I was taking a good hard look today at Rudy Guede's crime spree preceding the murder of Meredith Kercher and there were a few things that really jumped out at me. Things I hadn't realized before. It made me think how it would be helpful to have a chronological recap of the incidents that led up to that horrible and fateful day of the murder. Let's take a look back...
Sept 27, 2007 (occurred in Perugia) Bartender Christian Tremontano is awaked in the middle of the night by someone in his apartment. He goes downstairs to find Rudy Guede walking through his apartment going through his things. First, Rudy holds a chair up against Christian, then he pulls a knife from his pocket and threatens him. Finally, he flees the scene. Christian reports the break-in to police officer, Monica Napoleoni. She
asks him to come in to the police station to file an official complaint. Later, when Christian
arrives at the police station, the line is too long and he gives up the
idea considering he hadn't been injured and nothing had been stolen. He later sees Rudy at two bars. Incredibly, one is the bar where he works as a bartender and he has him thrown out by the bouncer.
Oct. 8, 2007 (occurred in Milan) Nursery school owner Maria Del Prato comes to school in the morning and finds the kitchen a total disaster. Food is all over the room, in the sink and on the tables. The sleeping area used by the children is disturbed as if someone slept there. Money from the schools tuition fund is missing.
Oct. 13, 2007 (occurred in Perugia) The law office of Paolo Brocchi in Via Del Roscetti is found broken into. The alarm has been turned off and an upper window has been broken into by a stone. Glass shrouds from the broken window are found in another room placed carefully on a desk. It is discovered that the thief drank soda from the refrigerator and turned the heat on full blast. A laptop computer, printer, USB flash drives, a mobile phone and a cell phone are found to be stolen.
Oct. 23, 2007 (occurred in Perugia) Mandu Maria Diaz (who lived next door to Rudy Guede) is informed while away from home that her house has been severely damaged by fire. She returns to her home to see the damage and destruction for herself. She is told an upper window had been broken into, and the fire had been started on the 3rd floor where a scarf had been tossed carelessly over a lamp. She is told that the thief had cooked a meal in her kitchen, left her stove on, thrown food all around the kitchen and left the refrigerator open. To her horror she learns her beloved cat has died in the fire. The thief had left the pantry door open which had blocked the cats escape. Her jewelry chest had been looted and her mother's gold watch, a special heirloom, had been stolen.
Oct. 27, 2007 (occurred in Milan) Maria Del Prato arrives unexpectedly with two repairmen to her nursery school. Inside her school office she finds Rudy Guede unhooking the cable to her computer and attempting to hook it to a laptop computer in his possession. He seems very relaxed and tells her not to worry. He hadn't taken anything. The repairmen keep watch of Rudy while she calls the police. Rudy lies to the police and tells them he was told this was a place you could pay to spend the night. The police go through Rudy's backpack and find a large knife which he had taken from the kitchen. They also find a mobile phone, a cell phone and a woman's gold watch. The cell phone is identified as belonging to the law firm of Paolo Brocchi of Perugia. The laptop also belongs to this law office. Rudy claims he bought the laptop computer from a man at the train station in Milan.
The Milan police want to keep Rudy but the prosecutor tells them he is Perugia's problem. He is sent on a train back to Perugia where he is ordered to apologize to the lawyers at the law office. Monday morning, Rudy makes a half hearted attempt to apologize but again tells them the story of buying the laptop from a man on a train in Milan.
The Milan police want to keep Rudy but the prosecutor tells them he is Perugia's problem. He is sent on a train back to Perugia where he is ordered to apologize to the lawyers at the law office. Monday morning, Rudy makes a half hearted attempt to apologize but again tells them the story of buying the laptop from a man on a train in Milan.
Oct. 30, 2007 (in Perugia) Rudy attempts to borrow money from another student but is turned down.
Nov. 1, 2007 (in Perugia) Meredith Kercher is murdered.
Nov. 2, 2007 (in Perugia) Meredith Kercher's murdered body is discovered. An upstairs window has been broken and a large stone lies deep inside the room. Money, credit cards and 2 cell phones are stolen. (The cell phones are later found discarded in an area Rudy had to pass to get to his apartment) Juice from the refrigerator has been drunk...Rudy's DNA is found, feces has been left in the toilet of one of the upstairs bathrooms, matches Rudy's DNA. Shoe prints and hand prints from the bedroom where Meredith is murdered match Rudy's shoes and hands perfectly. His DNA in on Meredith's purse. His DNA is inside of Meredith's body. Most likely, his semen (ridiculously, it was never tested) is found on the pillow case next to Meredith's body.
Meredith's murder fits perfectly with Rudy's actions as you can see clearly from this re-cap. Every one of Rudy's break-ins were done alone. He never had an accomplice. He used knives, he stole knives. He trashed the houses he robbed and showed no respect for the owners belongings and had already shown, by the death of the cat, he had no respect for life. He liked to steal cell phones and money. He seemed to get a thrill out of breaking into places and had no fear of doing it in difficult ways such as using a second story window. A tall, athletic thief, he probably liked the challenge of it. He had already shown he had no difficulty throwing large rocks or scaling walls. He seemed to be fearless and even cocky in his actions.
Rudy had been acting strangely. His friends noticed that he was doing strange things in his sleep and not remembering it the next day. He was often falling asleep in strange places. He had exhibited periods of crawling on the floor and barking like a dog. After his arrest his behavior was classified as psychogenic, dissociate state or fugue state which is often associated with multiple personality disorder.
This should have been an open-and-shut case, with the obvious arrest of Rudy Guede, the sole and absolute murderer of Meredith Kercher. How did things ever get so Topsy-turvy?
(I'd like to acknowledge Patrick King for his excellent article on this subject and the source of most of the information utilized in making this chronology.)
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474981070613
