bathroom #1

Barbie Nadeau told Denis Murphy from NBC that the mixed-blood evidence in the bidet convinced Dr Stefanoni that Knox was involved in Meredith’s murder:

“The most damaging forensic evidence against Amanda was what the prosecution’s expert said was mixed blood DNA of Amanda and Meredith found on the drain of the bidet.”

“Barbie Nadeau: She was convinced that it showed that Amanda Knox was involved in this crime.”

There was a live chat with Barbie Nadeau on The Daily Beast website and Bruce Fischer - a muddled fur coat salesman from Chicago’s outer suburbs - disagreed with Barbie’s claim there was mixed-blood evidence. This was her response:

“There are mixed genetic traces in spots of blood in which Amanda’s traces are higher than Meredith’s. That implies mixed blood according to the dozens of forensics experts I’ve interviewed about this.” (Barbie Nadeau, The Daily Beast).

It speaks volumes about Barbie’s diligence and her ethical commitment to the truth that she checked to see whether dozens of forensic scientists agreed with Dr Stefanoni’s claim. Barbie wasn’t prepared to accept her claim at face value. It should also be noted that they did agree.

Mixed-blood evidence in small bathroom #2

We look here at the significance of the three mixed-blood traces in the small bathroom in relation to Amanda Knox’s blood on the tap

Both Dr Stefanoni and Professor Garofano think it’s significant that Amanda Knox’s blood was found alone on the tap close to the three mixed-blood samples in the small bathroom because it provides further corroboration that Amanda Knox’s blood was mixed with Meredith’s blood.

Professor Garofano said it ”is logical to the put bloodstain in relation with the blood in the bidet and washbasin”.

Dr Stefanoni also thought it is significant there were three mixed-blood samples in the small bathroom were close to Knox’s blood on the tap. She made this point at Rudy Guede’s fast-track trial:

“So, let’s say, this reasoning that has been addressed by both you and Professor Torre is not taken into account, however, also of another circumstance which, however, must be recognized if you do not express a judgment, let’s say, of any kind that always in the narrow sampling area, just a short distance from the traces of the cotton swab, from the traces in the sink and from the traces in the bidet which were, let’s say, objects close enough, let’s say, in the space there is also a trace of blood not apparently washed out whole blood, as I say, on the tap of this sink that belongs only to a person [Amanda Knox].”

Amanda Knox’s forensic expert Sarah Gino acknowledges that Knox’s blood might have been mixed with Meredith’s blood, though she also claims it’s possible the blood was left at different times:

“Maybe there was blood from both of them [Amanda Knox and Meredith Kercher], but what does that mean? Maybe someone had a bloody nose one time and then at another moment someone cut their finger and put it down and their blood got mixed.” (Dr Sarah Gino, Amanda Knox’s forensic expert).

But Professor Garofano for one ruled out the possibility that Knox’s blood on the tap was old blood and it was touched it:

“Amanda’s blood is recent. It is dry, but it hasn’t been touched or cleaned. There is no fingerprint in it.”

Professor Garofano also ruled out the possibility that the blood in the basin was old blood:

“Nor is it old blood as the defence might say, because blood decays fast.”

Francesco Maresca pointed out in his closing arguments that Amanda Knox herself had admitted there was no blood in the small bathroom on the afternoon of 1 November 2007:

“Just a few seconds to draw your attention to some passages of the examination made in front of you by Amanda Knox, in cards 49 she reiterates that on November 1st, the afternoon before the murder, obviously there were no traces of blood in the bathroom and in the house”.

4. Various Conclusions From All Of This

The extract of Dr Stefanoni’s courtroom testimony above from the Micheli trial shatters the myth that she didn’t claim there was mixed-blood evidence.

It also proves that Andrea Vogt and Barbie Nadeau weren’t lying and they didn’t misunderstand what had been said in court.

Also Judge Massei didn’t confirm the prosecution’s assertion that Amanda Knox’s blood was mixed with Meredith because, he said, Dr Stefanoni didn’t definitively rule out the possibility that Knox’s DNA was from a substance other than blood and the fact she didn’t have any visible wounds.

It should be pointed out that Judge Massei isn’t a forensic scientist. He doesn’t have any forensic qualifications, experience or training. He doesn’t know how to read and interpret electropherograms.

However, he still thought the mixed traces in the small bathroom were evidence that she had washed Meredith’s blood off in the small bathroom so he tilted toward Dr Stefanoni.

The Italian Supreme Court agreed with how Massei handled this said the mixed traces were “eloquent proof” she had washed Meredith’s blood off in the small bathroom - which is still damning evidence against her.

Dr Stefanoni’s forensic finding that Amanda Knox’s blood was mixed with Meredith’s blood in different locations in the cottage has been confirmed by Dr Biondo - the head of the DNA Unit of the Scientific Police - and Professor Garofano - the former head of the RIS Carabinieri. They both have PhDs in forensic science. It’s safe to assume they know what they’re talking about.

Amanda Knox’s hardcore supporters have claimed for years that they have read all the official court transcripts (really? most are still not translated) and they were absolutely adamant that Dr Stefanoni didn’t testify there was mixed-blood evidence.

They were lying - clearly - and they were completely wrong. There’s no justification for their absolute certainty.  No-one should believe anything they say unless it can be corroborated because they have proved themselves to be dishonest and untrustworthy time and time again.

I’d rather trust the professional opinions of DNA experts such as Dr Stefanoni, Dr Biondo and Professor Garofano than someone who has no forensic qualifications or experience. They are well-qualified and extremely experienced forensic scientists who have analysed DNA evidence from countless crime scenes.

Very fine work.

Posted by The Machine on 06/01/20 at 03:53 PM in

Comments

Some of you may have downloaded Olleosnep’s very helpful spreadsheet recording Stefanoni’s lab record of findings.

https://tinyurl.com/y8hmhtpa

I had another look at it some time ago. The following numbered items I found interesting.

413 - Knox’s bedroom floor blood stain in the shape of a foot, by the window presumed blood trace A yes yes yes yes yes yes Knox

414 - Knox’s bedroom floor blood stain in the shape of a foot, by the window presumed blood trace A yes yes yes yes yes yes Knox

415 - Knox’s bedroom floor blood stain in the shape of a foot, by the door presumed blood trace A yes yes yes yes yes yes Knox

The yes’s are to confirm other revealed information. For instance each item is confirmed as having been revealed by luminol, and human DNA was extracted from the sample, which was Knox’s. No TMB tests were carried out. One of the footprints was attributed, on the basis of measurements, to Knox.

