November 13, 2007 (LPAC)--Italian Judge Claudia Matteini yesterday ordered that three people suspected in the murder of Meredith Kercher (age 21) in Perugia, Italy, be held "up to a year" for questioning. Those held included Meredith's roommate Amanda Knox (20), her boyfried Raffaele Sollecito (26), and bar owner Diya Lumumba (36). The judge said there were "serious indications of guilt" in all three cases.

Meridith Kercher, a British student, was stabbed three times in the neck with a knife similar to one owned by her roommate, Amanda Knox. All three had been posting computer blogs previous to the murder. According to an article by Mary Ridell in the November 11 Sunday Observer, Amanda Knox, had posed with a machine gun on MySpace, where she was known as "Foxy Knoxy," with her boyfriend wielding a meat cleaver.

Judge Matteini says Knox and her boyfriend "spent the entire afternoon smoking hashish," and that Sollecito was bored, and posted a blog the previous month that he was keen to experience "strong emotions." The judge said that Knox had made an appointment by text message with the bar owner Lumumba, for whom she worked part-time. After they met, they went to the apartment Knox shared with Kercher, who was found dead the next day.

Journalist Riddell then comments on the killing, and its relationship to the killing of eight people at Jokela High School in Finland. She writes that "Others hint at Macbeth for YouTubers. Knox's internet entries vied last week for the new media horror awards with the You Tube posting by Pekka-Eric Auvinen, the 18 year old Finn who filmed himself, gun in hand, before killing seven fellow pupils, his school's headmistress and himself."