Amanda Knox On Way Back To United States
Oct. 4 2011, Published 6:20 a.m. ET
Amanda Knox is on her way home to Seattle, one day after an Italian appeals court overturned her controversial murder conviction, ending her four year nightmare.
Amanda, 24, was seen smiling at Leonardo da Vinci airport in Rome early Tuesday morning, as she was escorted through the terminal.
Her father Kurt Knox and mother Edda Mellas declined to talk to reporters as they were escorted through the airport by plainclothes Italian police officers. They were accompanied by their spouses and children, but Amanda herself was spared the public check-in process and met up with her family on the flight.
Amanda’s flight will make a stop in London; she’ll then catch a connecting flight to Seattle. She’s expected to arrive home in Washington state later on Tuesday.
Prior to leaving Italy, Amanda thanked those "who shared my suffering and helped me survive with hope," in a letter to the Italy-US Foundation, which seeks to promote ties between Italy and the United States and championed Knox's cause.
"Those who wrote, those who defended me, those who were close, those who prayed for me," Knox wrote. "I love you, Amanda."
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, after ten hours of deliberations, the appeals jury on Monday reversed her conviction for the murder of her British roommate Meredith Kercher; the court also threw out the conviction of Knox’s former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito.
A third defendant, Rudy Guede, 24, was also convicted of Kercher’s murder in a separate trial and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. His conviction was upheld on appeal, but his sentence was shortened to 16 years.
Prosecutors in Italy say that they plan to appeal the jury’s decision, but legal experts say it’s not likely Amanda would be extradited back to the country to face a retrial.