Amanda Knox New ABC Interview; Victim Of Italian Murder Trial Was "Paralyzed" By Anxiety
Amanda Knox, infamous the 25-year-old American college student originally convicted of the murder of Meredith Kercher in Italy before having the murder conviction overturned four years later, spoke to People magazine recently over several days at her in mother's home in Seattle. She opened up about the Italian ordeal, explaining that she's "paralyzed" by the anxiety caused by the death of her roommate and the drawn out trial.
"When Meredith was murdered and I was arrested, it was so shocking. It was paralyzing. Everything toppled," said Knox.
"Things creep up on me and all of a sudden I'm overwhelmed by the feeling of helplessness and that desperation and fear to even hope," she added. "Just that can make my heart race and makes me paralyzed until I can breathe it away."
Amanda Knox and her boyfriend at the time, Raffaele Sollecito, were charged of killing her roommate in Perugia, Italy during a drug-fueled rampage. The accusations also stated that the two were involved in the sexual assault towards Meredith Kercher.
Amanda was originally sentenced to 26 years behind bars in an Italian prison after being found guilty of the murder charges. Four years later, in 2011, Amanda Knox was released after years of fighting the conviction. Defendants were able to argue that Italian police contaminated the crime scene, where Knox's DNA was found on the murder weapon, and that the DNA evidence should be dismissed.
In the exclusive interview, Knox discusses her new memoir "Waiting to Be Heard," due out April 30. In the book, Knox writes that she spent most of her time in prison in her cell, which was either freezing cold or brutally hot, and she was only allowed outside one hour a day.
In the memoir, she also details how she eventually became suicidal and thought of swallowing shards of glass or suffocating herself with a garbage bag.
Since her retun to the US, Knox has largely avoided the public spotlight and is mostly left alone in her Pacific Northwest hometown.
The interview it its entirety airs at 10 p.m., April 30th on ABC news.