Tonight on 20/20 ` A battle to lose weight... Two kilos. Two kilos. (CHEERS) Oh, well done, you. ...to save a child's life. < Vomiting to cancer in 24 hours? < Vomiting to cancer in 24 hours? Yep. But will it all be for nothing? Very stressed, worried. Be hard to come so far and for them to say, 'Oh, sorry, something there.' And look at this face. Who do you see? An innocent American girl or a cold and savage killer? Did you kill Meredith Kercher? Amanda Knox and the murder trial that hooked the world. Colpevole. Colpevole. Guilty. Guilty. Colpevole. Tonight ` hear it from Amanda's own mouth and make up your own mind. www.tvnz.co.nz/access-services Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright TVNZ Access Services 2013 Kia ora, I'm Sonya Wilson. The race to save a child's life. When 1-year-old Connor Campbell had both cancerous kidneys removed, his mum, Nikki, had a big decision to make. The thought of it terrified her, but she said, regardless of the outcome, she would allow the 20/20 cameras to film. So for seven months Emma Keeling followed Nikki on her journey to save her son's life. TYPEWRITER KEYS CLACK SLOW MUSIC GENTLE LAUGHTER GENTLE LAUGHTER (CLAPS HANDS) So, how long have you been waiting for this day? So, how long have you been waiting for this day? Two years. Bit of churning inside? Bit of churning inside? Feel sick. You don't`? You're not getting used to these phone calls? You don't`? You're not getting used to these phone calls? Yeah, don't think I ever will. CLOCK TICKS Nikki's waiting for the phone to ring. It's not the first life-changing call she's had, and it won't be the last. It means life or death for her son Connor. < Did you think you'd make it to this point? < Did you think you'd make it to this point? No. No. What time's the phone call coming? What time's the phone call coming? Don't know. Meeting starts at 2. So I'm hoping it won't be very long. TYPEWRITER KEYS CLACK GENTLE GUITAR MUSIC Connor, Connor, tummy time. Connor Campbell was 1 when he was diagnosed with cancer and had both kidneys removed. < He's your baby boy? < He's your baby boy? My baby boy, yeah. He'll always be my baby boy. (CHUCKLES) We first met 3-year-old Connor and mum Nikki in October last year. And away we go. Hope the machine behaves for a change. Twice a day, every day, Connor's plugged in to this peritoneal dialysis machine to stay alive. Remember, he doesn't have kidneys. What was it like to watch Connor go through that ordeal? Horrific. Absolutely horrific. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. There is a chance Nikki could save her son's life, but she will have to change dramatically in body and mind. Two weeks after Connor's first birthday, he fell ill. He started vomiting in the afternoon and then seemed right. And it was the following day he just got sicker and sicker as the day went on. He was sent to Starship Hospital for tests, and Nikki was told the worst. It's cancer. < Vomiting to cancer in 24 hours. < Vomiting to cancer in 24 hours. Yep. He was diagnosed with Wilms' tumour ` cancer of the kidneys. Nikki stayed by her son's side as he went through chemotherapy. Dad Gordon and sister Maud visited when they could. He had the first kidney out in December, then they did more chemotherapy over Christmas. And then they removed the second kidney beginning of February. Oncologist Dr Jane Skeen shows me why Connor's kidneys couldn't be saved. So, it shows up as all white, and that's tumour, showing that there's very little kidney remaining. And this shows that the darker part is normal kidney tissue and this is the tumour. ATMOSPHERIC MUSIC Endless days in a sterile white room. Maud was only 4 and did what she could to cheer up her little brother. It's coming up. There it is! It's coming up. There it is! MAUD GIGGLES Why did you want to paint all these pictures for Connor? Why did you want to paint all these pictures for Connor? Um, so he can get very happy. And so is Connor better now? And so is Connor better now? Um, no. < No? Is he still sick? < No? Is he still sick? Yeah. Oh. How do you help your brother? Oh. How do you help your brother? Um, by playing with him gently. < Mm-hmm. Gotta look after him. < Mm-hmm. Gotta look after him. Yeah. < You love him lots? < You love him lots? Yeah. In Starship, children like Connor are given beads for every treatment or milestone. He now has over 3000 and counting. DREAMY ELECTRONIC MUSIC These treatments keep him alive; they will not save him. He needs a kidney transplant, but first he must be cancer-free for two years. You might not want to look if you're queasy. Until then this is his reality ` even water can be dangerous. There are no kidneys to process it. He's on an allowance of 450ml fluid a day, and 200 of that is his overnight feed. So` And that's it; that's all he can... all he can have. Does he sneak water from elsewhere? He likes running the tap and sticking his finger under and sucking it off his finger. Trying to drink