Interestingly Meredith’s DNA was not in any of the samples.

What to make of this?

Posted by James Raper on 06/02/20 at 05:41 AM | #

Hi James,

It seems to be further corroboration that Amanda Knox was bleeding on the night of the murder and she tracked her own blood into different parts of the cottage.

Professor Garofano claims there was copious blood loss from Knox and that she may have had two cuts.

“There is copious blood loss by Amanda. Not from a pierced ear, nor from washed underwear, but from bleeding. A bleeding nose, maybe a cut, or two cuts because we have to consider the blood stains in the corridor. Which is a different issue.”

He also stated that she walked round the cottage while covered in her own blood:

“Ok, we have mixed blood from Amanda and Meredith. This falls in line with the findings in the bathroom. Amanda Knox was bleeding while Meredith’s blood was travelling around the house. She walked around in her own blood, blood that she also had on her body, while walking around with Meredith’s blood on her bare feet.”

Posted by The Machine on 06/02/20 at 06:22 AM | #

@James She did test for blood.

From Massei:
‘[198] In the small bathroom, three traces of the victim’s blood were found on the bathmat; on the light switch plate with two switches there were traces “of diluted blood, blood presumably mixed with water, as it was pale pink in colour’ (page 76) which also came from the victim; a sample was taken from the front part of the faucet of the sink, which yielded the genetic profile of Amanda Knox; another sample taken from a specimen visible to the naked eye on the edge of the drain of the bidet yielded the genetic profiles of the victim and of Knox, a genetic mixture also found on the box of cotton buds near the sink.
The drippings found inside the sink appeared to be diluted blood, pink in colour, proven by testing to be human blood and yielding the genetic mixture of the victim and Knox.

On the toilet cover there was a bloody substance which yielded the genetic profile of the victim; this was also found on the door-frame. Near the toilet flush was another stain presumed to be blood, but which ended up yielding a negative result. ‘

and

‘Moving on to the findings taken from the small bathroom, it was pointed out that there was a substance most likely of a blood-derived nature on the ‚edge of the bidet drain‛; the sample was taken during the inspection in order to extract the specimen that yielded a genetic result of a mixed profile: victim plus Knox. It was positive for human blood.

The same procedure was done on the container of cotton swabs that was on the sink. The collected sample revealed a mixed genetic profile; victim plus Knox and it tested positive for human blood.

Posted by KrissyG on 06/02/20 at 07:42 AM | #

@Krissy

When I said that no TMB tests were performed I was talking about the presumed blood stains on Knox’s bedroom floor.

@TM

I do not know how flourescent samples 413-415 were, nor how high the RFUs were in the electropherogram, but I am willing to accept that the samples were blood, rather than a false reading. I suppose the absence of Meredith’s DNA in these samples is only surprising because we think of Knox walking around in Meredith’s blood.

Massei certainly had Knox looking out of her bedroom window to see if the coast was clear, obviously after the murder and when there would be a very good chance that she would have had the victim’s blood on her feet. Hellmann tried to rubbish that notion by pointing out that had Knox been walking around in Meredith’s blood then her DNA would likely be more prevalent in the luminol revealed samples then was in fact the case. He may have had in mind samples 413-415 by way of example.

However it doesn’t have to be in that order. The hypothesis a lot of us have considered is that matters escalated at Knox’s prompting after a physical confrontation between the two. What then happened we can only speculate but here is some evidence that instead of going into the small bathroom, or immediately escalating the physical confrontation, Knox retreated to her own bedroom and bled, likely from a nose bleed sustained in the scuffle. She stood accidently in her own blood. At some later point she bled again, in the small bathroom leaving her blood on the faucet, but perhaps after Meredith had been killed.

It may be that clearing up her own blood in her bedroom took up most of her attention, explaining why she overlooked the blood on the faucet.

Posted by James Raper on 06/02/20 at 09:54 AM | #

Knox’s blood mixed with Meredith’s is what convinced me of her guilt. I really like this thorough examination of the blood evidence, confirmed by many top-notch experts in DNA and crime scene analysis.

@James Raper, I really like your reasoning, good hypothesis of “why she overlooked the blood on the faucet.” Knox was clearing up “her own blood in her bedroom” possibly from a nosebleed. I also venture to suggest she cut her foot on a piece of broken glass. There was some piece of glass lodged in the flooring (?) of Meredith’s bedroom (please refresh my feeble memory on this point).

As if from a drinking glass with water in it, perhaps on Meredith’s desk or bedside the table? A glass of water as many have at night had gotten broken in a struggle. Or perhaps the perps were forcing Meredith to drink liquor from a glass, even to revive her???

The latter is unlikely and highly speculative, but more possible is a piece of glass on the floor and Knox walking barefoot during the cleanup. The glass from the broken window in Philomena’s room? it was scattered around on her floor.

Glass on the floor might have resulted in a bad cut to Knox’s foot that would have been easy to hide under a bandage wearing socks and shoes when she met the police. Even easier to hide than a swollen red nose???

Posted by Hopeful on 06/02/20 at 11:22 AM | #

Hi Hopeful,

As soon as Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito completely changed their stories, I knew they were involved in Meredith’s murder. When I read their witness statements, it was obvious they were trying to hide the truth by claiming they were suffering from cannabis-induced amnesia and giving very vague accounts for that night.

When it transpired they had both repeatedly told the police a pack of lies in their witness statements on 5 November 2007, I had absolutely no doubts that they were involved in Meredith’s murder.

Knox didn’t just lie to the police, she lied repeatedly to Filomena on 2 November 2007, and to her friends in Seattle in an e-mail on 4 November 2007. I can’t stress enough the significance of the sequence of her calls to Meredith’s and Filomena’s phones on 2 November 2007.

She called Meredith’s phone first and then phoned Filomena literally a minute later and pretended she hadn’t called Meredith even though she was specifically asked whether she had by Filomena. She lied to her friends in her e-mail, claiming that she had called Filomena first. It’s not hard to understand the significance of the sequence of these calls and the conversation Knox and had with Filomena.

