Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Strong Proof That Raffaele Sollecito Also Stabbed Meredith Kercher Causing The Lesser Wound.

Posted by Ergon

Sollecito’s “pocket knife” is a Spiderco Delica4 Emerson Opener made for killing people

Overview

This picks up from from my previous post just below on the large knife that overwhelming evidence shows was wielded by Amanda Knox.

Sometime around Thursday, January 30, 2014, Judge Nencini of the Florence Appeals Court will be delivering the verdict of the court in the case of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, at which time all arguments regarding the knives, staged burglary, DNA and forensics, false accusation, wonky alibis, and reliability of witnesses will be rendered moot.

There will be nothing left but an argument about the legality of the process, and not the evidence, presented by the defenses if they choose to at some point in the fall of 2014 before Cassazione, the Supreme Court in Rome.

But, until then, we are left with the indelible image of Raffaele Sollecito’s defense attorney Giulia Bongiorno a few days ago flailing with two knives in court, arguing (1) the kitchen knife doesn’t fit the major wound, and (2) there’s a missing knife, which she suggested was a pocket knife wielded by Rudy Guede.

In part I, I proved that the imprint of the knife on the mattress sheet matched the kitchen knife, in shape and dimensions. We have already seen in other articles here on TJMK, that there is a definitive match with Knox and Meredith Kercher’s DNA on the murder weapon, and now we know it was transported to the cottage, to leave its mirror image on the bed.

Here, in part II, is a recap of Massei on the knives and wounds inflicted on Meredith Kercher, and how the defense continually tried to divert us away from the knife image by saying it did not fit the dimensions of the major wound.

Also we will have Frank Sfarzo and Bruce Fischer’s amateurish attempts to prove that Rudy Guede caused the knife wounds. And it will try to address what happened to the missing knife that inflicted the lesser wound on Meredith, and who might have wielded it.

Closeup of the stabbing end of the Spiderco knife shown at the top

Deliberate false claims

One of the many myths surrounding this case was that investigators had no reason to seize the kitchen knife from Sollecito’s flat, and when I showed the photos from Conti’s lab, with the deep scratches on it, that it may have been altered in some way, and denying that was where some of Meredith’s DNA might have been trapped. IIP even posted an out of focus picture some time back to prove that point.

Here is Frank Sforza on the late and unlamented Perugia Shock.‘ANY KNIFE COULD HAVE DONE THAT WOUND’

End of a Myth

Frank Sfarzo, Sept. 19, 2009

Quote: “It was introduced in the room, it was taken out of the box with all precautions, it was shown to them like a relic. They could have a look at it from a distance, and see, or believe to have seen, the groove into which the biological material of Meredith was found.” And:

“Amanda Knox’s lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova brought him (independent expert Professor Cingolani) to say something very clear about the main one: any single-edge knife is compatible with Meredith’s larger wound.”

Here is Bruce Fischer on the error-ridden Injustice In Perugia.

Quote: “The knife was a common kitchen knife retrieved from the kitchen of Raffaele Sollecito. The knife was chosen from the drawer because it looked clean. (Editorial note: it was also, deeply scratched and nicked)

No blood was on the blade.

No DNA was on the blade.

The knife doesn’t match most of the wounds on Meredith.

The knife doesn’t match the bloody imprint left on the bed.

The photographic evidence shows that Raffaele’s kitchen knife is to (sic) large to match the bloody imprint on the bed.

At 4 cm from the tip the knife blade is 2.2 cm wide, while the injury (i.e. the small wound) is 1.5 cm wide. Raffaele’s kitchen knife could not have caused the wounds. The knife blade is also too long to have inflicted the large wound.” (Ed. note: Here they are conflating the dimensions of the lesser wound with the knife that inflicted the major wound, to cause confusion)

This is typical of the dishonesty of Bruce Fischer, who was only parroting what the defense experts had been saying in Massei’s court.

Fischer’s source was these posts from the now discredited Frank Sfarzo: Knife doesn’t match wounds and Knife doesn’t match imprint on bed.

An image of Sollecito’s 2004 model Brian Tighe knife specifically made for killing people

From the Massei Report

This is from the excellent PMF translation.

