March 27, 2015, and it’s over. Eight years have passed since Meredith's death, the judges reconstruct all the errors committed during the investigations, the findings of the scientific police that did not follow the guidelines of the international scientific community, the genetic analyses. And in the end, Raffaele and Amanda are acquitted; only Knox is sentenced to three years for slandering Patrick Lumumba. The only person responsible for the murder is Rudy Guede. That is the official legal status of the case. Forever. But to this day, for many, including those close to the victim, doubts remain.

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The case is ultimately destined for the Court of “Cassazione,” located in Rome, Italy’s Supreme Court for last appeals. The acquittal obtained in the second degree gives hope to the defenders of Sollecito and Amanda – who followed the trial from the United States.

The behavior of the Seattle native after the crime is back at the center of attention: why would she have accused Lumumba if not to deflect suspicion from herself? And then there was a testimony, that of a homeless man, which had been dismissed in the second degree but was now considered valid. Result: a new trial was needed, starting from the second degree. And this time it would take place in Florence, where Amanda and Raffaele were again convicted. The last step was back in the Cassazione for the third and final degree of judgment.

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On a first appeal, the Amanda and Raffaele return to the courtroom — and this time, the opinions of DNA experts will take over. The incriminating evidence is dismantled, piece by piece; testimonies that had led to the convictions in the first degree were deemed invalid. In the end, the two young defendants are acquitted on appeal. Knox receives a hero’s welcome. She would not come back to Italy for subsequent trials. Sollecito, a native of the Italian city of Bari, instead would be forced to return to court.

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Amanda and Raffaele are tried before the court in Perugia, under Italian law that includes three levels of judgment. In the first instance, the court will conclude that Meredith was killed during a perverse sexual game that degenerated into violence: Raffaele and Amanda, in Rudy's presence, stabbed Meredith to death.

The verdict enrages much of America. For the U.S. media and many notable public figures, the young woman from Seattle was convicted on circumstantial evidence. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will intervene. Donald Trump, then a media-hungry real estate mogul, calls for a boycott of travel to Italy.

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The 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, a British exchange student in Perugia, Italy, may be the most widely debated criminal case of the century. The victim’s American roommate, Amanda Knox, along with her Italian boyfriend and an Ivory Coast-born Perugia resident, were initially convicted of the murder. After serving four years in prison, Knox and her boyfriend were definitively acquitted on appeal.

But the case has continued to captivate the public’s attention, largely because of Knox's crusade denouncing both Italian investigators and international news coverage.

Acclaimed investigative journalist Antonio Iovane, who covered the original case, long believed that the full truth had never been revealed. To discover it required going beyond the public obsession with Knox, speaking to those directly involved and pursuing the evidence wherever it might lead.

What really happened that night in Perugia in 2007? This exclusive, seven-part podcast series is Iovane’s singular quest for the truth.

Murder in Perugia is a co-production of OnePodcast and Worldcrunch

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