It should give anyone who is convinced Knox is innocent pause for thought and make them experience cognitive dissonance.

Judge Massei rightly pointed out this was significant and indicated Knox already knew Meredith was dead and was checking to see if her phones had been phoned. The reason for covering Meredith’s body with the duvet, the locking of her door and the theft and dumping of her phones becomes crystal clear when you think about the sequence of Knox’s phone calls and her provable lie that she had called Meredith’s phone first.

I heard Steve Moore speaking about the case on Sunday and he completely ignores the fact that Knox and Sollecito lied before their questioning on 5 November 2007. This is an indisputable fact as evidenced by the computer and telephone records. This means their lies can’t be attributed to police coercion or brutality.

It was no surprise that Knox and Sollecito were implicated by multiple pieces of DNA and forensic evidence given the fact they had both given multiple false alibis and lied repeatedly to the police and others.

Posted by The Machine on 06/02/20 at 12:09 PM | #

@Hopeful,

Yes there was a piece of glass on the floor in Meredith’s room.I do not think it was subjected to a swab for analysis, but can check. However had it been swabbed revealing Knox’s DNA I think that would have been pretty incriminating. I suspect it was looked at but as no visible trace was apparent it was left at that.

It most likely came from the broken window, having been tracked or carried on clothing into the room. There was no other broken glass in the room. A glass tumbler containing water can be seen in the crime scene photographs on Meredith’s bedside table. The fact that this and the other contents of the table had not been disturbed merely amplifies, for me, the extent of physical restraint to which Meredith was subjected when she was attacked which would require more than one perpetrator, particularly if it involved sexual humiliation.

I further suspect that the glass got there when the perpetrators, having staged and set the scene, returned to her room to collect the keys, before locking the door and leaving.

P.S One doesn’t have to be biffed all that hard for one’s nose to bleed, and sometimes that can be a delayed reaction.

Posted by James Raper on 06/02/20 at 12:14 PM | #

The fact that Knox initially claimed she spent the entire evening at Sollecito’s apartment on the night of the murder, instead of admitting she was on her way to Le Chic, indicates something significant happened when she was away from Sollecito’s apartment; e.g. she bumped into Rudy Guede and arranged to meet up with him later that evening.

Mignini thinks she was on Via Ulisse Rocchi when she received the text message from Diya Lumumba at 8:18pm, telling her not to go to work that night. Via Ulisse Rocchi is between Sollecito’s apartment and Le Chic. When she replied to him at 8:35pm, her mobile phone pinged the phone tower that covers Sollecito’s apartment.

What was she doing during this time from 8:18pm to 8:35pm?

Posted by The Machine on 06/02/20 at 12:33 PM | #

Not only were the pair decreed by ALL the courts to have lied ‘umpteen times’ (Marasa-Bruno), they never have revealed what they did that evening.

The time from when they left the cottage at between 4:00 and 5:00 in the evening up until 9:00 or even 11:00 pm remains mysterious.  It is fascinating both omitted to tell police they were in the Old Town of Perugia until about 9:00-ish that evening.  In Waiting to be Heard and her Prison Diary which she knew was being read by prison staff Knox doesn’t mention going into the Old Town at all.

Sollecito in Honor Bound and in his police statements is equally evasive.  However, police knew they were there and Sollecito only mentions it when they do.

Why lie?  What are the pair trying to hide?

Police also pinged Rudy Guede in the Old Town, who claimed he had popped by for a kebab (the one that caused him an upset stomach inside the cottage).

Posted by KrissyG on 06/02/20 at 02:31 PM | #

Alberto Intini claimed Amanda Knox’s blood was mixed with Meredith’s blood in the sink and on the cotton bud box in 2007:

Alberto Intini, Italy’s chief forensic officer, said traces of Amanda Knox’s blood had been found “mixed together” with Kercher’s blood in a sink in the bathroom at the villa they shared.

Intini said blood belonging to the two women was also found on a box of cotton swabs on the side of the sink. He told CNN that drops of Kercher’s blood were also found on the bathroom floor.

https://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/12/21/kercher.murder/index.html#ContentArea

Posted by The Machine on 06/02/20 at 03:33 PM | #

@James Raper, thanks for confirming glass on Meredith’s floor. And I agree Knox got a nose slap and nosebleed, wondered if a cut foot might have been an additional source of blood for bloody footprints in Knox’s room.

@The Machine, how I wish you could debate Steve Moore face to face. The facts in your post above are MORE THAN ENOUGH to prove Knox was at the murder scene and mixed her blood with the victim’s.  How in the world can Steve Moore pooh pooh these irrefutable blood findings at a crime scene, he a former FBI agent who would surely take such into consideration were the suspects not his idea of a hottie.

How I wish James Raper, Peter Quennell, KrissyG and The Machine could debate Steve Moore and see how he could possibly dismiss such scientific evidence of Knox blood mixed with Meredith’s blood. It’s not just Stefanoni saying so. Dr. Stef is backed up by General Garofano, a top expert.

Judge Gemelli and Comodi along with attorney Maresca accepted Dr. Stef’s assessment. Even Knox’s forensic “expert” Sara Gino accepted that Knox’s blood was mixed with the deceased’s blood. Boy, that’s a mountain to climb to try to make disappear.

Sara Gino tried to excuse what she accepted as her client’s mixed blood with the victim’s using such flimsy arguments as “oh, one woman had a nosebleed one time and left some drops of blood. Much later one of the women cut her finger and left some blood. They mingled but were left at different times, nothing to do with the murder”. This seems to be her ridiculous argument.

Then Garofano axes this nonsense when he said all the blood was still fresh, and that blood corrodes quickly, it was not old blood, it was still fresh blood. So that refutes the random mixing of the blood from time past.

Further refutation: As The Machine points out testimony from Knox’s own mouth says there was no blood in the bathroom before she came into cottage so fake innocently on the very day Meredith’s dead body was found. So how did her blood get mixed, since there was none of her blood there before Meredith’s was shed, by Knox’s own account?

@KrissyG, you refer to Knox’s Umpteen lies. That seems a perfect way to describe the lying machine known as Amanda Knox, umpteen lies and more where those came from. She’s really almost a lying phenomenon.

I think Raffaele learned to be another facile liar by lying to his Dad for years to get Daddy off his back re: drug use and dilly dallying with schoolwork and general passive-aggressive resistance to Dad’s authority after Mom died.