it out the shower head when you're trying to shower him. (CHUCKLES) It must be so hard to watch him do that. Yeah. Yeah. Just have to keep thinking, 'One day we won't have to.' TYPEWRITER KEYS CLACK GENTLE GUITAR MUSIC One day... Nikki hopes that won't be far away after today's phone call. I'm keeping Connor entertained as we wait. How's he been today? Connor's being Connor ` full of energy. No idea... < ...of just how big today is for him? < ...of just how big today is for him? No. You'd never know Connor was so sick. But you haven't wrapped him up in cotton wool. But you haven't wrapped him up in cotton wool. I want to (LAUGHS). But he's gotta` He's gotta have a chance to... to be as normal as possible. TYPEWRITER KEYS CLACK For Connor to be normal, Nikki needs to do something extraordinary. She wants to give him a kidney. But to be eligible, she has to lose 23 kilos. When did you decide you wanted to donate a kidney to Connor? I don't think there was ever a time that I wouldn't have. I don't think it was a decision that was actually made; it was just there. It's gotta be done. She wants to lose the weight in seven months. Two kilos. Two kilos. (CHEERS) Two kilos. (CHEERS) (CHEERS) Oh, well done, you. Oh, well done, you. Yes! That's when Connor hopefully hits his two-year cancer-free mark. I've lost the centimetres. Then he'll be considered for a transplant. You've lost 200. Then Nikki can immediately be tested to see if she's a match. But that's months away. The disease could still reappear, so Connor must be scanned every three months. So what it's like for you in the build-up to those scans? A nightmare. You're wound up very tightly, like a tight coil, very stressed, worried. It'd be hard to come so far now, with being cancer-free, to get so close to that transplant review and them say, 'Oh, sorry, something there.' No, we're in here. You can play afterwards. The scans are bad enough, but getting the result is just as stressful. And everything looks good, so that's nice. And everything looks good, so that's nice. Phew! (LAUGHS) So the chest x-ray ` I've just brought the image up here. > So the chest x-ray ` I've just brought the image up here. > Well done, buster. And the ultrasound has been reported, > and it just says no evidence of recurrent disease, so that's` that's good. He's clear for now. There'll be more scans. How much more do I still have to worry? I don't think you'll ever not worry. I don't think you'll ever not worry. < No. (CHUCKLES) Uh, but certainly we've got this far, and that's very encouraging. And you look good too. And you look good too. Thank you. Still got fair bit of weight to lose, but I'm halfway to transplant group's requirements, so... 12 down, 12 kilos to go. OK, Connor. Bye-bye. It's now the new year. Nikki's got four months till Connor's final scan ` four months to lose the weight. You've hit the 16kg mark. Whoa, I'm so proud of you. Well done. Is that on target? Is that on target? Yes. 7�kg to go to transplant group's requirement. 7kg in another` How many months have we got to go? Three and a bit. Three and a bit. Three and a bit. Doable? Oh yeah. Nikki's been strong, but one weakness remains. Is this the only time where you have time to yourself? Is this the only time where you have time to yourself? More or less, yeah. I got through many a long night in Starship going out and sitting on the steps and having a quiet ciggie. So, you've got every motivation to give up. You know, Connor ` you want that kidney to be as healthy as possible. Hmm, I know. It's not proving as easy as I thought it would be. Do you feel guilty standing here having a smoke? Do you feel guilty standing here having a smoke? Yeah, of course. (CHUCKLES WRYLY) It's easy to judge, but there's no let-up caring for Connor. With Dad bringing in the sole income, Nikki's mum, Lynn, does what she can to help. But I'm so proud of Nikki. I really am. I don't know how she's done it. Hmm, yeah. Brings a tear to my eye. It's been a rough two years, hasn't it? > It's been a rough two years, hasn't it? > Yep. Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, it has. We'll get through it. Pardon? Watch out. Oh, out of the way, Nana. Honestly, Nana. Come on. GENTLE GUITAR MUSIC MAUD: I'm going near you. TYPEWRITER KEYS CLACK Connor's future will be decided today by a phone call. About now, across Auckland, doctors are meeting. What's the time? What's the time? Shut up. (LAUGHS) LAUGHS: It's 2 o'clock. < That wouldn't be why you're smoking, would it? < That wouldn't be why you're smoking, would it? Might have something to do with it. < Fair enough. < Fair enough. CHUCKLES: You're mean. Connor's oblivious... Hey, look. ...and distracted by a present from me. Looking good, my man. Looking good. He took a fancy to my high heels last week, so... Look at you go! You're a natural. TYPEWRITER KEYS CLACK Finally after seven months, Nikki's lost enough weight. But it will all be for nothing if this scan shows signs of