Amanda Knox's Jailhouse Letters to Ex-Beau and Co-Defendant
Knox Tells Co-Defendant Raffaele Sollecito She Can't Give Him Her Heart
By MARK MOONEY
June 15, 2009 —
Amanda Knox has been exchanging letters with her co-defendant and ex-boyfriend where they talk about the messages they try to communicate to each other in the Perugia, Italy, courtroom during their murder trial.
While Knox's letters to Raffaele Sollecito are friendly and affectionate, and she offers to show him around Seattle when their ordeal is over, she tells Sollecito that she cannot love him.
"We could have really had something special, it's true," she wrote on Feb. 18, one of several letters obtained by ABC News.
She tells Sollecito that she reads his letters over several times and says she was "inspired" by things he wrote. She goes on to write, however, "I can't give you what you want. I can't give you my heart completely."
In the letter Knox suggests she has another love interest. "I'm sorry for you that in this time I've steered myself back to the love that I knew and that reborn in myself for DJ." It's unclear who DJ is. Knox has been in jail since her arrest last year.
"I hope this letter doesn't hurt you because all of your letters give me a sense of peace. Thank you. I'm here to hold your hand."
Knox, 21, tries to let Sollecito, 25, down easy. She writes, "You know what would be wonderful? Do you think they would let us hug each other when the judge absolves us? I'm tired of not being allowed to look at you."
At another point in that letter, Knox tells Sollecito, "Don't feel stupid for your feelings. They come and go, just as the moments of weakness are necessary in establishing strength. For instance I only manage to cry when I'm with my family, otherwise I keep it as much as I can inside."
The letter is signed with hearts and a peace sign.
Knox and Sollecito are charged with killing British student Meredith Kercher, 21, during a sex game gone bad. The trial has been made headlines in Italy and Britain since Knox was arrested in November 2007 and dubbed "Angel Face" and other nods to her good looks and grim accusations.
A third man, Rudy Guede, has already been convicted of the murder.
Knox completed two days of grueling testimony on Friday and Saturday, days that could turn out to be essential to whether she is convicted or acquitted of the charges.
During her days on the stand, Knox testified that on the night that Kercher was killed, she was with Sollecito at his house where they smoked pot and had sex.
Amanda Knox's Valentine's Day Letter to Sollecito
She also told the court that she was friends with Kercher and when she last saw Kercher leaving the apartment she still had traces of vampire make-up from a Halloween celebration the previous night.
Sollecito began the exchange of jailhouse letters, and Knox replied to one letter on Feb. 13, starting the letter with, "HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!! (Well, for tomorrow at least.)"
In her letter, Knox admitted that she was unable to understand a message he had apparently mouthed to her.
"It was good to see you again today. We got to exchange a few more glances than usual, though I have to admit, I'm not good at reading the subtle messages that one passes through the features of the face, nor can I read lips," she says.
They wrote to each other after Knox's two Italian roommates had testified.
"What I was trying to say through the various waggling of my eyebrows was essentially: 'Wow, these girls made up their minds to hate me really quick,'" Knox wrote.
And on Feb. 14, Valentine's Day, she betrays some weariness with prison life and talked about looking forward to being freed from jail and offers to show Sollecito around Seattle when they are out of prison, including her favorite pizza place.
"Are you alone in your cell?" she asked Sollecito. "The thing about women's prison is there about 70 of us altogether at the maximum and we all live on the same floor, so all of us are mixed together regardless of the length or type of conviction.
"For instance in my very own cell I'm living with a drug addict, a thief and an accomplice to murder... if I have to get down to their crimes they are here for."
That letter is signed, "Your friend, Amanda" and includes a smiley face.
Knox's testimony was expected to be key to the case and Carlo Della Vedova, one of her lawyers, said Knox did a good job on the stand.
"I think also the message that came to the jury that there has been a lot of misinterpretation about herself as a personality as a person and also of the facts that have been misinterpreted and used against her," Della Vedova told ABC News Elizabeth Vargas.
Amanda Knox's Lawyer on Why She Switched Languages
He explained why Knox began her testimony in English and later spoke in Italian, and said it wasn't because she was rattled.
"In front of a jury, media all of us she thought maybe she would have difficulties, so she thought it was better to start in English in order to be acquainted with the room and so that's why she then switched to Italian," the lawyer said.
Knox's mother is scheduled to take the stand this Friday.
Della Vedova said her questioning will be limited to phone calls she received from her daughter.
"Amanda... it was the first thing that she did when she found the body. She called her mother as 20-year-old girls do," Della Vedova said.
Knox's father, Curt, told ABC News that he thought his daughter performed credibly on the stand. He said he had a too brief moment with his daughter when she completed her testimony Saturday.
"She took a big sigh of relief and said I love you and then unfortunately they took her away," Curt Knox said.