Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Similarities Between Amanda Knox And A Teenage American Drug Addict Just Murdered In Mexico

Posted by Peter Quennell




Pretty, popular 18-year old Elizabeth Mandala (half Mexican, half Italian) was from Sugar Land, a rich outer suburb west of Houston in Texas.

That Fox report above of her very violent death was broadcast three months ago, when Elizabeth Mandala was found beaten to death with two unnamed Mexicans in a very dangerous part of north Mexico.

It appears she was already very deeply into addictive drugs. To support her addiction, she had secretly worked as a stripper, and she was secretly seeking to become a “mule” or “coyote” to move drugs or illegal immigrants across the Mexico border into Texas.

Although very under-reported by an American media that wants to give her every possible break, Amanda Knox was a KNOWN drug user back in Seattle.

And around Perugia, the perception of people who encountered Knox and Sollecito is that she was close to becoming or was already a cocaine addict. The same with Sollecito. They are still both referred to as coke-heads.

Possessing and using drugs both in the US and in Italy is of course a crime. It often results in stiff sentences. Prior to Meredith’s death, Knox seems to have already broken the drug laws of two countries, and quite possibly of a third (Germany). 

And this possible drug addict was already down to her last $5,000 or so, and she may have already lost the waitress job which she desperately needed.

This could have been making her desperate and dangerous. Prosecutor Mignini and Judge Micheli both seemed to think it was she that stole Meredith’s rent money which went missing on the night of the murder.

Here now is a long and well-investigated report in last Wednesday’s Houston Press on the circumstances of Elizabeth Mandala’s death. It is well worth reading in full.

You can bet your bottom dollar this story was read in full by a million anxious Houston-area parents, who in turn leaned a little harder on their own little darlings to keep them as far as possible away from drugs.

Paul Knight’s report makes it very clear that EVEN IF THEY WANT TO and it seems they very rarely do, the US State Department and the US Embassies and the FBI will NOT get involved in foreign crimes involving Americans when drugs are one of the factors.

Along with the mountain of evidence, this would help explain the cool attitude toward Knox’s case of the American Embassy in Rome, of Hillary Clinton and the State Department in Washington, and increasingly of that muddled Senator, Maria Cantwell.

Edda Mellas, if you or Curt Knox knew Amanda was on drugs, common knowledge in her circle in Seattle, you REALLY should have stepped in and stopped her. Stopped her drug-use, stopped her going to Perugia and in effect stopped her from killing Merediith.

So. Why didn’t you?





Posted by Peter Quennell on 07/27/10 at 10:02 PM in Various hypotheses,  The psychology,  Defendants in court,  Amanda Knox,  The officially involved,  The legal followups,  The wider contexts,  N America context

Comments

@Peter,

Excellent points on another tragic story involving drugs.

I don’t think that Americans (or is it just the Knox/Mellas clan?) realize that the US gov’t does not interfere with the justice system of another country, especially an ally of the US - whether an American citizen is involved or not. They may monitor the trial, but that’s it.

President Barack Obama himself could diplomatically ask the Italian Prime Minister to examine a legal case involving an American citizen convicted of breaking Italian law and incarcerated in an Italian prison.

The Italian Prime Minister can smile back and do absolutely nothing.

Regardless of the country, that’s the way it goes. Their country, their laws. No SWAT/Navy Seals/Marines/Special Armed Forces are going to swoop in - unless it is a third world war zone.

Moral of the story: Don’t break the law - in or out of your own country!

Posted by giustizia on 07/28/10 at 06:55 AM | #

The radiant, joyful girl in the top photo progressively morphs into the vacant, plastic doll on the couch. It is a pity she chose the excitement of the “adult” world and lost her natural, beautiful soul.

Steve Shay ( the antijournalist) quoted Oma Huff as saying that Amanda was just “learning how to be a grownup”, and what a shame she’d have to do it in prison. They can’t bring themselves to even say “adult”, but instead use the baby word (sorry, honey, these drinks are just for the Grownups!)  When she went off to college was she learning how to be a student? When she was born did she have to learn how to be an infant?

Elizabeth Mandala’s “parting shot” reminds me, once again, of Knox’s pseudo-sexy Facebook pose, the one with the “grownup” overtweezed eyebrows and the very unrevealing black costume. When I first saw that snap, all i could think was that she’d gotten into Edda’s wardrobe and vanity and was playing dress-up.

Does anyone suppose Knox could have been contemplating becoming a small-time dealer herself? Pass some little packets to the patrons while she flirted with them at LeChic?  Only an utter dopehead could be fogged-up enough to use being too stoned on illicit substances as an alibi in a court of law!

Posted by mimi on 07/30/10 at 07:08 AM | #
Commenting is not available in this channel entry.

Where next:

Click here to return to The Top Of The Front Page

Or to next entry Van Der Sloot’s Attention Seeking Antics In A Peruvian Prison Are Continuing

Or to previous entry Master Manipulators, Masks, and Murder: Parallels Of The Amanda Knox And Scott Peterson Cases