P. 99: The witness (investigator) recognized it when shown Exhibit 36 as that same knife (pages 176 and 177, hearing on February 28, 2009). He remembered that in the drawer there were other knives, but he collected what was later indicated as Exhibit 36. It had the following dimensions: blade 17 cm. and handle of dark colour 14 cm. He recalled that in Sollecito’s bedroom they found another knife whose total length was 18cm, with an 8cm. blade.” (This would be his Brian Tighe pocket knife, the Spyderco flick knife was seized from his person when he was arrested)

P.135: The stab wound corresponding to the injuries on the right side of the neck was indicated as being a little wound of very small dimensions with a very small path. The path of the wound is 4cm long and only 1.5cm wide. The blade used to make this wound must have had a width of 1.5cm at 4cm from the point. This blade only entered 4cm into the neck “because it encountered the angle of the jaw” (page 33 of the transcripts).

P.147: Professor Vinci testified at the hearing of August 18, 2009. He considered the subject of the “bloody stains” found on the undersheet in Meredith Kercher’s room. In relation to these stains, on the basis of graphics given in the report dated June 30, 2009, he asserted that the knifeprint found on the undersheet in Meredith’s bedroom could have been made either by an 11.3cm knife blade, or by a 9.6cm knife blade together with a mark 1.7cm long left by the handle of the same knife. In either case, the blade could not be wider than 1.3/1.4 cm. (Ahem)

P. 154: Prof Cingolani: He clarified that irregularities present on the blade, on the edge of the blade, could have created the rippling in the wounds.

P. 157: the examination of the wound on the right part of the neck, which had absolutely incompatible dimensions: 1.5cm long and 0.4cm wide with a depth of 4cm.

p.164: she was therefore struck on the right latero-cervical region with a single-edged blade which produced a wound with dimensions of 1.5cm by 0.4cm, with a penetrating depth of 4cm: an action not relevant in determining the cause of death but intended, as before, to subdue Meredith Kercher’s resistance.

p.166: the width of the (kitchen knife) proximal third [blade one third of the distance from the handle] is 3cm.

p166: Along the edge, there was evidence of irregularities in the form of thin ridges at 2.2cm and at 11.4cm from the tip.

p. 167: The experts and consultants who were examined during the course of the trial, taking into examination the various wounds present on the neck, excluded the compatibility of the knife Exhibit 36 and the wound inflicted on the right latero-cervical and having the following dimensions: 1.5cm by 0.4cm, with a depth of 4cm in an oblique upwards direction. They in fact showed that the confiscated knife, at a distance of 4cm from the tip, has a width of approximately 3cm and thus almost double the 1.5cm width of the wound, a width thus incompatible with the dimensions of the blade of this knife.

p.172-3: In relation to the above, the thesis of the incompatibility of the most serious wound and the knife Exhibit 36 is held to be unacceptable, though this knife is incompatible with the 4cm-deep wound, as we have seen. Nor does this conclusion contrast with the circumstances illustrated by Sollecito Defence consultant Professor Vinci in his report relating to the “šanalyses of the haematic stained shapes discovered on the mattress cover in Meredith Kercher’s room”›.

p.175: The reconstruction offered by Professor Vinci certainly appears suggestive. Some doubt remains in the reconstruction of the dimensions of the knife derived in relation from the marks found on the bed sheet. If these marks indeed derived from the knife placed on the bed sheet, then they should in fact have been more abundant, and should have outlined the shape of the knife with greater precision, for the following reason: the knife, if it was placed on the bed sheet, was placed there immediately after it had been used to strike Meredith; therefore, the fresh and abundant bloodstains present on the blade should have been imprinted onto the bed sheet in a more evident and copious way than is actually appreciable. It cannot in any case remain unobserved that, if one of the knives used had a blade length of 11.3cm, or else 9.6 cm ““ according to what was indicated by Professor Vinci in the conclusions to his report ““ the argumentation set forth to sustain the incompatibility of the knife Exhibit 36 would not, on this alone, have any foundation.”

