The parents of murdered British student Meredith Kercher both passed away within months of one another in 2020, their family has shared. The 21-year-old was an undergraduate student at Leeds University and on a student exchange year when she was found dead in an apartment she shared with her peer, Amanda Knox in Perugia, Italy, on November 2, 2007.
Ms Knox, now 35, and her ex-lover at the time, Raffaele Sollecito, 38, were both wrongfully convicted for the murder of the student and were sentenced to jail before having their convictions overturned twice, the Mirror reports. The ex lovers were spotted together recently as they reunited before the 15th anniversary of Meredith's death.
African migrant Rudy Guede was later arrested for the murder of Meredith in October 2008. The Kercher family have not publicly spoken out in great detail about their daughter's devastating murder, but in a recent statement her siblings shared that heartbroken parents, John and Arline, both passed away two years ago.
In a touching tribute to Meredith, known as Mez, her surviving siblings said: "Every anniversary of Meredith's death gives us pause for thought, but of course as with anyone who has lost a loved one - especially in such tragic circumstances - it does not take an anniversary to remember them; it's something you carry with you every day. Fifteen years has passed in the blink of an eye but yet we have lived a lifetime in between - something Meredith sadly, was never afforded.
"Losing both our parents within just four months of each other in early 2020 brought its own tragedy but we can take some solace in knowing that they are now united with Mez and no longer have to live with the grief which consumed them. Meredith will always be in our thoughts and forever in our hearts."
Meredith's mother, Arline, is believed to have died at a hospital in Carshalton, Surrey, aged 74, during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic in May 2020. She was laid to rest beside her daughter's burial place in Croydon, South London.
Devastated Arline had previously described her daughter's death as a ''nightmare' and claimed ''there are a lot of unanswered questions that seem to have been ignored". Her ex partner, John, passed away four months prior to Arline's death, in hospital aged 77, after he was found lying on a road close to his home in Croydon with two fractured legs, a broken arm and a head injury in January 2020.
An inquest was unable to determine whether or not he had died in a hit and run accident. The pair, who divorced in 1997, both travelled to Italy in 2007 to identify Meredith's body.
Rudy Guede, 34, was released from prison after serving 13 years of a 30-year term, before claiming Ms Knox "knows the truth and I know the truth".
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