He and Knox lied left and right to police, and as The Machine points out, Knox brazenly lied to friends via the Seattle email she sent to so many people (after she’d been asked not to communicate by police, irrc). She wanted to get her story out there, ahem, I mean her pack of lies out there, fast.

Just a fantasy but I wish some of the commenters on here who have read the Knox and Sollecito books (I couldn’t stomach their sorry books nor bear to give them a penny, but the books would be good research material into their lying brain prints)—

but how I wish those who know the case backwards and forwards especially the tedious DNA issues and phone call logs, could shake some sense into the FOA blind bats, especially into their strange spokesman former FBI agent Steve Moore who rejects all forensic evidence against Knox but would probably arrest anybody else who had left so much blood evidence and a trail of lies and double talk like Knox spewed out claiming her drugged up amnesia.

I bet Moore would put cuffs on such obvious deceivers super pronto, were they not a cute college girl in his admiring eyes. It’s hard to believe he is still arguing the Knox defense as of Sunday May 2020…

How can Steve Moore possibly believe a word out of lovesick puppy Sollecito’s mouth after Solleci admitted to police that he lied for his sweetheart?? And Solleci didn’t tell just one small white lie, but he told the POLICE that he had told them a huge pack of lies because Knox had asked him to!!!! If Moore as a policeman heard that from a person of interest, wouldn’t he consider it a huge red flag and permanently distrust that individual’s testimony? Of course he would.

The blood evidence so clearly outlined in the post above will continue to testify against Knox and her boyfriend.

New readers will see the above post and charts. They’ll judge for themselves. The tide will turn. Truth will out.

Truth takes time.

Maybe on too personal a note, but we used to sing a great lively gospel song, “The blood will never lose its power.” (holy blood of Christ).

But another Old Testament word, “The life is in the blood.” (I think reference in Leviticus re: abstain from eating blood in meat, a dietary advice). Then much later, science proved that blood contains the life-giving oxygen that feeds every cell to keep a body alive.

The point is: the blood will never lose its power in this case or in any murder case to point a finger at those who shed innocent blood. The blood will never lose its power.

Posted by Hopeful on 06/02/20 at 03:50 PM | #

This news broke in the UK a short time ago;

Madeleine McCann disappearance: Police reveal details about latest suspect

The German, who is in prison for other offences, had his car re-registered in someone else’s name the day after the girl vanished.

https://tinyurl.com/ya5pvb86

The man is a convicted sex offender.

Posted by The Machine on 06/03/20 at 02:54 PM | #

The German police believe this man murdered Madeleine McCann.

Posted by The Machine on 06/03/20 at 02:58 PM | #

I hope this is the final chapter in the McCann ordeal.

A 43-year-old German pedo who was 30 when Maddie disappeared and is now in German prison on other charges, drove a black older model Jaguar around the Algarve when the McCanns vacationed there.

He had the car re-registered in Germany under a different name the day after Maddie’s disappearance, although the Jag was left in Portugal. He also had a white van that he drove and lived in, in the Algarve area of Portugal. Rented a house there, one day he vanished.

In Algarve area he did odd jobs, but was a thief. He may have gone into the McCann’s room to steal, then found the child. He’s tall and slim about 6 feet with short blonde hair. If this man killed sweet little Madeleine, may he get the death penalty.

He came to the notice of the investigation in 2017. Police are still trying to find enough evidence against him. His guilt is not a sure thing yet.

May the McCann family soon get justice for their precious daughter.

May the police learn the truth about this man and find Maddie’s body if she was killed, put an end to the McCann’s 13 year nightmare.

Posted by Hopeful on 06/03/20 at 08:43 PM | #

Thanks Machine and Hopeful.

The German does look like a very good possibility. It seems the point in going public now about the suspect is to jog peoples’ memories about him. Pity an image of him is forbidden.

This case occurred in 2007, the same year as Meredith’s, and we posted in 2012 about it, hoping it might help the Kercher family to acquire similar official funding. They might have done - if the Italian investigators had not done such a good job. Pretty ironic.

https://tinyurl.com/yb52g7k3

It was Germany police that spotted and arrested Rudy Guede of course. BBC global news carried a good report last night, and the NY Times reports on it today Thursday.

https://tinyurl.com/y75ajc92

Posted by Peter Quennell on 06/04/20 at 06:28 AM | #

The German police are convinced Christian B murdered Madeleine McCann.

They wouldn’t be convinced he killed her unless they have very good reasons to believe so. They haven’t made all the evidence against him public. I gather it includes an intercepted conversation.

It’s disingenuous of Scotland Yard to claim this is a missing person case because they have believe Madeleine was abducted, raped and murdered by a predatory paedophile.

The Daily Mail have published the suspect’s full name and have been leaking details from the investigation:

https://tinyurl.com/y9tscymr

Posted by The Machine on 06/04/20 at 10:16 AM | #

Here’s the question about the mixed-blood evidence that Amanda Knox’s hardcore supporters can’t answer:

What scientific evidence does Judge Massei have to support his opinion that it was Meredith’s blood mixed with Amanda Knox’s epithelial DNA?

I’ll answer the question for them because they clearly don’t want to acknowledge the truth i.e. he doesn’t have any scientific evidence to support his opinion.

He doesn’t refer to the electropherograms that show that Amanda Knox’s DNA peaks were extremely high in each of the mixed-blood samples in the small bathroom and in some cases were higher than Meredith’s DNA peaks.

Knox’s supporters cite his opinion on this as if he’s an infallible authority on DNA evidence. However, whenever he says something they don’t like e.g. the Luminol was reacting to Meredith’s blood or there was no contamination, they suddenly regard him as an unreliable source of information.

Posted by The Machine on 06/04/20 at 10:30 AM | #

Well this Christian B. has been known about since 2007.  Problem is, he is just one of dozens, if not hundreds, of known pornographers and general perverts in the area at the time.

He has been rule out twice before.  The German police haven’t charged him despite a whole year of investigation, possibly longer.

This is because he is currently serving a sentence for which he was only charge in 2015, committed in 2005.  The conviction was for the rape of an elderly woman.  The strange thing is, the crimes seems to have been carefully choreographed for a porn film, and indeed, a cleaning lady found all sorts of props, such as wigs and costumes in bin bags after he left.

