Amanda Knox is infamous for her alleged involvement in the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, a British foreign exchange student who shared an apartment with Knox in Italy.

After spending roughly four years in Italian prison, Knox was acquitted of Kercher’s murder and was cleared of her involvement in the murder. For the years of slander in the news and wrongful imprisonment, Knox is being awarded $20,000 from the Italian government.

How did this get so messed up?

Amanda Knox was born in Seattle, Washington in 1987. Studying at the University of Washington, Knox was permitted to study abroad in Perugia, Italy in 2007. Knox shared a flat with Meredith Kercher and two Italian women. Young Italian men owned the basement below their flat/house situation and would often hangout with the girls, talking about music, etc., which is a very important part of this case that is often overlooked.

Knox had spent the night at her boyfriend’s apartment the night before, leaving both to be each other’s alibis and raising suspicion of conspiracy. The actual culprit of the murders was found when they tested DNA evidence against the men that would hangout in the basement with those who rented it. Rudy Guede is the murderer and was identified by his bloody fingerprints left at the girls’ flat. Guede was charged in 2008 for the murder and sexual assault of Meredith Kercher.

After much confusion, a very large language barrier and foreign jurisdiction issues, Amanda Knox was tried for the murder of her roommate Meredith Kercher, and sentenced to 26 years in Italian prison on inconclusive evidence. Thankfully, her and Sollecito’s (the boyfriend) sentences were overturned, after four years in Italian prison.

Quinlan Funk comments on this saying,”$20,000 is too little for what she went through.”