Meredith Susanna Cara Kercher (born 28 December 1985 in Southwark, South London), known to her friends as “Mez”, lived in Coulsdon, South London. She had two older brothers, John and Lyle, and an older sister, Stephanie. Her father, also named John, is a freelance journalist, and her mother, Arline, is a housewife. Kercher attended the Old Palace School in Croydon. She was enthusiastic about the language and culture of Italy, and after a school exchange trip she returned, aged 15, to spend her summer vacation with a family in Sessa Aurunca. Meredith Kercher studied European politics and Italian at the University of Leeds. Working as a barmaid, tour guide and in promotions to support herself, she made a cameo appearance in the music video for Kristian Leontiou’s song “Some Say” in 2004. She aspired to work for the European Union or as a journalist. In October 2007, she attended the University of Perugia, where she began courses in modern history, political theory, and the history of cinema. Fellow students later described her as caring, intelligent, witty, and popular.

Perugia, a well-known cultural and artistic centre, is a city of 150,000 people. More than a quarter of the population are students, many from abroad, giving it a vibrant social scene. In Perugia, Meredith Kercher shared a four-bedroom ground-floor flat in a house at Via della Pergola 7 (43.1148°N 12.3914°ECoordinates: 43.1148°N 12.3914°E). Her flatmates were two Italian women in their late twenties, Filomena Romanelli and Laura Mezzetti, and a 20-year-old American student from the University of Washington, Amanda Knox, who was attending the University for Foreigners in Perugia on an exchange year. Kercher and Knox moved in on 10 and 20 September 2007, respectively, meeting each other for the first time. Kercher typically called her mother daily on a mobile phone; a second mobile phone she used was registered to her flatmate, Romanelli. The lower level of the house was occupied by four Italian young men with whom both Kercher and Knox were friendly. Late one night in mid-October, Kercher and Knox met Rudy Guede when they returned home at 2:00 am. Guede had been invited into the lower level flat by some of the Italian tenants, to whom he had attached himself. At 4:30 am, Kercher and Knox left. Also in mid-October, Meredith Kercher and Knox attended the EuroChocolate festival. On 25 October 2007, Kercher and Knox attended a classical music concert where Knox met Raffaele Sollecito, a 23-year-old computer science graduate at the University of Perugia.

1 November was a public holiday in Italy. Meredith Kercher’s Italian flatmates were out of town, as were the occupants of the downstairs flat. That evening, Kercher had dinner with three English women at one of their homes. She parted company with a friend at around 8:45 pm, about 500 yards (460 m) from Via della Pergola 7. By Knox’s account, having spent the night with Sollecito, she arrived at Via della Pergola 7 on the morning of 2 November 2007, finding the front door open and drops of blood in the bathroom she shared with Kercher. Kercher’s bedroom door was locked, which Knox took as indicating that Kercher was sleeping. After showering in the bathroom she and Kercher shared, Knox found feces in the toilet of the bathroom shared by Romanelli and Mezzetti. Knox went back to Sollecito’s home and later returned with him to Via della Pergola 7. Noticing a broken window in Romanelli’s bedroom and alarmed that Kercher did not answer her door, Sollecito unsuccessfully tried to force the door open. Sollecito called his sister, a lieutenant in the carabinieri, for advice. She advised him to call the 112 emergency number, which he did.

After receiving a phone call from Knox, Romanelli arrived at the flat. Candace Dempsey writes that in rummaging around, looking for anything that might be missing, Romanelli inadvertently disturbed the crime scene. On discovering that the two phones Kercher typically carried with her had been found in a nearby garden, Romanelli became concerned and requested that the police force open the door to Kercher’s bedroom, but the police declined. Instead, Romanelli’s male friend forced the door open at around 1:15 pm, and the body of Meredith Kercher was found inside, lying on the floor, covered by a duvet. Pathologist Luca Lalli, from Perugia’s forensic science institute, performed the autopsy on Kercher’s body. Her injuries consisted of sixteen bruises and seven cuts. These included several bruises and a couple of insubstantial cuts on the palm of her hand. Bruises on her nose, nostrils, mouth, and underneath her jaw were compatible with a hand being clamped over her mouth and nose. Lalli’s autopsy report was reviewed by three pathologists from Perugia’s forensic science institute who interpreted the injuries, including some to the genital region, as indicating an attempt to immobilize Kercher during sexual violence. A funeral was held on 14 December 2007 at Croydon Parish Church, with more than 300 people in attendance, followed by a private burial at Croydon’s Mitcham Road Cemetery. The degree that Meredith Kercher would have received in 2009 was awarded posthumously by the University of Leeds.