Amanda Knox's story begins in 2007 with her decision to study abroad in Perugia, a quiet Italian city just north of Rome famous for its university and its chocolate festival.
Knox was studying Italian and creative writing at the University of Washington. Her parents and friends described her as friendly and book-smart, Rolling Stone reported.
Knox, who was then 20 years old, rented this house with three roommates, including British student Meredith Kercher.
On Nov. 2, 2007, Kercher was found dead in the house. She was half-naked with her throat slashed.
Knox said she had been with her boyfriend, 24-year-old Rafaelle Sollecito, the night that Kercher was murdered.
She later testified she and Sollecito spent the night of the murder at his house, smoked weed, had sex, and watched the movie "Amélie."
But Italian police were skeptical of Knox's innocence because she behaved "inappropriately" after being arrested.
She was spotted on Italian TV kissing her boyfriend the day Kercher's body was found.
Italian police officers testified that she was turning cartwheels at the police station after she was first detained.
Knox said Italian police pressured her into giving false testimony and hit her on the head twice while they questioned her.
That false testimony incorrectly implicated Patrick Lumumba, pictured here, as Kercher's murderer. He is a Congolese immigrant who ran the bar where Knox worked.
Lumumba was released from police custody two weeks after the murder. Knox's false accusations didn't make her look too good either, and he later sued her for slander.
While Knox might have behaved oddly after her arrest, there were signs that police screwed up the investigation, according to Candace Dempsey, author of "Murder In Italy: The True Story Of Amanda Knox."
The Italian police tramped through the crime scene and contaminated much of the bloody DNA evidence, including the supposed murder weapon, an eight-inch-long kitchen knife, according to Dempsey and Rolling Stone.
During the trial, Knox's defense attorneys, Luciano Ghirga (R) and Carlo Della Vedova (L), said the knife was the only thing linking Knox to Kercher's murder, and it didn't match Kercher's wounds.
The prosecution's story also changed throughout the trial, Della Vedova told the court. Their accusations went from sex game gone wrong, to a murder over a petty argument and money, and finally to "They killed for no reason."
This is Rudy Guede, a 24-year-old immigrant drifter from Ivory Coast whose bloody footprints and handprints were discovered around Kercher's body.
He testified that he was innocent but had been at Kercher's cottage the night of the murder.
Guede was convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering Kercher on the basis of strong DNA evidence in October 2008.
But Italian authorities believed Knox and her boyfriend had helped him kill Kercher as part of a sex game, so they pressed on with their prosecution.
Knox and Sollecito were convicted of murder and sexual assault in December 2009, and respectively sentenced to 26 and 25 years in prison.
Forensic specialists told an appeals court in 2011 that Italian police had made a series of "glaring errors" in handling the evidence.
Knox and Sollecito were both cleared of their murder convictions in October 2011, after the pair served four years in prison.
After being cleared of murder, she returned to Seattle and continued studying creative writing at University of Washington. Here, she cries during a news conference with her mother at Sea-Tac International Airport.
Italy's highest criminal court overturned Knox's acquittal and ordered a retrial on Tuesday, March 26. She won't have to return to Italy for her trial, but it's unclear whether she'll be extradited if she convicted again.
Now read the story of another crime story that played out in the media.