cancer. I'm just wondering how you're feeling today? I'm just wondering how you're feeling today? Sick. (CHUCKLES) This is hopefully the last one, though. Oh, there'll be others. Oh, there'll be others. But this is the` Oh, there'll be others. But this is the` ...this is the big one. Come on. Mummy's here. Mummy's here, dude. So, how do you feel about this next phase? Depends what the phase is going to be ` if it's going to be more chemo or if it's... ahead to transplant review. If it's more chemo, are we looking at another two years? If it's more chemo, are we looking at another two years? Mm. Once treatment's finished. And there's no kidneys for it to be in this time. It'll be in the lungs or the liver or the brain ` the usual places, so probably be harder to deal with. It's all come down to this. Operations, scans, weight loss. Finally, after two years, Connor has been cleared of cancer. Big weight off the shoulders? Big weight off the shoulders? Mm, very much so. Huge. But it's only the end of one journey. Another starts today... PHONE RINGS ...with this phone call. PHONE RINGS Hi. GENTLE MUSIC Yeah. OK. Yes. 'Have doctors agreed to put him on the transplant list?' Mm-hm. All right, yep. All right, bye. Phew. Phew. < And? He's been accepted on the live-donor list, not the deceased donor, at this point, but the live-donor list. (EXHALES LOUDLY) We're all go, dude. (CHUCKLES) Now Nikki can be tested to be Connor's donor. Nice sleep tonight, now. Nice sleep tonight, now. (LAUGHS) Maybe mummy can, eh, my dude. It's the start of another journey to save Connor's life. GENTLE MUSIC CONTINUES (CALLS OUT) GENTLE MUSIC FINISHES Good on you, Connor. What a cutie. We'll keep you updated on Nikki and Connor as they search for a kidney for him. Next up on 20/20 ` a NZ exclusive ` Amanda Knox, the woman at the centre of the murder trial that captivated the world. Somehow she had died in the house where we were living. And it could have been me. But watching her, police are sure they have the killer ` that American girl. Did you kill Meredith Kercher? a Welcome back. She's been called a devil with an angel's face. Amanda Knox, the American student caught in the middle of a murder trial that sent the world's media into a frenzy. Tonight on 20/20 Amanda Knox tells her side of this twisted tale, and you get to make up your own mind ` guilty or not? In a medieval college town in Italy, thousands of miles away, two young women arrive for a year abroad, seeking new horizons ` 21-year-old Meredith Kercher, who wants to be a journalist like her dad back home in England; 20-year-old Amanda Knox, who had never lived far from her family in the suburbs of Seattle. Six weeks later,... BELL TOLLS ...one will come home in a coffin. The other will begin a long fight against charges she is a sex-crazed killer as headlines labelled her 'neurotic thrill-seeker', seductress, murderous. You are looking at a surveillance camera in Perugia, Italy as day turns into night. November 1st 2007, 8.41pm. There is a small dot there ` hard to see ` something moving. In court, they will say this is probably the last image of Meredith Kercher alive, heading toward her home about a hundred feet away. She will be brutally attacked in her bedroom, and we warn you ` this police video is graphic. There are 47 cuts and bruises on her neck, legs, face, inside her mouth. Her clothes, ripped off. And around her body, etched in blood, a shoe print, a hand print on the wall, a footprint on the bath mat in the bathroom, drops of blood on the faucet. Meredith Kercher had studied karate. It's clear she fought hard for her life ` a life filled with possibilities. This is her acting in a music video back home in England. # I'll be on my way # She's studying Politics in Perugia, has lots of British friends. Then six weeks before her death, she meets her new room-mate in the house ` the American Amanda Knox. What was your thought when you saw Meredith? > I was putting away my things in the room when she came to my door and introduced herself and was immediately very nice. Just this` this immediate exchange of 'Wow, this is` 'this is someone who... who I can get along with.' Knox says she and Meredith and their two Italian room-mates became easy friends, happy. Though at the trial, Meredith's friends will testify she was annoyed by Amanda's loudness and lack of inhibition. Were you ever jealous of her? > No. No. Were you ever angry at her? > No. Were you ever angry at her? > No. When we take a camera break, she's looking down. I ask what she's thinking. It bothers me when people suggest that she wasn't my friend. I was stunned by her death. She was my friend. Amanda Knox has now been in Italy for five weeks, going to school in the morning, working for a bar at night. And as far as her experiment with casual sexual encounters, there have been two Italian men. Then she goes to a classical music concert and sees a young man who reminds her of Harry Potter. A graduate student in