The True Crime Weblog Message Board

The idea here is to have the names and a brief description of each individual involved in this case.
I'll try and move my initial post, in which I proposed a breakdown by typology, over to this new topic. If I can't manage that, I'll just copy and paste my initial post here.

Sparrow suggested that we make this a group effort.

How about if we begin by completing the list of names and then write the descriptions, maybe 50-100 words for each. Then we can put this information in a format like ppt with photos and so on.

I wanted to write a sample sheet but am busy with a project today. So I'll just start with my initial breakdown and we'll take it from there.

These are the categories. Feel free to add or change.

Suspects

Cops/Investigators

Prosecutor and Judges

Lawyers for suspects

Eye/ear witnesses (Nara, Toto et al)

Circumstantial witnesses (girlfriends, boyfriends, the boys downstairs, Rudy's peeps, etc.)

Local hangers on (Zach Nowak, owner of Tana del'Orso, etc.)

Family and friends (of all suspects, family members, adoptive family members, goofy friends)

Journalists

Maybe we should add a fetish object category for important items (mops, swim caps, mushrooms, harry potter books, guitars and so on), with a brief explanation of the signficance of each artifact?

Thanks so much Skep and any other contributers working on this list. It will help posters like myself that really want to keep straight the investigators, lawyers and judges.
Please only do this if you have time. I am completely cognizant of how much time and energy is involved with this sort of thing. I'll write the blurb on Joe Tacopina.

One other category which might be nice is a list of countries with their respective contributing posters. Of course this would be voluntary.

Kind of like this:

USA
Midwest - indie

England

Italy

Spain

Hi Indie,
Great, you take Joe T. Where shall we file him? He's not working as a lawyer. Maybe we need a whole separate category for Profiteers? Or maybe local hangers-on can be changed to just Hangers on....

skeptical bystander wrote:Hi Indie,
Great, you take Joe T. Where shall we file him? He's not working as a lawyer. Maybe we need a whole separate category for Profiteers? Or maybe local hangers-on can be changed to just Hangers on....

Oh geez you are right Skep! How could I forget that categorical denial by CMellas? Yes, we probably could have a media-hound category, but focusing on the important people surrounding the case would be a better use of our time. I actually started checking up on JT's credentials the other day and I am sorry to say IMO he basically has none. He acts like he graduated from Harvard Law School, when in reality he graduated from the Law School of University of Bridgeport (I have never heard of itl) in 1991. He's just some slicked up dude providing smoke and mirrors for TV land.

Ha! Yes, I checked up on him awhile back because I noticed he was reticent about his credentials. I also notice on the official website for the firm that he is not licensed to practice law in Italy.

We'll set up a category for media pundits.

GIACOMO SILENZI (22)

Meredith's Italian boyfriend. One of the "boys downstairs".

From the Daily Mail :

Giacomo Silenzi, 22, had been dating Meredith, 21, for just ten days when she was found semi-naked with her throat cut in the bedroom of student digs she shared with American Knox, 20.
...

Giacomo said: "I was on the train heading back to Perugia from my parents' house when I got a call from Meredith's other flatmate Filomena, who told me what had happened.

"My stomach dropped - I just could not believe it. I had spoken with her for the last time just a couple of days earlier and she had sent me a text saying she was looking forward to me coming back.

"When I got to Perugia station, the police picked me up and took me to the police station.

"I had a cast-iron alibi because I had been at my parents' house since the Monday - it was a bank holiday in Italy. I was taken to a waiting room and Amanda was there. (...)

From the Telegraph (judge's report ??) :

nothing in particular emerged about her private life except that for around three weeks she had had a sentimental attachment with SILENZI Giacomo, one of the four boys who lived in the apartment on the ground floor of the building at Via della Pergola 7, the others being Marzan Marco, Bonassi Stefano and Luciani Riccardo.

These boys, when interviewed, said they had all left Perugia between Saturday and Monday to return to their respective places of residence. Marzan Marco, Bonassi Stefano and Silenzi Giacomo at Porto San Giorgio and Luciani Riccardo to Bologna.

From Times Online, November 7 :

"Giacomo Silenzi ... said he had given the keys to Ms Kercher because "one of our cats had a damaged ear and we asked her to look after it while we were away".

STEFANO BONASSI

One of the "boys downstairs".

A statement of his according to
www.fondazioneitaliani.it/index2. php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=2479 -

Il 4 novembre Stefano Bonassi, uno degli inquilini dell’appartamento sotto a quello di Meredith, mette a verbale: “Le persone che hanno frequentato la nostra casa erano Peppe, un compagno di facoltà di Marco (Marco Marzan, suo coinquilino; ndr); Peppe dovrebbe essere del Sud, molto robusto, alto circa 1,86. Poi un altro ragazzo soprannominato “il barone”, più basso di me, palestrato, di cui non ricordo il nome, sudafricano. Una sera l’ho trovato a casa. Nell’occasione il tipo era molto ubriaco e ha dormito sul water. Questo ragazzo aveva un’attrazione per Amanda. Sicuramente Peppe conosceva Meredith mentre non sono sicuro del ragazzo sudafricano. Un altro ragazzo che è venuto una volta a casa nostra è un ragazzo alto, magro, con scarpe da basket e pantaloni larghi, soprannominato “Body Roga”. Le scarpe da tennis erano a pianta larga, non conosco la marca. Non le ricordo bene, comunque le scarpe, di numero forse 43, non erano comuni”.