He’s said to be a child abuser but that seems to mean anything these days.  For example, joining Tinder and pretending to be a sixteen-year-old.

I am sceptical at the moment but if there is positive forensic evidence from one of the vehicles as is suggested, that might put a new light on it.

Posted by KrissyG on 06/04/20 at 11:16 AM | #

Hi Krissy,

Christian B has multiple convictions for child sex abuse:

In 1994, he was given a two-year youth jail sentence for sexually abusing a child when he was 17.

In 2013, he abused another little girl and was caught with child pornography and was jailed for those offences in 2016

He returned to Portugal where he was arrested in June 2017 and was extradited again to Germany. The reason was a sentencing of the Braunschweig district court to 15 months’ imprisonment for the sexual abuse of a child.

DNA evidence isn’t required for a murder conviction. Ian Huntley, Levi Bellfied and Mark Bridger were all convicted of murder without any DNA evidence.

I have every faith in the German police. Their work is painstakingly thorough and meticulous. They have slowly put together the pieces of the jigsaw and they think the picture has now become clear.

They haven’t revealed all the evidence they have against Christian B, but I gather it includes an intercepted chatroom conversation. We also don’t know what he told his friend about what happened to Madeleine. They want to make sure the case against him is airtight.

Posted by The Machine on 06/04/20 at 12:05 PM | #

It is worth repeating what I have said before, which is that with regard to to the samples from the small bathroom the scientific evidence does not by itself confirm mixed blood. Remember that as to this the tests confirmed that the samples were human blood and that the DNA of both Meredith and Knox had been extracted from them.

On that basis we would not even know that there was any blood from Meredith there.

HOWEVER, and before people start yelling at me, there are other factors that have to be considered, and in this respect interpretation of the scientific results plays a part, along with context, logic and one’s natural intuition based on experience (or common sense). The latter can be lay or professional, depending on who is giving the opinion.

It is not difficult to infer that it was, of course, Meredith’s blood, given that the scientific results confirm that it was only her DNA in blood forming the bath mat footprint, the blood on the bathroom door, and the blood on the light switch. Context, logic and common sense also confirm that.

As to Knox’s blood, there is of course her blood on the faucet, in close proximity to the mixed samples. The placement of those mixed samples do suggest a washing activity, i.e in the washbasin sink, the bidet and the cotton bud box.

Massei, just to discredit him for a moment, really didn’t have anything much, if at all, to say about the blood on the faucet, and I found that a disappointing aspect of his report.

Then, of course, there are the readings from the mixed samples. There appear to be some alleles which Meredith and Knox shared, and so the height of those would not be relevant. There are, though, (and I only have the read out from the cotton bud box to look at) instances where Knox’s alleles are indeed higher than Meredith’s.

It would seem to me to be a matter of interpretation, preferably from an experienced forensic scientist, based on context, logic and their knowledge of the subject, as to whether this indicates whether Knox’s blood was in the samples along with Meredith’s.

Clearly there were a number of experts (P.S Comodi is not an expert in anything, other than advocacy) who thought just that. Even Gino was reduced to arguing that the mixtures were the result of deposits at different times.

There was some room for play for the defence, but not much. So, yes, I believe the preponderance of the evidence is that there was mixed blood in those samples.

Incidentally, why would Knox’s alleles have more height and preponderance than Meredith’s if what we are looking at is mixed blood? Perhaps the answer lies in the quality of Meredith’s blood which we know had to some extent been diluted outside her room as a result of washing and/or running water from a tap.

I do think that Massei was somewhat over-cautious and methodical, but in his favour I would mention that as the trial judge (and all else flows from the findings at trial) I think he was being careful to follow the actual scientific findings and not give room to too many points of appeal (i.e that he was somehow showing a bias).

However, I do think he could have made more of the evidence, and in a very convincing way.

In the event the removal of skin cells due to the vigorous rubbing of blood off one’s hands (to which the 5th Chambers adhered) is damning enough.

Posted by James Raper on 06/04/20 at 12:33 PM | #

Re : this German guy.

Lots of questions, of course.

After he was evicted from the property, was it re-let by the landlord covering the period of Madeleine’s disappearance? If not, could this guy have been able to have access?

Surely the forensic bods have gone in looking for evidence and a body? Maybe they have and have found nothing so far.

Pretty sure the poor child is dead, and even if this guy is responsible this could still end up being something of a Suzy Lamplugh case. No body and a tight lipped suspect in jail.

Posted by James Raper on 06/04/20 at 12:54 PM | #

The child abuse conviction when he was aged seventeen for all we know might just have been having sex with aun underage girl aged sixteen.  Illegal and morally wrong, yes, but how much jucier it is for the tabloids to call it paedophilia and child abuse.

There is no doubt this man is a rapist, pervert and predator attracted to underage women or even prepubescent girls.  He is a degenerate, thief, crook, thug and a drunkard.

However, one can’t assume that Madeleine was snatched by a paedophile.  If this was the case, the twins were left completely unharmed.  Likewise, if it was some serious crime organisation, which CB was connected to via his drug trafficking antics.

Let’s hope there is some hard evidence rather than an assumption ‘it must have been him because he was a known pervert and lived nearby’.

We saw what happened to the English guy who lived with his mum.  The media were absolutely certain it was him ‘what dunnit’.  He very nearly got put away for life. 

Goncalves Amaral, the ex-Portuguese investigator is reported as believing the German paedophile is being set up as a scapegoat.

It would be interesting to understand his reasons and rationale for ruling out Christian B. at the time.

Posted by KrissyG on 06/04/20 at 02:54 PM | #

Christian B has multiple convictions for sexually abusing children. He was also convicted of possessing child pornography when he was 36.

He wouldn’t have had been sentenced to two years in prison for having sex with an underage girl when he was 17. He has been jailed for child sexual abuse on at least three separate occasions when he was 17, 36 and 40.

German prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters told a press conference today: ‘We think that Madeleine McCann is dead and are appealing for witnesses. The 43 year old suspect is a multiple sexual predator already convicted of crimes against little girls’.

Posted by The Machine on 06/04/20 at 04:02 PM | #

The picture of Knox at the top of this article says it all to me. Pure guilt.

She clearly hasn’t had any sleep whatsoever. She’s clearly been up all night.

Her hair so dry, like straw; which is what happens when people have had no sleep.