For the record, here are the paragraphs from the English translation of the Massei Report where Patricia Stefanoni describes the streaks and scratches on the double DNA knife and locations where samples were taken.

Judge Massei (on pg. 196) wrote about forensic expert Patrizia Stefanoni:

“She specified that trace B had been taken from a point on the face of the blade; she added that no biological trace was visible to the naked eye. However [she added that] “under considerable lighting, a series of streaks were visible to the naked eye. These streaks ran parallel to the upper part of the blade, therefore, more or less, they were parallel to this side [of the blade] and towards the point they went downward and, therefore, they followed the shape of the point. These streaks, anomalies in the metal, were visible to the naked eye under intense lighting” (page 95 of the transcript). Still in regard to the visibility of these streaks, she specified that they were “visible under good lighting by changing the angle at which the light hit the blade, since obviously the blade reflects light and thus creates shadows, making imperfections visible”.

The samples taken from the handle, in the points indicated with the letters A, D, F were taken in order to verify the possible presence of DNA by the person who grasped that knife. In particular, for sample “A”, a particular point had been chosen, “in which there’s the hand-guard” (page 95) and therefore, in all likelihood, the point where there was the most friction between the hand that grasped the knife and the handle. This sample yielded the result of Amanda Knox’s genetic profile.

The other samples yielded negative results, except the one taken from the blade, from the “scratches and streaks visible under good lighting, by changing the angle of the lighting with regards to the blade” that yielded the genetic profile of the victim (page 96 hearing May 22, 2009).”

And now we know: Dottora Patrizia Stefanoni got it right.

And some disagreement amongst the experts: p.291-2: Professor Cingolani had in fact noted and declared the following: “in the second lesion, the one that is 2 centimetres deep and 1.5 centimetres wide from corner to corner, the only thing that we are tempted to do, [albeit] in an absolutely amateurish/unprofessional way, because we only have photographs available, is to measure, assuming that only the tip entered, how wide the blade is [at a point] 2 centimetres from its tip: it is precisely 1.5 centimetres wide!”

A closeup with measurements of Sollecito’s Brian Tighe knife made for killing people

My own investigation

Here is my initial close examination first posted on PMF dot Net last summer.

Ergon Post subject: INVESTIGATION OF THE KNIVES USED IN THE MURDER Posted: Sun Jun 09, 2013 12:42 am

Investigation into the death of Meredith Kercher-THE CAUSE OF DEATH AND THE MEANS BY WHICH IT WAS OCCASIONED

The murder of Meredith Kercher was particularly bloody and brutal. Reading through Massei, pages 109- SURVEY AND EVALUATION OF THE FORENSIC RESULTS through to 158-173, THE CAUSE OF DEATH AND THE MEANS BY WHICH IT WAS OCCASIONED we are reminded of the brutality with which the attack took place, the sexual assault by more than one person, the restraining, the defensive wounds on Meredith’s hands, the torture by more than one knife, restraining by a hand over the mouth when she screamed, (even while she bled to death) and two major knife wounds, one to the left of the throat, the other, to the right. Massei rightly concludes, as did the Supreme Court, that more than one attacker was involved, and, per Massei, there was more than one knife used in the attack. The defense experts tried to draw attention away from the kitchen knife, but, reading through Massei again, I saw how they dropped clues to what the dimensions of the second knife might have been.

We know that Raffaele Sollecito had a fetish for violent porn, that he had an expensive collection of knives, and his many alibis for the night in question have been thrown out by the court. From my studies of criminal psychology, from reading both Amanda and Raffaele’s books and watching videos of their court appearances and television interviews, their psychopathology seem apparent not only to my eyes, but even to the general public that must have looked at them and decided their story somehow did not ring true, and refused to buy their books. There are indeed certain neurological deficits apparent in their demeanor that renowned German neurologist Dr. Gerhard Roth postulates shows up as a ‘dark patch’ in brain scans of all those who display criminal behaviour, and even, “The second type is the mentally disturbed criminal who looks at his world as threatening. A wrong look, one false move, he can explode and become a killer,” he said.

