The Forgotten Killer: Rudy Guede and the Murder of Meredith Kercher (Kindle Single) (4 page)

They found a scene covered in blood, including spatters and apparent handprints on the walls. Kercher’s beige duvet cover was on the floor next to the bed and a bare foot was sticking out from underneath. Postal Police Inspector
Michele Battistelli
ordered everyone out of the house and waited for the arrival of the Carabinieri and the Perugia Police Department homicide squad.

Crime-Scene Assessment

Underneath the duvet, Kercher was found on her back, naked except for a blood-soaked shirt pulled up over her chest. There was a pillow positioned under her hips bearing a handprint in blood. There were two blood-drenched towels beneath her and another on the bed. Her bra, jeans, sneakers, socks, and kerchief lay on the tile floor nearby, which was also smeared with blood. There were apparent stab wounds to her neck and a gaping throat wound in the region below her chin.

Aspirated blood spray was visible on the closet doors, the side panel of the wardrobe, and on the cups of her bra, all of which suggest her position in the room after the wounds were inflicted.

Three bloody shoe prints were noted next to the body and additional ones leading down the hallway toward the front door. These were subsequently determined to have been made by a man’s Nike athletic shoe. There was one bare footprint in blood on the bath mat in the bathroom Kercher shared with Knox.

Kercher’s open and apparently rifled handbag lay on the bed. Her credit cards, house keys, and 300 euro in cash were missing and never found.

Romanelli was able to determine that nothing was taken from her room despite the broken window and disarray. Knox and Mezzetti’s rooms appeared untouched.

The location of the mobile phones indicates the route the fleeing offender took away from the house.

Victimology

In nearly all respects, Meredith Kercher would be considered a low-risk victim. She was intelligent and well-spoken and, in addition to her three female flatmates and the
men downstairs, had a steady group of English female friends. She did not practice any risk-taking behaviors, and her profile was similar to any of the thousands of foreign students in this traditional university town. She was in frequent telephone contact with her flatmates. She had no known enemies in the roughly two months she had been in Perugia.

The only risky aspect of her life in Perugia was the location of her cottage, which was physically isolated, on a slope overlooking a ravine between a greenbelt and a concrete parking garage across the street. Crimes of violence were extremely rare. Her risk level was therefore the same as her three flatmates’. There are no indicators that Kercher was specifically targeted for attack.

Offender Risk Level

Based on the location of the house and the multiple vantage points from which it can be seen, we rate the level of risk for detection or intervention as low to moderate. The initial phase is organized and strongly suggests experience.

Burglars seldom hit houses “cold,” as completely unfamiliar environments present too many risks and unknowns. Rather, it is common for them to surveil intended target locations or otherwise gain intelligence. Since there were eight residents in this house, it is likely that the Unknown Subject (UNSUB) had some familiarity with one or more of them and has been in the house before. The crime occurred at the beginning of the month, and each of the eight residents is believed to have paid his or her rent in cash. It is probable the UNSUB knew or suspected this, which further indicates some familiarity with the residents and their habits.

Most small-time burglaries of this nature take place within the offender’s comfort zone, so we would expect the UNSUB to live in the area.

He gained access to the house by breaking the window in Romanelli’s bedroom with the rock. Not only would this provide a way in, but it also would alert him if anyone was home. If he heard voices or screaming or saw lights turn on inside, he would know that the premises were occupied, and he would run.

Since access to Romanelli’s window involved a climb and some contortion, we would expect the UNSUB to be fairly young and in good athletic condition, with significant upper-body strength. This type of entry involves planning and organization, so we would expect him to have a history of breaking and entering and burglary.

Medical Examiner’s Reports and Lab Analyses

The wounds causing death were to the neck and throat. Three horizontal slashes were noted in the right-throat area below the ear. They were similarly oriented, suggesting they occurred in succession. There was a gaping wound approximately three inches in length under the left-chin area, sufficiently deep to cause uneven tearing of underlying tissue after the initial penetration. This led to copious outer blood loss as well as significant inward bleeding to the esophagus. Some of the blood that entered the esophagus was inhaled and expelled through the nose and mouth.

There was extensive bruising to the head, face, and neck. An area of trauma on the rear scalp indicates strong pulling or tearing of large amounts of hair.

There were defensive wounds on the hands and significant bruising to both elbows and the right forearm. Additional deep bruising was noted on the hips and right leg.

Either substantial blood loss from the neck wounds or suffocation could have caused death. It is estimated that Kercher expired within 10 minutes or less of the infliction of the mortal wound.

Since the victim’s core temperature was not taken by the medical examiner upon arrival at the scene, it is impossible at this remove to pinpoint the time of death. Kercher was last seen alive shortly before 9 p.m. Undigested food in her stomach would suggest the attack to have taken place around 10 p.m.

Large amounts of DNA from one individual were recovered by the crime-scene team. DNA traces from skin cells were found inside the victim’s vagina.

Crime Analysis

Classification

According to the organizational typologies of the
Crime Classification Manual
[Douglas, Burgess, et al], the major category classification of this crime is Criminal Enterprise, with sub-classifications of Situational Murder and Disorganized Sexual Homicide. The key consideration in these classifications is that the primary intent is a nonsexual felony (e.g., robbery or breaking and entering). The victim is at the scene of the primary felony and is sexually assaulted and murdered as a second offense. If the victim were not present, the primary felony would still occur.

In the above-captioned case, the motive or original intent of the UNSUB was burglary of cash and/or other valuables. With the unexpected appearance of one of the residents of the house, the crime devolved into a homicide. The motivation was both sexual opportunism and the need to eliminate the only witness.