On her way to Gubbio in that state? Yeah right.

Posted by DavidB on 06/04/20 at 04:25 PM | #

Yes DavidB:

All those showers… hmmm. The new gouge on the neck by seemingly a fingernail does not show in that shot but other camera angles showed it well. See below.

And never forget that cat-pee smell. A telling sign of cocaine use on the night. Sollecito lawyer Maori made sarcastic remarks about Knox cocaine-use at trial, he and Bongiorno did not like either of the pair at all. Channeling Papa Doc on Knox.

Some with experience in drugs have told us that it looks to them like Knox was on a bad cocaine trip right through to the night of 5-6 Nov and to when she dried out in Capanne.

Cocaine and skunk marijuana have both caused psychotic episodes and deaths. 

The investigators and prosecutors and judges took it easier on the drugs - I believe because they thought it was a copout that could allow the perps to walk.

It will need another visit to Italy to nail that, along with some other things that remain a bit fuzzy now. Send in your lists.

_

Posted by Peter Quennell on 06/05/20 at 10:38 AM | #

Hi Machine and James R

Could you explain the technical process that arrived at that third chart, the overlay one? Is it “merely” a software ap?

Posted by Peter Quennell on 06/05/20 at 10:40 AM | #

This might be of interest to some newer readers. Every action ever taken on the DNA, its collection and processing, was WITNESSED BY THE DEFENSES.

They had experts sitting right there at the RS or AK houses or Rome labs, or watching live video, and not even one ever, ever complained, or said that a shortcut or improper method was used.

Italians all know this. That is why most of the DNA hoaxes are not even known about in Italy. Like most of the other hoaxes they exist only because of crackpots, wannabees and frauds and only in the US and UK.

The 6-week “delay” in collecting the bra clasp was entirely caused by the defenses using this requirement to play what is a common game.

They took all of 6 weeks to make an expert witness available.

In contrast, in the US and UK, where no such expert-witness requirements apply, it is almost certain nobody would even have heard of that 6-week “delay”.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 06/05/20 at 11:09 AM | #

There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth at The Guardian and Simon Hattenstione will be devastated, but this is good news:

Jeremy Bamber bid for evidence dismissed by High Court

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-52940026

Jeremy Bamber murdered his his adoptive parents, his sister and her two six-year-old sons at their farmhouse in Essex in 1985 in order to secure a large inheritance.

He was convicted of murder by a 10-2 majority in 1986. His girlfriend Julie Mugford told police he had plotted to kill his parents for his £436,000 inheritance. She testified in court that he had talked about sedating his parents and setting fire to the farmhouse before changing his mind and planning to hire an assassin.

Jeremy Bamber placed his sister’s fingers around the .22 rifle to make it look like the killings had been a murder-suicide. However, the silencer for the murder weapon was found in a cupboard three days after the killings. It had traces of his sister’s blood on it - which is significant because she wouldn’t have been able to put it in the cupboard before her death given the fact she was shot twice.

Furthermore, she could not have reached the trigger of the rifle with the silencer attached to it.

The only person who could have killed them all and placed the silencer in the cupboard is Jeremy Bamber. He is exactly where he should be - in the slammer.

Posted by The Machine on 06/05/20 at 03:48 PM | #

Yeah that seems the right outcome on Bamber. I see he was adopted as a baby. Fine people, the step-parents. There seems nothing on Bamber’s real parents.

Curt Knox was also adopted as a baby and there are court records of his seeming lifelong anger issues which surfaced several times when Knox was young and again in Perugia and again after Knox was back in Seattle.

The Guardian editor was “captured” by PR guru David Marriott and was the most remorselessly biased of the UK media against Italian justice and in effect Meredith’s family.

From this recent post on Knox and the media:  https://tinyurl.com/yaalffaf

Perugia reporter Tom Kington could be okay but…  Simon Hattenstone??? It seems David Marriott had a very strong connection to the editor there and for year the Guardian stridently bashed Italy and its justice officials.

Click for Post:  Did The State Department Offer Assurances To Knox She Never Would Be Extradited?

Click for Post:  Did The Bungling Guardian Check Sollecito Enabler Andrew Gumbel’s Myriad False Claims?

Click for Post:  Obstruction Of Justice? How The Guardian Poisons Public Opinion Against The Italian Courts

Click for Post:  The Guardian Publishes A Negative Take On Italian Justice Rather Poorly Researche

Posted by Peter Quennell on 06/06/20 at 01:04 PM | #

Machine:  I didn’t know Bamber’s latest appeal had been dismissed.  Of course he did it.  Even in jail he has spent his time battling to get ‘his share’ of inheritance money.  He thought he could bump off his entire family and get an immediate cash inflow.  Typically immature thinking of a sociopath.

Posted by KrissyG on 06/06/20 at 01:40 PM | #

Hi Krissy,

Jeremy Bamber has been refused access to documents that he claims could help him clear his name. Nothing can clear his name because he’s guilty.

Posted by The Machine on 06/06/20 at 04:08 PM | #

So. Does Bamber have his groupies? I bet he does. And I suppose Knox will turn up to be of help soon.

“Typically immature thinking of a sociopath.” Yes we’ve noticed that they tend to bungle a lot. Tin ears, and then mimicking normal behavior when folks stare at them hard. Knox in Berlin… Numerous other examples too.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 06/07/20 at 09:10 AM | #

There were three Luminol footprints in Amanda Knox’s room: Rep 178, 179, 180 (L3, L4, L5). Dr Stefanoni regards one of them - Rep 180 - one of the more significant biological results because this Luminol footprint contained Amanda Knox’s DNA.

If you look at the electropherogram for Rep 180, you’ll understand why Dr Stefanoni regards it as significant evidence. Amanda Knox DNA peaks are extremely high. Even higher than her peaks on the electropherogram for the cotton bud box. 14 peaks are over 1,000 RFUs, four peaks are over 2,000 RFUs and one peak is over 3,000 RFUs.

In other words, Amanda Knox’s DNA in this Luminol footprint clearly wasn’t touch DNA. It must have come from a source that provides an immense amount of DNA e.g. blood.

Judge Massei thinks Knox tracked Meredith’s blood into her own room when she was checking to see what the situation was outside of the cottage. It seems she also tracked own blood into her room and a lot of it.