I was shown videos of the crime scene, and able to observe the wounds in Meredith’s neck. The scenes of the room in which the murder took place and, the neck wound, were truly horrifying to me, and showed the extent of the attack. Those images still sit in the mind, but also, cause me to want to get to the bottom of this mystery, hence, my work on the case.

I believe, observing the photos I already posted in the Evidence Files that the kitchen knife was the murder weapon that struck the fatal blow that night. I also believe, reading the pathologist’s report, that the blade that was stuck in Meredith’s neck, in the right latero-cervical area to a depth of 4 cms, was Raffaele Sollecito’s Brian Tighe pocket knife, photo also in the evidence files. Yes, no DNA or blood was sampled from it, but that only indicates it was successfully cleaned that night. My reading of Sollecito’s pathology is that he would not want to dispose of the knife he used, it being very expensive and also as an extension of his fetishistic ego. One other thing I asked to look at: The high resolution photos I posted of the bed show the outline and dimensions of two knives. I believe that both images are of the kitchen knife that struck Meredith in the left latero-cervical to cause a cut of 8-9 cms in depth, and a length of 8 cms (p. 167)

There are two exhibits of the mattress cover, one marked “J” and the other, “O”, both displaying the approximate size and dimensions of the kitchen knife, which I will explain when I post the photos. The first, “J”, has more blood because I believe the knife was placed there first and wicked on to the sheet, causing the distorted splotch at the end. By the time it was moved to its final position by the purse, “O”, it retained just enough blood to leave a clearer, indelible impression.

It was a butchery.”

One last point: Rep. 33A/B/C/D were four samples taken from a black-handled folding knife. It tested negative for blood, but, in one sample, the DNA profile matched a mix of Knox and Sollecito. The other samples were negative. Stefanoni: pp. 103-104

Looking at the images produced by my illustrator, and taking the average of the two estimates of the wound depth, 2 and 4 cms, one arrives at a blade width of 1.5 cms at 3 cms length from the tip of Raphaele Sollecito’s Brian Tighe collectors knife, on which, coincidentally, both Amanda Knox and Sollecito’s DNA was found.

Conclusion:

Raffaele Sollecito stabbed Meredith Kercher, causing the lesser wound. And my personal opinion? It was with the Brian Tighe knife, and somehow both he and Amanda Knox got their DNA on it around the same time that night.

Posted by Ergon on 01/28/14 at 05:00 PM in Evidence & Witnesses, The two knives, DNA and luminol, Raff Sollecito

Comments

Ergon! Brilliant conclusion of your Knives analysis.

Just in case the Florence Court doesn’t already realise what you explain, I hope it somehow comes to their attention.

Posted by Cardiol MD on 01/28/14 at 08:10 PM | #

Is that blood on the clip? If so who does it belong to?

Posted by distemper on 01/28/14 at 08:38 PM | #

No, tested negative for blood. Nothing else I could find about the stain.

Posted by Ergon on 01/28/14 at 08:47 PM | #

Just a small point - Prof. Cingolani has stated that, at 2cm from the tip of the Brian Tighe knife, the blade is exactly 1.5 cm wide.

However, the accompanying photo shows that the knife is exactly 1.5 cm wide 3 cm from the tip.

Am I misunderstanding the evidence?

BTW: At 2 cm from the tip, the knife appears to be 1.38-4cm wide, so I do not think that the apparent misreading of the photo affects the conclusion that Sollecito used this knife on poor Meredith, (based on the measurements of the wound size that he inflicted with it).

Posted by Mealer on 01/28/14 at 08:50 PM | #

Thanks, Cardiol. It has indeed been brought to their attention.

Posted by Ergon on 01/28/14 at 09:00 PM | #

Thank you again, Ergon. This is a rigorous and detailed exam of the knives. You saw the videos of the crime scene and the neck wounds, and were motivated to close observation of the knives. You integrated the testimonies of experts and Massei, then balanced the technical aspects of the knife data with the psychology of the defendants. What a tremendous labor of intellect and good instincts.

We can be grateful Dr. Stefanoni was proven right, she suffered for it. She knew Meredith’s DNA was on that kitchen knife.

