Amanda Knox: How one misunderstood text sparked suspicion in infamous murder case

Fox Nation is revisiting one of the most sensational true crime cases of the 21st century – the Amanda Knox story – in a new special that reexamines the twists, trials and lingering questions surrounding the American exchange student accused of murder in Italy.

The Seattle native spent nearly four years in an Italian prison after being accused of murdering her roommate Meredith Kercher while studying abroad. 

To some, she was a cold-blooded killer. To others, she was a scapegoat trapped in a legal nightmare.

“Since O.J. Simpson, this was the biggest case. This was the other case of the century, and it was going to be spun by different people [in] different ways,” said Dr. Greg Hampikian, a forensic DNA expert, in the new special.

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Along with attorney Anne Bremner and journalist Angenette Levy, Hampikian broke down the Knox case in the Fox Nation special, starting from the moment she left the U.S. and became a suspect abroad.

Before the handcuffs, Knox was a student at the University of Washington with her sights set on Europe. 

“She wanted to go abroad like anybody at that age, wanting to branch out,” said Bremner. 

She worked three jobs, including one as a barista, to make that dream a reality. 

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With a goal to learn Italian and become a translator, she arrived in Perugia, Italy in September 2007 and moved into a flat with three roommates, one of whom was Kercher, a British exchange student.

Along the way, a romantic relationship emerged when Knox met a man while attending a concert with Kercher. Raffaele Sollecito, a 23-year-old student who was in the area to study information technology, was added to the triangle of suspicion surrounding Kercher’s unexpected death.

There were reports that Kercher was stabbed several times and sexually assaulted in the middle of the night, but further details surrounding the incident remained mysterious.

With a window broken and a rock found nearby, police initially speculated that the crime was a burglary gone wrong, but when they realized nothing had been taken from the property, they developed alternative theories. 

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Investigators then zeroed in on Knox, Sollecito and an innocent bar owner — despite having no physical evidence to support their implication.

“The police in Perugia – they don’t think Amanda Knox is acting appropriately for someone whose roommate was stabbed 47 times,” Levy explained. Bremner chalked up that suspicion to cultural differences that largely shaped Italian authorities’ perceptions. 

One image of Knox kissing Sollecito outside the murder site was plastered everywhere, but Bremner said it failed to capture the despondent looks they shared immediately after.

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Then, one text message – a complete misunderstanding – shifted everything, raising suspicion even higher. 

To learn more about the Amanda Knox case, including her hours-long interrogation, a faulty statement, the emergence of a well-known criminal and the road to Knox’s eventual acquittal, subscribe to Fox Nation and begin streaming “Framed: The Amanda Knox Story” today.