Computer Science, nerdy, very inexperienced with girls, Raffaele Solleccito says he can't believe the beautiful, uninhibited American is looking at him. Colpe di fulmine? Colpe di fulmine? Mm. Colpi di fulmine. That's, uh, a lightning strike. Yeah, um, he... He writes about how taken he was with me, and I really liked him as well. The have known each other just seven days before they enter the 24 hours at the centre of this mystery and this debate ` the night of November 1st, when Meredith Kercher is murdered. Amanda Knox says she and her new boyfriend have been spending nights at his apartment. What are you doing the night of November 1st? November 1st, we stayed in, and we had dinner. We watched a movie. His computer confirms that someone had ordered that movie Amelie. A witness confirms she and Raffaele were there in his apartment as late as 8.40pm. We smoked, we had sex. We were together. We just hung out together. We talked. He talked to me about his mom. We made faces at each other. We were being silly and together. She says in the college town of Perugia, marijuana was as common as pasta. And mostly, it makes her goofy and sleepy. How high were you? How high were you? I had smoked a joint with Raffaele, and... what that did to my memories was... it made them less concrete, but it didn't black them out and didn't change them. You remember with clarity that you did not go out that night? You stayed in the whole night? We stayed in the whole night. The next morning, it is undisputed that Knox is the first person in the house where a murder has taken place. She says she made the five-minute walk from Raffaele's apartment home to take a shower and get fresh clothes. She says she noticed the front door standing open, thought it was odd, but the latch didn't always work. And even though she saw some blood on the sink, she says she took the shower, thinking maybe Meredith hadn't cleaned up, or was it her own newly-pierced ears? At the sink, when I was taking out my earrings, that I noticed there were speckles of blood. But speckles ` a few drops. Did you see the bath mat? Did you see the footprint? Did you see the bath mat? Did you see the footprint? Not yet. Not yet. I saw that when I was getting out of the shower, and I thought it was strange. But you know, people look at this and they say, 'Door open, blood in the bathroom. Those are red alarms.' Well, I had never before experienced anything in my life that was drastic. Cos people think you'd be automatically concerned. Well, I` and indeed I was. That's why I called my mom. She woke her mother in the middle of the night in Seattle and also phoned one of her room-mates. But when she got back to Raffaele's apartment, she didn't even mention what she had seen until after they had breakfast, she says, still telling herself: Don't freak out, because it could really be nothing. She says, ultimately, Raffaele will call police, and her room-mate Filomena is there when the door to Meredith's bedroom is knocked down. Amanda Knox phones her mother again and says, with her beginner's Italian, she's trying to understand the torrent of words. And someone was screaming 'a foot'. I remember distinctly telling her. She was, like, 'What do you mean "a foot"? 'What does that mean? Is there a`? What`?' And I said, 'I don't know. 'I don't understand.' Then Filomena was crying out, 'Meredith,' and so I heard that it must be Meredith and that there was a body and that there was an armoire, and there was blood and there was a blanket. From this point on, Amanda Knox and her behaviour will be a kind of kaleidoscope ` shifting shapes depending on what you see. Is inappropriate behaviour evidence of guilt, or, as she says, was she just a tone-deaf girl in a trauma? She sits on Raffaele's lap at the police station, playfully making faces. She tells Meredith's grieving friends that Meredith must have suffered. 'She had her effing throat cut.' Sorry about that now? > (SIGHS) I could've been more sensitive. Not knowing police are studying her every move. A female officer later testifies that Amanda Knox is doing cartwheels in the waiting area. She say she was just stretching after a long wait. As far as cartwheels or splits, I never did a cartwheel. Um, I did do the splits, and then later on, she claimed that I was doing a whole number of gymnastics ` cartwheels, back walkovers. I did the splits, and that's once. But do you see how strange...? But do you see how strange...? Well, what's strange is why these things got mischaracterised. But a-again, you can see this does not look like grief,... does not read as grief. I think everyone's reaction to something horrible is different. And perhaps most startling, this video ` the first time much of the world will see Amanda Knox on newscasts. MAN: E una tipica ragazza Americana. MAN: E una tipica ragazza Americana. WOMAN: Raffaele, Amanda... MAN: Knox seen here with her co-accused... She's outside the house where the body's been discovered. And people kept saying, 'Where is the anguish? 