If Raffaele cut Meredith with the Brian Tighe knife on the right side of her neck, and Amanda cut her on the left side, perhaps Raf was standing behind Meredith and using his right hand which he extended to the right side of her neck. Maybe Amanda was at the same time standing in front of Meredith raving, facing her face to face holding the kitchen knife in her right hand and reaching forward to cut Meredith’s neck. That would place the injury Amanda made on the actual left side of Meredith’s neck since the women were facing each other. Amanda’s right would be Meredith’s left and vice versa. This is speculation.

In the Hands of Time video written by Amanda, “The Mistral Blows”, an Amanda character runs toward a faceless cook who wears a white bloody chef’s apron over black clothes. He is holding a kitchen knife. He’s using it to peel apples. Then he hands an apple to the Knox character who sees it is full of worms. She quickly drops it. Raf liked to cook. Meredith ate an apple crumble before she was killed, so maybe this is a reference to chef Raffaele cutting Meredith. Even Knox wouldn’t be foolish enough to picture herself in a video holding a knife, but she hints at Raf.

The H.O.T. imagery cannot be used as proof of the crime, but it certainly seems to confirm it.

Thank you for doing the hard work of analyzing photos and centimeters of the knives while putting many undisputed facts together, the hard stuff of real proof.

I believe the duo are going to be found guilty, and it is posts like yours on TJMK and the tireless efforts of Peter Quennell and the PMF sites that will explain the verdict to the public.

A guess: Amanda will be sentenced to 20 to 25 years but will end up serving fewer. This guess was prompted by seeing the red and black dice in the H.O.T. video. First the dice add up to the number 17. In a later scene they add up to 13. That represents the 4 years Knox spent in confinement before the acquittal. If found guilty again and returned to prison she may have 13 years to go. IMO, she could serve them better while she still has the health and emotional resilience of youth, instead of fighting extradition for ten years only to finally be imprisoned when she’s nearly 40 years old. If she begins her incarceration at that age and serves even ten years of it, she will walk out at 50. No doubt she has thought of these things constantly, but she’ll keep rolling the dice.

http://www.zimbio.com/Amanda+Knox/articles/azOL This was written by Harry Rag about the H.O.T. video.

Posted by Hopeful on 01/28/14 at 09:42 PM | #

Thanks for your comment, Hopeful. The H.O.T. video indeed read like a confession to me. It seems like she is crying out for help, without realizing it.

But it is Meredith’s spirit that motivates us, to find the truth, and speak it. One last thing I missed in rushing the article all night long, so I just added to the article. I suspected for almost a year the Brian Tighe knife was what struck Meredith’s neck as well.

And somehow, in that frenzy, as you say, both Raffaele Sollecito and Amanda Knox’s DNA got on the specialty knife, that night in Meredith’s room. They never got rid of the weapons, thinking they had got away with it.

We shall see.

Posted by Ergon on 01/28/14 at 10:23 PM | #

Is Hopeful’s Zimbio link still working? Harry Rag’s article seems to have been disappeared. Either way, by Fly By Night & Thundering posted on it here:

http://truejustice.org/ee/index.php?/tjmk/comments/the_hands_of_time_video_with_screenplay_by_amanda_knox_-_a_confessiona/

The YouTube is still live though there were failed attempts to have it removed - hence the sarcastic “censored” notice..

Here is a still image:

Posted by Peter Quennell on 01/28/14 at 10:39 PM | #

Hi, Mealer: Professor Cingolani, the Massei Court appointed expert, was working from photographs of the knives and testimony of Dr. Lalli, and may have been mistaken, or simply expressing his opinion about the missing knife’s dimensions. Elsewhere, the experts say the wound width was 4 cms, so I applied an average and had the measurements done to see what came up.

Not as conclusive as the bed imprints, but compelling nevertheless.

And, we were told that Raffaele Sollecito was obsessive about his knives, and never allowed anyone to touch them. Yet here’s his and Amanda’s mixed DNA on the clasp of the Brian Tighe knife. Somehow, in their frenzy that night, both of them touched the knife..

Posted by Ergon on 01/28/14 at 10:55 PM | #

Wow Ergon…thank you for the time and energy this took.
This needs a second reading later. I have obvservations..will come back and share later. Kudos.