Weapon

Considering the diameter and penetration profile of the stab wounds to the neck, we believe the weapon to be a small to medium-size knife brought to the scene by the assailant. There is no evidence of activity in the kitchen or any report from the three surviving flatmates of any missing knives or utensils, so we conclude the UNSUB brought the weapon with him in case of trouble. We believe this to be a critical part of his M.O., and as suspects are developed, we would expect to see this element in previous offenses.

Postmortem Covering of the Victim

The covering of a victim’s body is often misinterpreted by local investigators, some of whom might suppose that the offender is showing remorse or personal feeling and therefore wishes to “take care” of the body. While that is sometimes true in cases where there is or was a strong emotional tie between killer and victim, those presentations tend to show actual concern and careful wrapping and placement of the body. We would expect to see this in cases of “soft kills” by strangulation or drugs.

There are no such characteristics in this presentation. The postmortem covering of the body is sloppy and haphazard, with a foot exposed.

Stripping the duvet from the bed and throwing it over the victim’s body in this situation is an indicator of depersonalization—the UNSUB did not want to see the results of his assault as he remained in the room searching for money and valuables.

The UNSUB would be able to justify the killing in his own mind as necessary to protect himself; i.e., he tried to determine ahead of time if anyone was home and it is not his fault that someone came in later to interrupt his plan.

Modus Operandi vs. Signature

We divide the behaviors of the offender in committing the crime into two categories: Modus Operandi and Signature. Modus operandi, or M.O., encompasses those actions necessary to accomplish the crime. These might include surveillance, weapon, rope or other implements, mask or disguise, or even instructions to the victim such as keeping his face to the wall. Signature refers to those elements that make the crime emotionally satisfying or fulfilling to the offender, such as binding or torture, photographs, humiliation, “scripted” dialogue or other ritualistic behavior, sexually mutilating the body, or arranging it in a particular way.

We generally see a minimum of signature behaviors in criminal-enterprise crimes. We tend to see much more in sexually motivated crimes. A sexual assault, by its very nature, is predominated by signature behavior; there is no “practical” purpose for the crime other than the offender’s emotional satisfaction. However, modus operandi is necessary to accomplish the crime.

In the Kercher murder, we note an absence of signature indicators. Even the sexual assault is opportunistic and haphazard, rather than suggesting any particular preferences or intended behaviors.

All key elements, including means of entering the premises and use of a knife, are modus operandi, or practical considerations.

Ritual Aspects

There is no evidence of sexual or religious ritual, or any kind of game or group orgy. There is no evidence of props such as candles, bibles, handcuffs or leather restraints, whips, masks or hoods, or symbolic writing or drawing, nor is there evidence of any preplanning of a sexual assault or homicide.

There is no evidence of cult or satanic murder, nor has this classification ever been documented in the extensive experience or research of the FBI, nor in any reporting to the NCAVC. Use of religious or satanic symbolism in homicide has generally been associated with lone offenders manifesting severe mental illness.

There is no evidence of “overkill,” such as repeated stab wounds in a tight pattern or intentional mutilation of the face that could indicate a close personal relationship and animus between victim and UNSUB.

Certain wounds, such as the scalp trauma and bruising to the extremities, denote the offender’s attempt to gain physical control over the victim. All other wounds, including the mortal wounds to the throat, point to the offender’s efforts to dispatch the struggling victim as rapidly as possible. The mortal wound to the throat is not sufficiently
precise or intentionally placed to indicate an intention to cut the victim’s throat for ritual or symbolic reasons. It is clearly inflicted in the midst of an intense struggle.

There is no evidence of the offender taking time with the victim, mutilating breasts, pubic area, or buttocks, or any other action that would be associated with a primary sexual assault. It is clear from the disorder in the room, the copious amounts of blood, and the wound patterns themselves that as soon as the victim began resisting, the sexual aspect of the attack ceased.

Staging

Perugia police officials believed the rock and broken window might have been indicators of staging—that is, making the crime look like something other than what it actually was. We reject this conclusion based on crime-scene photos of the exterior window. Photos reveal that prior to breaking the window, the rock first struck the inside edge of the exterior shutter, indicating it was thrown from outside. Freshly exposed wood under chipped paint and mineral fragments imbedded in the wood surface substantiate this finding. Glass-fracture examination of the window would prove this.

To stage this scene—essentially leaving the house, “breaking in” again, and ransacking a bedroom—is too elaborate a set of actions for an UNSUB who had just committed murder to contemplate and remain long enough to accomplish.

Rather, we believe the ransacking of Romanelli’s bedroom represents modus operandi: an actual element of the criminal enterprise. The intruder intended to return to her room to look for any ready cash or easily carried valuables.

The Unflushed Toilet

The need of a burglar to relieve himself during the course of a break-in is not unusual and may indicate nervousness, especially in the case of younger offenders. In a number of previous cases, we have noted defecation on or near the victim, which can be an indicator either of severe nervousness or overt contempt for the victim, but this was not the circumstance in this instance.

The logical inference from the crime scene is that the UNSUB was sitting on the toilet and had already defecated and wiped himself when he heard sounds of entry. He could not flush the toilet for fear of alerting the newly arrived resident. The front door, when locked, could be opened only with a key, which the UNSUB might or might not have known. He would feel himself suddenly trapped, as he could not count on either getting out quickly through the broken window or the front door without being identified.

Transition from Organized to Disorganized Presentation

The perpetration of the primary felony burglary is organized and methodical, strongly suggesting criminal sophistication and experience.

It is the unexpected introduction of one of the house residents to the crime in progress that quickly shifts the crime scene to a disorganized presentation.