From the Telegraph (judge's report ??)

... four boys who lived in the apartment on the ground floor of the building at Via della Pergola 7, the others being Marzan Marco, Bonassi Stefano and Luciani Riccardo.

These boys, when interviewed, said they had all left Perugia between Saturday and Monday to return to their respective places of residence. Marzan Marco, Bonassi Stefano and Silenzi Giacomo at Porto San Giorgio and Luciani Riccardo to Bologna.

MARCO MARZAN

One of the "boys downstairs".

From the Telegraph (judge's report ??) :

... four boys who lived in the apartment on the ground floor of the building at Via della Pergola 7, the others being Marzan Marco, Bonassi Stefano and Luciani Riccardo.

These boys, when interviewed, said they had all left Perugia between Saturday and Monday to return to their respective places of residence. Marzan Marco, Bonassi Stefano and Silenzi Giacomo at Porto San Giorgio and Luciani Riccardo to Bologna.

RICCARDO LUCIANI

One of the "boys downstairs".

From the Telegraph (judge's report ??) :

... SILENZI Giacomo, one of the four boys who lived in the apartment on the ground floor of the building at Via della Pergola 7, the others being Marzan Marco, Bonassi Stefano and Luciani Riccardo.

These boys, when interviewed, said they had all left Perugia between Saturday and Monday to return to their respective places of residence. Marzan Marco, Bonassi Stefano and Silenzi Giacomo at Porto San Giorgio and Luciani Riccardo to Bologna.

FILOMENA ROMONELLI

One of the four young women in the upstairs flat. Trainee lawyer [needs checking].
Her boyfriend : Marco Zaroli.

Alibi.
EITHER she was in Perugia, but not at home (rather : at her boyfriend Marco's ?) OR perhaps she was home in the Marche region visiting her family on All Souls' Day. The former seems more likely. [needs checking]

Filomena had given/lent her cell phone (or one of her cell phones ?) to Meredith to use.
This phone was one of the two found by Sra Elisabetta Lana on Nov. 2. It had "the sim card of Vodafone 348 467 3711" registered / belonging to Filomena, which led the Postal Police to the house.

Filomena arrived at the house about 1 pm, reportedly some 25 minutes after the Postal Police. She had presumably received a call from AK (time unknown). She "verified that nothing had been taken from the apartment".

Filomena's room was found to be a mess ; broken window, stone on the floor. The door was reported to be open. A footprint was found on a postcard lying on the floor.

LAURA MEZZETTI

One of the four young women in the upstairs flat. Legal assistant.

Quoted as saying :

"I led a different lifestyle to Meredith as I was working and she was a student."

"She [= Meredith] didn’t really have a boyfriend, just lots of male and female friends."

SOPHIE PURTON

English friend of Meredith (see too Amy Frost and Robyn Butterworth).

On Nov. 1 Sophie, Robyn and Meredith had an early supper (about 6pm), then watched a film ("The Notebook") on DVD until about 9pm. Sophie then walked home with Meredith, but their ways parted and she went to her own home, leaving Meredith to walk the 500 yards to the cottage in Viale Sant' Antonio.

NB. Press sources variously said the dinner and/or film viewing took place (a) "at friend's flat [sic]" (Times Online, Nov. 12), (b) "at Robyn's flat" (Times Online, Nov. 13), (c) "at the home of fellow English student Sophie Purton" (Evening Standard, Nov. 13).

Sophie seems to have disliked Amanda. In any case, she suspected her early on.

Statement to police, 11.10 pm on Nov. 3 :

"I want to tell you some of the things Meredith said to me about Amanda. I think they’re important. Meredith told me Amanda would sometimes bring men back to their house. I don’t know how many there were. Meredith mentioned one man in particular who lives at an Internet Café. That’s where she said she met him. Meredith thought the man was strange. At the time, she didn’t give me any more details. I don’t know how old he is but I can say that at least one other man was taken back to their house, although I don’t know what nationality these people are”.
from Corriere della Sera (Nov. 8 ) «Meredith mi disse: troppi uomini in casa»

A Moroccan called Hicham Khiri alledgedly told the investigators on 3 November :

“We were at the Gradisca. It was Saturday and I was with a friend called Abdel” ... As we were leaving the car park at the end of the evening, we met Meredith and Sophie – Sophie was drunk – with another woman I don’t know. Meredith asked me if we could take them home, given the state Sophie was in”.
from Corriere della Sera (Nov. 8 ) «Meredith mi disse: troppi uomini in casa»

ITALY

Name: Emilio Lucchetta

Role: Private Investigator for Raffaele Sollecito's Team

QUOTES:

"But Emilio Lucchetta, a private detective working for Sollecito's legal team, said the Macintosh computer and type of browser used by Sollecito made it difficult to analyse. 'We can be sure that there was internet activity between 6.27pm and 3.33am,' he said."

LINKS

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/nov/25/italy.uk

ITALY

Name: Giovanni Arcudi

Role: Expert for Raffaele Sollecito's Team

QUOTES:

"Giovanni Arcudi, a second expert set to argue for the release from custody of Sollecito this week, countered. 'That footprint does not possess clear and definite characteristics.' "

LINKS:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/nov/25/italy.uk

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