Posted by Bettina on 01/28/14 at 11:44 PM | #

Pretty depressing stuff!

Thanks for the great work but now is the time we should pray for justice.

Some of the arguments are not yet over, I feel. But they will come tomorrow before the judgement is delivered?

Posted by chami on 01/29/14 at 04:32 AM | #

I’ve just sent tweets to some journalists from the BBC. Please retweet. Thanks. My name on Twitter is @harryrag

Posted by The Machine on 01/29/14 at 09:40 AM | #

Please RT (retweet) @harryrag (and other posters, mine is @manfromatlan 😊 on Twitter. Those who haven’t signed up for Twitter, please do so.

Using the #amandaknox hashtag in your posts is an effective way to create a buzz that media can’t ignore, and RT’s amplify that.

Search for media on Twitter like @BBC @CNN @NBC and click on all the addresses that show up, send tweets to them.

I’ve sent over 3000 Tweets on this case, and Harry’s done a lot more; they’re very effective, and through them met many more people with an interest in criminal justice who then got turned on to this case.

Posting links to articles from here on Twitter and Facebook increases traffic to True Justice.

But Twitter is a much more effective communications tool. (Hence my advice before the Nov IPO for people to buy 😊

Posted by Ergon on 01/29/14 at 05:12 PM | #

I’ve just corrected Nick Pisa on Twitter for claiming Knox and Sollecito are being retried. Please retweet this tweet and send him your own tweets. It’s important that journalists provide factually accurate reports about the case.

Posted by The Machine on 01/29/14 at 06:09 PM | #

You should also be sending tweets today, not tomorrow. Remember, reporters don’t “write” stories. Their producers do. They, merely “present”. If you don’t give a headsup, tomorrow will be too late.

So, my tweets to news divisions of all the major networks read “@—- Journalists calling #amandaknox’s appeal of her conviction a “retrial” undermines public confidence in the media. We aren’t stupid”

Posted by Ergon on 01/29/14 at 06:40 PM | #

Colleen Barry has written quite a decent article about the case with comments from Theodore Simon and Alan Dershowitz:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/01/29/amanda-knox-trial-nears-third-verdict/

Posted by The Machine on 01/29/14 at 07:24 PM | #

Barry’s article isn’t bad, so kudos to those who complained about her previous reporting.

But I disagree with Dershowitz here: “I think it’s fair to say that the vast number of Americans think she is innocent and a substantial number of Italians think she is guilty,” he said in a telephone interview”.

Most Americans are indifferent and unconvinced, especially after her failed book and disastrous interviews.

Anecdotal perhaps, but the illustrator who did my knife work, who had no interest in the case whatsoever, said that from what he read and saw in the media prior he believed she was involved in some way.

A view I believe most people share. Regardless of what the media seems to act like sometimes, people aren’t stupid.

Posted by Ergon on 01/29/14 at 07:53 PM | #

Another excellent analysis thank you Ergon, especially in light of the terrible subject and how upsetting it is.

I have absolute faith in the Italian court to do the right and just thing tomorrow. My heart goes out to the ever-dignified Kerchers!

Posted by MHILL4 on 01/29/14 at 10:21 PM | #

For mave27, to recap: one of these knives, possibly the Brian Tighe pocket knife was used to inflict the lesser stab wounds on Meredith’s neck.

It did not have Meredith’s DNA on it, but, did have Knox and Sollecito’s, on the clasp.

I used Massei as the principal source for my article but also checked out the consultant’s reports.

There still is a great deal of confusion there about the angle and depth of the wounds and whether the attack took place from behind or the front, but, IMO it took place over the course of at least 15 minutes, possibly longer, in two separate locations, possibly in the hallway then in the bedroom.

Over the course of the next few months I hope to revisit this subject, with the help of various experts our community. This subject is upsetting, but I consider it a duty, to help give voice to what Meredith went through in her last moments. As the family said, she must have felt a great deal of terror.

Posted by Ergon on 02/20/14 at 03:27 PM | #

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Where next:

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Or to previous entry An Investigation Into The Large Knife Provides Further Proof That This Was THE Knife