that he would like to attend her funeral and meet them, and then say goodbye to her.
As the second week of the investigation came to a close, a judge ruled that additional tests should be conducted to establish the exact time of Meredith’s death, in response to a request by Lumumba’s attorneys. These could involve another autopsy. The new development was the result of evidence from Lumumba’s legal team. His lawyers apparently had found several witnesses who could place him at Le Chic at the time Meredith was killed.
Another revelation that pointed toward Lumumba’s innocence had been DNA found on Meredith’s body and in faeces that had been left in the toilet, neither of which matched Lumumba’s DNA. The evidence, combined with the fact that Lumumba had never had even a minor infraction with the law, led people – including the police – to wonder if his arrest was in fact a horrible mistake. An American student, Allegra Morosani, who had studied for a semester in Perugia – and who had come to know Lumumba fairly well – said that Amanda’s accusations against Lumumba hadactually served to work against her in the court of public opinion.
‘I was outraged that he had been considered a suspect,’ the student said. ‘Like, God, that bitch – how stupid of her to accuse him, because everyone would know that he couldn’t have done it. He was the sweetest guy.’
Italian police, it seemed, may not have been entirely convinced themselves that Lumumba had been involved in the murder, because they had been working intently towards developing leads pointing toward a fourth suspect. Forensic investigators, it turned out, had discovered a bloody fingerprint on a pillow in the cottage where Meredith was killed, as well as another on a toilet-paper roll, neither of which had matched the three suspects already in custody. Although they were not saying much at that time, they did say that they believed the man being sought was of African origin and that he might be linked to selling drugs.
Because analysis of the fingerprints in question had been matched to 20-year-old Rudy Hermann Guede – a small-time drug dealer and petty thief who held dual citizenship from Italy and Cote d’Ivoire (the Ivory Coast) – reports identifying him as a suspect began circulating in Italy and wider afield. According to police, one of the fingerprints made in Meredith’s blood had matched a fingerprint in Guede’s file at the registry of foreign residents at Perugia’s town hall. Investigators were not saying much about Guedeexcept that an international warrant had been issued for his arrest, and that officers were closing in on him.
C HAPTER 11
B y Monday, November 19, 2007 news reports about the international manhunt for Rudy Guede began to appear in the press and on television after it was revealed that police believe he left Perugia on the day that Meredith’s body was found. Police were saying little at this point, only that they had matched one or more fingerprints left in Meredith’s blood, and that Guede was suspected of participating in her sexual assault and murder. As police hunted for Guede across Europe, including France and Germany by some accounts, newspaper reporters were doing their own research to obtain as much information as they could about the new mystery man.
According to La Repubblica and other sources, Guede had moved to Italy with his father from the Ivory Coast when he was five. When his father returned to the West African country, Guede was takenin and raised by wealthy businessman Paolo Caporali and his family in Perugia. However, he proved to be rebellious, and the Caporali family had little to do with him after he had grown older. Although Guede had found work at a rural bed-and-breakfast, he eventually began to dabble in drugs as he started exploring Perugia’s widespread student party scene.
‘Guede was a difficult type,’ said Simone Benedetti, a member of his adoptive family. ‘He spent a
As the second week of the investigation came to a close, a judge ruled that additional tests should be conducted to establish the exact time of Meredith’s death, in response to a request by Lumumba’s attorneys. These could involve another autopsy. The new development was the result of evidence from Lumumba’s legal team. His lawyers apparently had found several witnesses who could place him at Le Chic at the time Meredith was killed.
Another revelation that pointed toward Lumumba’s innocence had been DNA found on Meredith’s body and in faeces that had been left in the toilet, neither of which matched Lumumba’s DNA. The evidence, combined with the fact that Lumumba had never had even a minor infraction with the law, led people – including the police – to wonder if his arrest was in fact a horrible mistake. An American student, Allegra Morosani, who had studied for a semester in Perugia – and who had come to know Lumumba fairly well – said that Amanda’s accusations against Lumumba hadactually served to work against her in the court of public opinion.
‘I was outraged that he had been considered a suspect,’ the student said. ‘Like, God, that bitch – how stupid of her to accuse him, because everyone would know that he couldn’t have done it. He was the sweetest guy.’
Italian police, it seemed, may not have been entirely convinced themselves that Lumumba had been involved in the murder, because they had been working intently towards developing leads pointing toward a fourth suspect. Forensic investigators, it turned out, had discovered a bloody fingerprint on a pillow in the cottage where Meredith was killed, as well as another on a toilet-paper roll, neither of which had matched the three suspects already in custody. Although they were not saying much at that time, they did say that they believed the man being sought was of African origin and that he might be linked to selling drugs.
Because analysis of the fingerprints in question had been matched to 20-year-old Rudy Hermann Guede – a small-time drug dealer and petty thief who held dual citizenship from Italy and Cote d’Ivoire (the Ivory Coast) – reports identifying him as a suspect began circulating in Italy and wider afield. According to police, one of the fingerprints made in Meredith’s blood had matched a fingerprint in Guede’s file at the registry of foreign residents at Perugia’s town hall. Investigators were not saying much about Guedeexcept that an international warrant had been issued for his arrest, and that officers were closing in on him.
C HAPTER 11
B y Monday, November 19, 2007 news reports about the international manhunt for Rudy Guede began to appear in the press and on television after it was revealed that police believe he left Perugia on the day that Meredith’s body was found. Police were saying little at this point, only that they had matched one or more fingerprints left in Meredith’s blood, and that Guede was suspected of participating in her sexual assault and murder. As police hunted for Guede across Europe, including France and Germany by some accounts, newspaper reporters were doing their own research to obtain as much information as they could about the new mystery man.
According to La Repubblica and other sources, Guede had moved to Italy with his father from the Ivory Coast when he was five. When his father returned to the West African country, Guede was takenin and raised by wealthy businessman Paolo Caporali and his family in Perugia. However, he proved to be rebellious, and the Caporali family had little to do with him after he had grown older. Although Guede had found work at a rural bed-and-breakfast, he eventually began to dabble in drugs as he started exploring Perugia’s widespread student party scene.
‘Guede was a difficult type,’ said Simone Benedetti, a member of his adoptive family. ‘He spent a
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