By
Arla Shephard
November 26, 2007
Italian police have named Ivory Coast native Rudy Hermann Guede as the newest suspect in British student Meredith Kercher's Nov. 1 slaying, according to a Nov. 25 article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer ("Perugia suspect says he was in slain UK student's room, then fled").
Police first set after Guede when his fingerprints matched those of a bloody print found on Kercher's pillow. He was apprehended in Berlin.
DNA evidence has proven that Guede had sex with Kercher the night of her death, despite previous claims from UW student Amanda Knox, Kercher's roommate and another suspect in the case, that it was bar owner Patrick 'Diya' Lumumba who went into Kercher's bedroom and killed her.
Lumumba has been released due to a lack of evidence tying him to the death.
Guede admitted to having been in Kercher's bedroom Nov. 1, but claims that he is being framed by an Italian man who he watched flee the scene, according to a Nov. 25 article in La Repubblica ("Rudy: l'assassino mi ha minacciato 'Mi ha detto: sei condannato'").
"Rudy was present; he was there, but he denies having ever committed acts of sexual violence against Meredith, and it wasn't he who killed her," said Guede's lawyer, Walter Biscotti, in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
Guede said he heard Kercher scream when he was in the bathroom, and when he emerged he saw an Italian man he had never met before.
Knox and Italian student Raffaele Sollecito are still in custody for their possible role in covering up Kercher's murder, according to La Repubblica. Knox and Kercher's DNA were found on a possible murder weapon belonging to Sollecito.
Kercher was found dead on Nov. 2, half-clothed and with her throat slit.
[Reach reporter Arla Shephard at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]
1 Comments
#1 Anon
on November 26, 2007 at 6:59 a.m.(Stratford-upon-avon, United Kingdom | Unverified Name)
I think there were 4 different crimes lasting 10 minutes each: 10pm rapist wore gloves then went to work, 10.45pm rapist wore gloves then went home and on the internet, 11.30pm rapist went to the toilet, the coordinator held a threatening knife to the victim's neck during each rape, and murdered the victim at midnight.
No trace of Diya "Patrick" Lumumba's DNA was found at the cottage.
Still, no trace of Meredith Kercher's DNA was found on Raffaele Sollecito's shoe, and police say Raffaele Sollecito's trainers - cleaned with bleach after the murder - have a tiny defect pattern mirrored in the footprint.
Diya "Patrick" Lumumba said he told Amanda Knox on 30 October she was no longer required and "By the end, she hated me." (Times Online)
Still, Amanda Knox sent a message to Diya "Patrick" Lumumba on 1 November, telling him her roommate was home and "see you later", and there is evidence that Diya "Patrick" Lumumba sent a message to Amanda Knox telling her not to come to work, because he was not opening the bar that night. Diya "Patrick" Lumumba's cell phone was detected in the area around Meredith Kercher's house that evening; the next day, the judge says, he changed phones. (Newsweek)
Still, Lumumba phoned Amanda, who quietly confirmed that Meredith was dead... She said she was talking to the police and hung up. (thisislondon.co.uk)
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