What happened to Amanda Knox? How to watch new Disney+ drama based on the true story that gripped the world

The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox is a drama series centred on the legal case that gripped the world back in 2007. US Student Amanda Knox was found guilty and subsequently acquitted of the murder of her roommate Meredith Kercher, with whom she lived while studying in Italy.

The world watched on as Amanda maintained her innocence throughout the case. A media storm engulfed the 20-year-old as she attempted to convince the Italian courts, and some sceptical amateur sleuths, of her innocence.

The first two episodes of The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox lands on Disney+ on Wednesday, August 20, with episodes released weekly from thereon in.

What happened to Amanda Knox?

In 2007, Amanda had been sharing an apartment with fellow exchange student Meredith Kercher in the Italian city of Perugia. Twenty-year-old Amanda was accused of murdering her roommate after she found Meredith at their home.

Police alleged that the student implicated herself, Sollecito, and her employer Patrick Lumumba during investigations into Meredith’s death. She told police that she had spent the night with Sollecito at his flat and told officers that Lumumba had broken into her and Meredith’s apartment before sexually assaulting and killing the student. However, Sollecito told investigators that he could not remember if the pair had spent the night together.

Amanda, Sollecito and Lumumba were eventually arrested and charged with murder, however Lumumba was later released due a strong alibi. Customers who were served by Lumumba at his bar provided him with an alibi on where he was the night of the murder.

Police then found bloodstained fingerprints on the bedding underneath Meredith’s body, belonging to Rudy Guede. Guede, who had fled to Germany, was a known burglar who had become acquainted with Amanda, Meredith and Giacomo Silenzi, a man who lived in the same building as them, who became romantically linked to Meredith.

Italian authorities charged Amanda, Sollecito, and Guede with committing the murder together. Amanda and Sollecito pleaded not guilty on charges of murder, sexual assault, carrying a knife, simulating a burglary and theft. A concurrent trial was taking place, in which Amanda was accused of defamation after accusing Lumumba of murder.

In December 2009, then 22-year-old Amanda was convicted of faking a break-in, defamation, sexual violence, and murder and sentenced to 26 years in prison. Sollecito was convicted and sentenced to 25 years.

A appeal trial began in November 2010, with the court ordering a review of DNA evidence form the scene which had been greatly contested amongst experts. This review concluded that none of Meredith’s DNA was found on the alleged murder weapon, which police picked up from Sollecito’s kitchen during the investigation.

Experts also noted multiple errors in the gathering and analysis of evidence, including a DNA sample taken from Meredith’s bra clasp that was found to have the DNA of multiple men on it, but had been lost for 47 days during the forensic investigation. The court ruled that the multiple DNA reports suggested that the evidence had been contaminated.

In October 2011, Amanda and Sollecito were acquitted after the court found them not guilty of Meredith’s murder. Judge Claudio Pratillo Hellmann also said that Amanda had been confused during the police interview, which took place in a language she was still learning at the time. He added that her and Sollecito’s accounts failing to match up did not constitute a false alibi, and there was no evidence of any phone calls, texts or communication between Amanda, Sollecito and Guede, suggesting that the conspiracy to commit murder was “far from probable”.

Amanda’s conviction for defamation was upheld and a three-year sentence was imposed. However, the American student had already served her time in jail, meaning no additional incarceration was required. She returned home to Seattle as soon as she was released.

Guede did not have his murder conviction quashed and served 13 years in prison before being released in 2021.

What is Amanda Knox doing now?

After being acquitted and returning to the US, Amanda wrote about her ordeal in her first book Waiting To Be Heard: A Memoir. The book became a best-seller and fees raised from the sales went toward paying her legal team in Italy.

In 2017, she began campaigning for those wrongfully imprisoned and launched the Facebook Watch series The Scarlett Letter Reports, which focused on the “gendered nature of public shaming”.

She married author Christopher Robinson in 2020, having met him upon her return to Seattle in 2011. The couple share two children together.