'Where is what we think we would do if this happened to our friend?' I've seen the same picture ` like, the kissing just can't stop, and that's not what that was. Kissing shown over and over again on the news. But when you look at the tape, there are three quick kisses, then... the rest of the time, she stares into space, she says, thinking about random fate ` how she lived in that house too. My friend had been murdered, and it could just have easily been me. Somehow, she had died in the house where we were living... (SIGHS) and it could have been me. But watching her, police are sure they have the killer ` that American girl. When we come back ` Did you kill Meredith Kercher? a It is now the fourth night after Meredith Kercher was murdered. Amanda Knox and her new boyfriend are at the police station, unaware police are now certain they have their killers. To get to it ` did you kill Meredith Kercher? No. Were you there that night? Were you there that night? No. Do you know anything you have not told police... > that you have not said in this book? Do you know anything? > that you have not said in this book? Do you know anything? > No. I don't. I wasn't there. She says she has already undergone 24 hours of questioning in the days since the murder. She's now alone with police ` no lawyer. I asked them if I should have a lawyer, and they said n` It would be worse for me. (SIGHS) They knew what they were doing, and that is something that is unforgiveable to me. What happens next is a stunning turn of events. But you confessed. Well, I didn't confess. I was interrogated. They acted like my answers were wrong. They told me that I was wrong, that I didn't remember correctly, that I had to remember correctly, and if I didn't, I would never see my family again. She says, suddenly, police start hectoring her, yelling in impenetrable Italian. She has only been in Italy five weeks, and at one point they bring in an interpreter who says maybe she had amnesia from the trauma of being at the murder scene. When they told me I had amnesia, it was the only reason I could think of of why they were treating me that way. I trusted them. In another interrogation room, her boyfriend, Raffaele, is unravelling. Police say they can prove his Nike shoes match the bloody shoe print in Meredith's bedroom. He says fearfully, frantically, he tells them maybe Amanda did leave his apartment that night. Police hammer Amanda Knox about a text she sent the night of the murder to her boss at that bar where she worked. His name is Patrick Lumumba. She writes him in Italian, 'See you later,' not aware, she says, that unlike in English, it suggests you actually plan to meet. And so when they pushed me about Patrick's message and told me to think, told me to remember that I had met him,... (SIGHS) I... I can only describe it as breaking down. I didn't know what I remembered and what I didn't remember any more. Three hours in, police begin writing a statement in Italian in which she acknowledges she was there at the house as Patrick Lumumba killed Meredith Kercher. It's so detailed. (READS) 'I heard Meredith screaming, and I was scared, and I covered my ears.' I wasn't providing a lot of the detail. They were asking me if I had heard Meredith scream. And when I said I didn't remember, they said, 'How could you not remember that she screamed?' And I said, 'OK, I guess I remember that she screamed.' It was all like that. But you signed it. But you signed it. And I signed it, cos I was incredibly vulnerable at that time. The next day, she will send police a letter in English saying she's in a state of confusion but thinks what she said about Lumumba ` maybe it was wrong. She asked them not to yell at her any more. I can try to explain what happened, and that's all I can do. I am still sorry to this day that I named Patrick Lumumba. But... I was demolished... (VOICE TREMBLES) in that interrogation. And something curious ` police say they failed to make a recording of that night. This is what I'm up against. And she is also up against a formidable adversary ` the prosecutor who has been watching her. Giuliano Mignini, a kind of celebrity expert in Italy on sex rituals and murder, believes he has another tantalising case, with a decadent American girl. ...come un rito sessuale... And when they finally told me they had to take me to the jail, I did not understand why. And they said, 'It's for your protection. 