During the trial, assistant prosecutor Manuela Comodi, presented the footprint evidence to the court. As expected, her job was to defend the police work of police forensic biologist Patrizia Stefanoni. She claimed that Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito's bare footprints, made in blood were found throughout the apartment. These bare footprints were not visible to the human eye. These footprints were detected with a chemical called luminol. Luminol is an investigative tool that can help investigators find blood that has been cleaned up. When applied, luminol glows for a few seconds when it reacts with blood. Luminol also reacts with many other things. Luminol reacts with various household cleaners, different types of soil, rust in tap water, and many other substances. When luminol glows, investigators can pinpoint the area and then test to see if the stain does indeed consist of blood. Stefanoni claimed these stains were never tested for blood, however in July 2009, Stefanoni's notes confirmed the stains were tested with tetramethylbenzidine which is extremely sensitive for blood. All of the stains detected with luminol tested negative for blood. Patrizia Stefanoni and Manuela Comodi chose to ignore the test results during the trail.
During the trial, Comodi had this to say: "At the scene of the crime there is a footprint made in blood on the bathmat and Knox and Sollecito's footprints made in blood on the floor," Comodi said. "and these were supposedly made at some different time because they stepped in bleach or rust or fruit juice? It's up to you to decide."
You decide? It is laughable that the prosecutor would be so callous about something so important. How about this, Ms. Comodi, why not show proof that the footprints were made in blood? The truth is, the footprints were never proven to be made in blood. The footprints were detected with luminol. As mentioned above, the stains were tested with tetramethylbenzidine which is extremely sensitive for blood. All of the stains detected with luminol tested negative for blood.
The footprints were also swabbed and tested for DNA. None of them tested positive for Meredith's DNA. Let me repeat that. None of the bare footprints detected with luminol tested positive for Meredith's DNA.
WIth this information available to the prosecution, how could they possibly proceed with their accusation that the prints were made in Meredith's blood?
Did these footprints really have anything to do with this murder?
Okay, let's try to help the prosecution for a minute. Let's try and make this work.
Below, we show the basic layout of the apartment. This picture is not to scale and the footprints are shown in their general locations. The blue dots are stains detected with luminol. The red dots are shoe prints and a footprint that were visible to the human eye and were all made in Meredith's blood.
The picture below is footprint number 1 as seen with luminol. The prosecution claims this footprint belongs to Amanda. The footprint is just outside Meredith's door with the toes pointing towards Meredith's room. How did they come to the conclusion that this print belonged to Amanda? Who knows? Did they simply assume? Okay, let's try and make it work. Amanda steps in Meredith's blood in the bedroom. She leaves no footprints at all in Meredith's room. She hops on one foot to the door keeping her foot that is covered in blood elevated. When she gets to Meredith's door, she turns around and hops backward out of the room onto the once elevated foot, leaving one single footprint made in blood on the floor. Was all of the blood from her foot transferred in that one print or did she simply start hoping on the other foot again? Tough decision? Okay, let's come back to it then.
The picture below shows footprints 2 and 3. These blobs were said to be two right feet. The prosecution claims that the footprint on the right belongs to Raffaele. How did they come to the conclusion that this print belonged to Raffaele? Who knows? Did they simply assume? Okay, once again, let's try and make it work. Raffaele steps in Meredith's blood in her bedroom. He hops on his left foot into the hallway. Then he puts down his right foot one time making one footprint. The same question applies for Raffaele. Was all of the blood from his foot transferred in that one print or did he simply start hoping on the other foot again? At least with Raffaele he could hop forward. He had it easier that the backward hopping
Amanda. Wait, what about that other footprint? You know, the other right footprint right next to Raffaele's. Who's footprint is that? Where did it come from? The prosecution did not care. They decided to skip it all together. Oops, we said skip. I think we meant hop.
Let's take a break from the confusion above and let's look at all of those shoe prints represented by red dots. Can you guess who they belong to? Yes, all of the shoe prints seen in visible blood belong to Rudy Guede. Every single one of the shoe prints seen in blood, match the tread pattern of Rudy's shoes. He openly admitted the shoes belonged to him. He threw the shoes away when he fled to Germany. The box for the shoes was found in his apartment.
Okay, let's try to make this work. Here we go again right? Where did Rudy hop around? What foot did he hop on? Did he hop backward or forward? The truth is, Rudy didn't hop around at all. His shoe print pattern is very clear. He left shoe prints in Meredith's room and he left more in the hall. The photos below show Rudy's shoe prints leading right out the front door.
The photo below shows the view leading to the front door. Please note that the photo shows the markers left by the investigators. The actual shoe prints were scrubbed off the floor during evidence collection. Read more about the sloppy evidence collection on page two.
We are not only supposed to believe that Amanda and Raffaele hopped all over the place, we are supposed to believe that they were able to clean up the stains found with luminol. We were even told that some footprints must have been cleaned up well enough so the luminol could not find them. We are supposed to believe that Amanda and Raffaele were able to achieve this amazing clean up without disturbing any of Rudy's prints and leaving no trace of their cleanup effort.
The prosecution presented no evidence whatsoever that proved that any clean up effort took place. Bloody shoe prints from Rudy Guede's shoes are seen going down the hall and right out the front door. How could Amanda and Raffaele clean the floor, removing all of the evidence that pointed at them, while leaving all of the evidence that pointed to Rudy completely untouched? This type of clean up effort would simply be impossible. The prosecution's theory is simply nonsense.
Rudy Guede murdered Meredith Kercher. He acted alone. It takes a lot of imagination to try and make the footprint patterns show that Amanda and Raffaele were in the cottage when Meredith was murdered. It takes no effort what so ever to show that Rudy Guede was present at the time of the murder. The evidence is very clear.
You are currently on page one
Page two: Details the footprints, shoe prints and stains that were not attributed to any specific person.
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*Page one: Details the footprints and shoe prints found in the cottage that were attributed to a specific person by the prosecution. This page also talks about luminol. What is luminol and how is it used by investigators?
Injustice in Perugia
a website detailing the wrongful conviction of Amanda Knox & Raffaele Sollecito
The Truth About the Footprints, Shoe Prints and Luminol, Page One
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