Posted by The Machine on 06/07/20 at 12:02 PM | #

I should have pointed out that all three of the Luminol footprints in Amanda Knox’s room contained her DNA and none of them contained Meredith’s DNA.

Posted by The Machine on 06/08/20 at 08:22 AM | #

Madeleine McCann: Suspect Christian B was ‘tipped off by Praia da Luz hotel worker’

Police have identified the employee who passed the information on to the prime suspect, according to reports in Portugal.

https://news.sky.com/story/madeleine-mccann-suspect-christian-b-was-tipped-off-by-praia-da-luz-hotel-worker-12002751

If these reports in Portugal are true, it would be a significant clue against Christian Brueckner. However, you always have to take uncorroborated claims in the media from anonymous sources with a grain of salt.

According to Mark Williams-Thomas, the police are going to carry out more searches in Portugal in the forthcoming days and weeks:

“Update: I am advised that over the past few days a considerable amount of new information has come into the 3 separate police forces , and over the forthcoming days & weeks further targeted searches will be undertaken in Portugal.”

https://twitter.com/mwilliamsthomas/status/1269530842298298368?s=20

Posted by The Machine on 06/08/20 at 08:54 AM | #

Unlikely that any of this blood is due to her ear piercings. As to the blood on the faucet Knox herself said that there was no blood in the small bathroom when she left the cottage the day before the discovery of the murder. Further, in her e-mail, she does not mention a fresh bleed whilst allegedly taking a shower and opined that it was unlikely the blood was due to her ear piercings anyway given the quantity and that it was caked on.

Posted by James Raper on 06/08/20 at 09:04 AM | #

Hi James R.

Yes in her book Knox shrugged off the notion that two traces of dried blood came from her eleven (eleven?! who has eleven?) piercings.

She never came up with any other excuse for what were quite prolific blood traces, right? Was there an image of a torn ear with a stud pulled out? I dont have that one but seem to recall some PMF chat.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 06/08/20 at 10:05 AM | #

Hi Machine.

On Madeleine. Yeah this angle is worth watching. It explains how Brueckner could have timed it.

By the way Sky News’s reports (by Nick Pisa) were all accurate and reliable in Meredith’s case. There is a long list of their reports in this post.

https://tinyurl.com/yat8w89w

Posted by Peter Quennell on 06/08/20 at 10:14 AM | #

A witness claims Christian Brueckner told him that he was involved in Madeleine McCann’s disappearance and he explained how he had disposed of her body. The reason why the German police are taking this information seriously is the witness also told them that Christian Brueckner had told him about another crime he had committed - the rape of a 72-year-old American woman - and this turned out to be true. Christian Brueckner was convicted of this crime.

The mobile phone records indicate that Christian Breuckner was close to the McCanns’ apartment on the evening Madeleine went missing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_TqenSB8Q0

The fact he has multiple convictions for child sex abuse and also rape is another red flag.

A number of children - Madeleine McCann, Renee Hasse and Joana Cipriano - who were in south west Portugal vanished without a trace whilst Christian Brueckner was living there. Their bodies must be buried somewhere in a remote part of the wild countryside.

According to The Sun, the police are studying satellite images of Christian Brueckner’s camper van shortly after Madeleine McCann went missing:

“But the picture shows the van appears to have been driven back to the plot - which is surrounded by scrubland littered with deep, abandoned well shafts.

“One of the old stone wells is visible a few feet from the van.

“The image was captured days after three-year-old Madeleine went missing at the very start of the massive police search.

“A Portuguese investigating source said last night: ‘If that is the van in that spot - so soon after the abduction - the image could be extremely significant.’”

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11817267/madeleine-mccann-new-image-campervan/

I wouldn’t be surprised if the bodies of Madeleine McCann, Renee Hasse and Joana Cipriano are found in one of these well shafts.

Posted by The Machine on 06/09/20 at 08:38 AM | #

Apparently, René Hasee has now been ruled out as a possible victim of CB’s.  It wouldn’t be so unusual for someone who lived in the area to have been pinged getting a call nearby a touristy beach front. It is suspicious he put the registration of the Jaguar car under his German landlord’s name the day after Madeleine’s disappearance (who does that?) despite it still being in Portugal.  Significant or pure random coincidence?

I guess he fits the profile of a clever cunning psychopath always one step ahead.  I would like to see the hard evidence.

Re Knox wading around in her own blood barefooted.  Sounds like Meredith bravely managed to get a right hook in.

Posted by KrissyG on 06/09/20 at 02:01 PM | #

The German police haven’t said Rene Hasee wasn’t one of Christian Brueckner’s victims.

They are sure Christian Brueckner killed Madeleine McCann, but they need more evidence to charge him because the case against him is circumstantial. They obviously don’t have a body or any forensic or DNA evidence.

Having that said, the evidence against Levi Bellfield with regard to the murder of Milly Dowler was circumstantial.

His red Daewoo Nexia car was seen turning into Station Road 22 minutes after Milly was last seen. His car has never been found.

His former partner Emma Mills said he had gone “missing” on the day of Milly’s disappearance. She and Bellfield had been housesitting for a friend in west London.

When Bellfield returned after 10:00pm, he was wearing different clothes from their flat in Walton. He later got up during the night, at about 3:00am or 4:00am, saying he was going back to the flat.

Levi Bellfield also destroyed the bedsheets.

In 2008, Bellfield was convicted of murdering Marsha McDonnell and Amelie Delagrange.

He was convicted of murdering Milly Dowler in 2011 - nine years after she had gone missing.

Madeleine McCann, Rene Hasee and Joana Cipriano are buried somewhere in this area. It’s a matter of time before their bodies are discovered. Hopefully, it will be sooner rather than later.

Posted by The Machine on 06/09/20 at 03:21 PM | #

I agree Bellfield is guilty BARD.  IN the current case, given the media attempts to pin the blame on Robert Murat in the early days I am wary of the latest campaign.  Christian B ‘fits the profile’ and is of low character but for me it needs more than ex-girlfriends complaining he ‘gave me the creeps’.

Let’s see what develops.

Posted by KrissyG on 06/10/20 at 04:09 AM | #

The media’s coverage of the Madeleine McCann case has been extremely irresponsible. I’ve lost count of the number of people who claimed they saw her, but she was whisked away before they could do anything.