'We're protecting you.' But the prosecution alerts the press. The global obsession has begun. An angel-faced killer has been apprehended. WHOOSH! Beware the brilliance of Harpic White & Shine. The 'bleach and baking soda' formula attacks tough stains and disinfects for a brilliant shine. Tonight on 20/20 ` a The trial is ready to begin. Amanda Knox says because she's been staying in prison, she doesn't grasp that to Italians, she's become a pariah ` presumptuous, promiscuous, American. In the court, everyone sees her at times smiling, at times stoic, other times not seeming to pay attention, once wearing a T-shirt from the Beatles' song All You Need is Love. It was another one of my naive immaturity. I didn't realise how very intensely I was being scrutinised. When she makes a statement about barely knowing Meredith Kercher, it seems strange, callous. I'm not the best speaker. I'm not the best speaker. Does it look hard, hardened, unfeeling? I can see how it does. She says the whole proceeding just seemed surreal. You thought you were going to be acquitted. You thought you were going to be acquitted. 'How could I be convicted?' That's what I was thinking. But the prosecutor Mignini is ready with his case, arguing what happened that night was a sex game targeting Meredith and spiralling out of control. Police have created a kind of Avatar cartoon for the trial, showing how Amanda Knox might have wielded a knife while Raffaele held Meredith down. Mignini argues they could've been on drugs like cocaine, though police did not do a drug test. And then... Mignini produces a murder weapon ` a knife taken from Raffaele's kitchen drawer, which, Knox says, they used for cooking. But Mignini says it has Meredith's DNA on the blade and Amanda's on the handle. I can't go over all the evidence, but just to hit ` it testified it was her DNA. And it was proven that they were wrong. Later, independent experts will say a credible lab would be sceptical about identifying DNA from such a small sample, and that other speck on the blade... is rye bread. Next, they produce a small piece of Meredith Kercher's bra clasp, claiming that it bears Raffaele's DNA. But one problem ` they admit the police accidentally left the clasp at the crime scene for 47 days, only discovering it in a different place on the floor. In police video, you can see them passing it around, dirt on their gloves ` raising questions of contamination. And among the prosecution witnesses, the star would be this man ` Rudy Guede. He was known to Perugian police as a thief, a drug user who had threatened people with a knife. He told friends he had strange episodes in the night, sometimes blacking out. He fled Perugia the day after the murder. A friend got him on tape saying he'd been at the house that night, but just going to the bathroom, and Amanda Knox wasn't there. But a year later, his story had changed. He says he did see her through a window. (SPEAKS ITALIAN) But here is the issue at the centre of the trial and the question of reasonable doubt. Rudy Guede's DNA is everywhere in Meredith's room ` on her purse, where her cell phones and money are missing. The bloody shoe print they once said was Raffaele's was his. And the hand print matched his exactly. Also, inside Meredith's naked body, Rudy Guede's DNA. So how can police explain the fact that at the crime scene, there is not one trace of DNA from Amanda Knox? The prosecutors will say she must have cleaned hers off. The have said that you cleaned the room somehow. You cleaned the premises of your DNA. Well... (CHUCKLES) That's impossible. Um, it's impossible to see DNA, much less identify whose DNA it is. On December 5th 2009, two years after the murder, Amanda Knox is called back into the courtroom and hears the word 'colpevole'. Colpevole. Guilty? Guilty? Colpevole. And it was a roar in the courtroom ` people exclaiming,... my mom and my sister crying. Outside, Italians rejoiced. PEOPLE SHOUT INDISTINCTLY, APPLAUD Tonight on 20/20 ` a Capanne Prison ` 500 prisoners. In a tiny room, a 22-year-old American girl sentenced to 26 years has only a small window on to a cypress tree. She says, day and night, she could hear women wailing in their cells. You wrote, 'I felt as if I were being sealed into a tomb.' Yeah, and the tomb was my life. It wasn't the prison; it was my life. Did you think about suicide? > Did you think about suicide? > I did. She writes she considered cutting her wrists in the shower or swallowing bleach. She said she had panic attacks, began to lose her hair. And one day, a doctor called her to say he had more bad news ` they had analysed the blood sample from the day she arrived. And the doctor told me that I had tested positive for HIV. I was stunned. I went back to my room with one of the prison officials telling me, 'You should've thought about it before you had sex with those people.' She writes in her book this is the whole truth about her sexual encounters ` four boys in Seattle, three in Italy, including Raffaele. Back in her cell, she made a list of them, and it was confiscated. And they leak it? > And they leak it? > They leaked it to the media, often with mistranslations of what I had actually written in English. Another round of headlines, and then, incredibly, they tell Knox it was all just a mistake ` she was not HIV-positive at all. She writes that what will save her in prison are small acts of humanity ` a cellmate from America. She was great. We would sing The Star-Spangled