This case was on 48 Hours Mystery last night and I have to say they way they portrayed it is there is an innocent girl in jail. Seems all too familiar that the cops can't exactly prve she was involved now and they don't want to release her and have egg on their faces. Curious to see what hard evidence they have.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/10/48hours/main4005725.shtml
Ciolino says if Amanda had actually been involved in Meredith's murder, police should have a lot more evidence to prove it. "When you or I walk into a room and we mess it up with blood and DNA and sweat we're going to bring a whole lot of stuff home with us. And we're going to leave even more there. But we have a problem in this case. Because they can’t put Amanda and Raffaele in that crime scene," Ciolino says.
"But you know who put Amanda at the crime scene? Amanda put Amanda at the crime scene. Who signs a statement that implicates them and their friends to murder? Who does that? Why would Amanda sign that?"
Van Sant asks.
"Let me tell you, Peter, a confused 20-year-old girl, 6,000 miles from home, and all of a sudden they’re telling her she’s a prime suspect in a murder, that they’re gonna put her in prison for the rest of her life in an Italian jail, unless you pony up baby, and sign this," Ciolino says.
That’s what the case against Amanda boils down to, says Ciolino: a police theory that formed the basis for a coerced confession.
How does this work?
"This is real easy, okay? 'Amanda, you know what happened and I know what happened. And you better sign this statement because if you don't, young lady, you're never gonna see your mom again. You're never gonna see your daddy again.' 'Sir, it didn't really happen like that.' 'Bip, yes, it did happen like that, Amanda. And this is how it happened. You were with Patrick. And you and him went over there and he murdered your roommate. Now, maybe, maybe you didn't know that was gonna happen. But you certainly were there and you helped make it happen. Now, you better get writing or sign this or bad things are gonna happen like we're gonna charge you with the murder.' That's why there's no video. There is no audio. There is no independent party. There's Amanda and there's the cops. That's it. And who's gonna believe Amanda?" Ciolino says.
Amanda's signed statement helped form the backbone of the original police theory of the crime: that Amanda and Raffaele assisted Patrick Lumumba when he killed Meredith.
"And that's a great theory until the science comes rolling in, until the fingerprints show up," Ciolino says.
When Lumumba proved he had an alibi, and police matched DNA to Rudy Guede, the original theory didn’t work anymore.
"But now we have another problem, because Amanda didn’t know him. And Raffaele don’t know him," Ciolino explains.