:
Smells Like
TEENSPERRIT or ASTROTURFING? - (5#) -

Meredith Kercher Murder Case -

Several days after the CBS 48 Hours program on the Giallo di Perugia, and I am left with the increasing feeling that what I viewed Saturday evening was an oddball industrial video just short of John Cleese as the narrator host. Was CBS conned into this venture? Or did it knowingly go along with some corporation's attempt to hijack their documentary? Which corporation could that be - Macy's? Cynics among us might suggest it was the Jesuits - but I jest.

Superficially, the Perugia Case has some similarities to the Napa Case which the series had previously covered. And that's the tone I expected to see. If you have the time and the inclination, you might want to read the 48 Hours recap of the California case. They called the case:
Nightmare in Napa.

Until Nick Pisa's dispatch on the leaked forensic report, I hung on to the hope that there was an intruder who had come to visit the Boys Downstairs who were all away for the holiday. The intruder then decided to go upstairs where the girls were living. This scenario seemed possible to me until... Pisa and The Knife.

What initially captured my attention about The Knife was its peripatetic destiny. From my understanding: this knife was confiscated by the police from Sollecito's kitchen drawer; it was reported to have Meredith Kercher's DNA on it, but she had never been in Sollecito's home. We can infer from this that the 8-inch knife must have travelled. But what was its conveyance? How would you transport an 8-knife through a metropolitan area - inside a violin case? Why would anyone be carrying around an 8-inch knife through a metropolitan area? Do you think you could carry an 8-inch knife around with you openly in your hand in public? How would you transport it? What would you put it in? The very logistics of the presumed path of this big knife give one pause
to wonder.

Added to the peculiar migratory habits of this knife, the DNA of Meredith was supposedly found on its blade and the DNA of Amanda on its handle - if so, and supported by enough credible evidence, this report is a damning document. Pisa's impression of the leaked material in that report shredded my hope that the murderer was a stranger who had initially come to visit the Boys Downstairs.

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Noted Elsewhere:

In a dispatch from Perugia for
La Stampa, Guido Ruotolo writes:

"The choking lasted 'seven to ten minutes.' Poor Meredith Kercher. They first tortured with a knife, six, seven cuts. Then, suffocated... The experts' report is chilling."

+ What could Meredith Kercher have
possibly done to deserve being tortured?

::La Stampa:: ... and ... ::G translation::

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Also Noted:

Margaret Ganong, who is a contributor to
Frank's Perugia Shock Blog, shares her
reaction to the 48 Hours program in her entry:

A Long Way From Truth
48-hour mystery train to Perugia

Tomorrow evening, UK Channel 4 TV will present their version of the case. I hope they post a recap on the Net. And I hope it is more balanced than the CBS version.

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