Banner every morning. And most saving of all, someone still in her life today ` the chaplain of the prison, Don Saulo, who taught her this prayer: (READS) 'God, if you exist, I really need you to help right now.' I didn't have that same faith, but he convinced me that it wouldn't hurt to pray that if there is a god, to please help, because... (SIGHS) because we're all helpless. As her lawyers began filing Appeals Court briefs, she says she began searching for a purpose, studying Italian literature, living for the days her family could come. They have mortgaged homes, travelled 6000 miles to be near her ` parents, step-parents, aunts, uncles, friends. I saw them one person at the time, and yet they were always there. They were there 100% of the time. Did you think what it was costing them spiritually, actually? I felt incredibly guilty for what they were having to sacrifice for me. And there was a certain point in my... in my thinking in prison... that if it didn't work out and I never was free again, I... I was trying to figure out how I could ask them to move on with their life without me, because I was tired of them having to sacrifice everything for me. Everything. SIREN WAILS After 1427 days, the Appeals Court is about to render a new verdict. In her now fluent Italian, she talks about Meredith in a new way. (SPEAKS ITALIAN) And then, October 3rd 2011, the Appeals Court judge issues a scathing criticism of that first trial. He cites the dubious reliability of a key witness, the non-existence of the prosecution evidence and a motive he said prosecutors couldn't prove. ...have a moment, please? Our Elizabeth Vargas had tracked down Mignini to ask about the motive. At the beginning of this case, you had said you felt this was part of some satanic ritual. Do you still believe that to be true? Do you still believe that to be true? Nobody. That's good. He denied ever saying it was satanic. (SOBS LOUDLY) Inside the courtroom, Amanda Knox is finally acquitted and goes free. PEOPLE CHANT IN ITALIAN Outside, Italians outraged at her acquittal jeer, 'Shame. Shame.' ...vergona! ALL: Vergona! Vergona! (SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY) BOTH SQUEAL An American girl is home in Seattle, back with her sisters now grown up. Nice. Neither of us fell. And sometimes, she says, she's just that daughter who never left and wanted to be near her parents. She was always, you know, home and, yeah... ...eating your food. ...eating your food. Yeah. Yeah. But for all that seems the same, she says everything underneath is different forever. My family was expecting the old Amanda back, which is the old.... (CHUCKLES) Amanda back, and I'm not quite as chirpy any more. And now the crushing blow ` that after all these years, the Italian Supreme Court wants her case to go back on trial again. I can't be afraid right now. I have to be ready to fight and defend myself. She has a reported $4 million advance for her book, which her family says will mostly pay debts and legal bills. They thank everyone giving them support. Millions of people who have supported her, saying, 'How can we help? Don't give up. Keep fighting.' And tonight, her former boyfriend, Raffaele Solleccito, is also facing another trial. He's been studying Robotics, came to visit her in Seattle, still her friend. He was faced with the prospect of not having a sentence if he just blamed me. And he didn't, because he couldn't live with a decision like that. You'd known him seven days. You'd known him seven days. Yeah. I knew him for seven days. And Patrick Lumumba? He sued her for slander and won. He says you're a great actress. He says you're a great actress. I understand that anger, and I do not hold that anger against him. And there is that family, for whom this story will never be over. Meredith Kercher's father said, everyone always talks about Amanda instead of celebrating the beautiful girl they lost. I'd like to end where we began ` with the Kercher family. (SOBS) I can only imagine having lost my daughter, and the pain that they're going through is unimaginable. Her parents say they hope someday to see the Kerchers when the Kerchers understand Amanda is not involved. Amanda Knox says she doesn't want to add to their grief, hoping someday... ...that eventually... I can... have their permission to... to pay my respects at her grave. And I'd also like them to know that she talked about them... to me, and she talked about how she wanted to be a journalist like her dad, and she talked about her sister. And if that mean` It's all I can give them is this memory that I have of her to add to their... to all of theirs that they can carry with them... when she's gone. OK, if you want to see any of tonight's stories again, head to our website... You can also email us... Or go to our Facebook page and let us know your thoughts on tonight's show. Well, thanks in advance for your feedback. We're also interested in your stories, so keep those ideas coming in too.