The German police haven’t released the information regarding Christian Brueckner’s alleged confession that he was involved in Madeleine McCann’s disappearance and he disposed of her body. The police regard this new witness as credible because he gave them specific information that led to Christian Brueckner being convicted of raping a 72-year-old woman.

They are certain that Christian Brueckner abducted and killed Madeleine. They also think he abducted and killed other children. They’ve mapped and tracked his movements for over 20 years and he was in the area when other children have disappeared without a trace in Portugal and Germany.

The sentiments expressed in this article reflect the views of Scotland Yard:

Madeleine McCann disappearance: Investigation was ‘flawed from the start’ and ‘not fit for purpose’, says detective

https://inews.co.uk/news/uk/madeleine-mccann-disappearance-investigation-portugal-praia-da-luz-flawed-explained-442447

Scotland Yard agree with the German police that Madeleine was abducted and killed by a predatory paedophile. It’s disingenuous of them to claim it’s a missing person case.

“During our discussion, Gerry asked me directly if I thought his daughter was still alive, and I pointed out that if she had been abducted – statistically – she would by now be dead. The majority of children who are murdered after being abducted by someone unknown to them are dead within three to six hours. “

Scotland Yard looked at the possibility that Gerry and Kate McCann might have been responsible for Madeleine’s disappearance and they eliminated them as suspects years ago for a number of specific reasons e.g. it would have been almost impossible for them to act as if nothing happened that evening if Madeleine had died in an accident a few hours earlier and it would have been very difficult for them to get rid of a dead body without anyone noticing.

I know the sniffer dogs indicated there was a dead body in the apartment and in the McCann’s hire car, but they also indicated there was a dead body at the Haut de la Garenne children’s home and there wasn’t.

Posted by The Machine on 06/10/20 at 05:39 AM | #

It’s good Jeremy Bamber has been refused his insolent request for new “evidence”. He is a piece of work. I read his story. He’s a total no good ingrate. All about greed, money. His adoptive parents tried to help him, they really did. Their deaths put a monster behind bars away from society, so in that final act as victims they continue to help others by their deaths. Bamber was adopted.

Speaking of adoption, Christian Brueckner the German pedo who may possibly have killed Madeleine McCann, was also adopted.

I can’t quote the media but recently read online that perhaps in Christian’s teens?? not sure of his age, but his adoptive dad was badly injured in an accident and after that his adoptive mother threw Christian B. into a reformatory or some kind of boys’ home. It seems he was already giving her trouble with minor delinquency at that time and it became too much for her.

With his confirmed police record of crimes, Christian B looks the ideal candidate for a suspect in Maddie’s abduction, although as Krissy wisely considers, solid proof of him killing Maddie is still slim or unavailable. Proof is necessary. But now the search is on, evidence will emerge, he will be found out. He has probably killed many more people than the missing ones known by name. He had a friend in the Algarve hotel who alerted him to which hotel rooms were easy thieving. 

Christian B seemed to live a peripatetic life wandering from Germany to Portugal and back again. He was arrested in Milan, Italy finally—probably after Germany and Portugal got too “hot” for him.

No telling how many apartments and hotel rooms he burgled, wallets and purses he stole, how many tourists he frightened by being his targets, how many locals he upset, and people traveling abroad far from home that he threw into anxiety and turmoil with suddenly no money, how many vacations he destroyed, how much harm he did the economy of the Algarve by people who swore never to visit there again and did warn others. His perpetual thievery was a menace yet stealing was the least of his vices.

Sadly, as an adopted child and thus rejected by his original parents? (unclear), he may also have been abused himself in foster homes before he was fully adopted to a good family.

This does not excuse his crimes but highlights the value of loving families as a crime preventative, although no guarantee.  A few children from “good families” do become criminals, with no excuse. Look at Raffaele. Look at Amanda Knox.

Maybe this Christian B of Germany “did as was done unto him” by abusing and tormenting others, which escalated to killing people if one puts any stock in the psychology of Mr. Hodges in his book “As Done Unto You”. Its premise is that people repeat the behaviors they witnessed or suffered personally, that it’s very hard to break the cycle of violence.

Or even imagined injuries? although those are less likely to be acted upon.

Rudy Guede was mainly an orphan. His mother rejected him, his father halfway abandoned him due to work responsibilities in Italy. His dad struck Rudy on the head and left him bleeding and locked in a closet when they moved from Africa to Italy. Look at what Roger Guede’s son later did. He became a total liar first of all, to the kind Italian family who wanted to adopt him, who showed him so much grace. Then he became a druggie, a hassler of women in clubs, a thief (in possession of stolen goods), then a killer. The Amanda Knox progression. Probably the Christian Brueckner progression.

The inner accountant in all of us wants to balance the books psychically it seems and it never forgets a slight or injury. Forgiveness is the only hope, and not an easy task.

I await developments in the Christian B case, but if I had to bet on it, I’d put money on his guilt.

I never felt the McCann parents had hurt Maddie. Never. But whoever did nearly destroyed those two doctors. Maddie’s mother quit practicing medicine and went into missing child activism. The father, Gerry, continued to practice medicine to keep an income for the family naturally. They raised their remaining twins carefully. By some miracle they did not divorce under the immense stress of years of finger pointing accusations.

Posted by Hopeful on 06/14/20 at 03:52 PM | #

Hi Hopeful,

As I’ve already pointed out, the German police are convinced Christian Brueckner abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered Madeleine McCann. It seems the Portuguese police are now taking their claims seriously:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53043818

Posted by The Machine on 06/14/20 at 04:02 PM | #

Mark Williams-Thomas said the police are going carry out more searches for Madeleine McCann’s body soon. The obvious place to search would be the old wells near Christian Brueckner’s home at the time of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance.

According to The Sun, the police are preparing to search the old wells near his home close to Praia da Luz:

Madeleine McCann cops ‘preparing to search old wells at German paedo Christian B’s Portuguese lair’

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11863875/madeleine-mccann-cops-preparing-to-search-old-wells-at-german-paedo-christian-bs-portuguese-lair/

Posted by The Machine on 06/15/20 at 07:22 AM | #

OT but new hope for Covid19 sufferers: Lenzilumab. It’s an antibody drug used for cancer. It got 11 out of 12 critically ill corona virus patients discharged from hospital in 5 days without side effects.

Posted by Hopeful on 06/16/20 at 09:18 AM | #

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