Words by Pat Eggleton
Retired FBI agent Steve Moore is so sure that Amanda Knox is innocent of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher that he lost his job at Pepperdine University for refusing to be silent about the case. Mr Moore has been interviewed by newspapers in several countries regarding his conclusions about the tragedy and has also appeared on television in the US. Pat interviewed him for Italy Magazine.
Steve, without endangering national security, can you tell us a little about your job in the FBI?
I worked for the FBI for 25 years. I began investigating bank robberies, kidnappings, fugitives, murders, violent crimes, and so on. I developed a specialty in white supremacist organizations and investigated mass murders and other crimes associated with these. I later investigated international terrorism, worked as an assistant legal attaché and was an instructor in Thailand.
When did you retire from the FBI?
In June 2008.
When and why did you become interested in the Knox case?
I became involved in the Knox case in November 2009 when my wife convinced me to watch a TV documentary on the Kercher murder. The documentary had taken the position that Knox was likely innocent, and I didn’t agree with the conclusion [at the time].
At first you believed that Knox was guilty, didn’t you?
Yes. At the time of the documentary, I was 51 years old and I had spent 25 years of my life as an FBI Agent. Half my life! My father was an FBI Agent. There is an assumption of good faith among law enforcement officers; that your brother [and sister] officers are presumed to be acting appropriately - even brother and sister officers from other countries. You root for the ‘good guys’. When I heard the press reports of the Knox case, I remember wondering why the U.S. would allow such a person to represent us in a foreign educational programme. I later found out that the ‘evidence’ was problematic—or worse.
What documents relating to the case did you analyse?
Through various sources, I have had access to a large amount of evidence on the case, including pertinent autopsy records and photos, hours of videotape of the original police forensic investigation at the scene, and more photos and other documents than I can count, on just about every facet of the case.
What was your conclusion about Knox and why?
Knox and Sollecito are not just innocent but the evidence at the crime scene precludes their involvement. It is absolutely impossible that they were involved. The case made by Giuliano Mignini [the Prosecutor in the case] is a house of cards that falls when one realizes that there is no possible way for Knox and Sollecito to have been at the murder scene. Every piece of evidence [e.g. knife/bra clasp] is suspicious, at best, and once you realize they weren’t in the room, the entire house of cards falls. This case is simply innuendo stacked on rumours piled on lies. There is not one credible piece of physical evidence to implicate Knox or Sollecito. The quality of the investigation by Giobbi [of the forensic police] Mignini and Stefanoni [a forensic biologist] should embarrass the good, competent law enforcement officers that are typical of Italy.
Have you had any contact with Knox’s family?
Not until I had been involved with the case for almost a year. They had seen my media appearances, and to continue my investigation, I really needed to speak with them. I went up to Seattle from Los Angeles to meet with them.
How did they seem to you?
I did not have any deep, personal conversations with them. But on the surface they appeared brave, resilient and not in the least vindictive. There is frustration and disbelief at what has happened, but there appears to be a unity among the family and a resolve to bring Amanda home.
You have said that you have been threatened with arrest if you travel to Italy. Can you tell us who made this threat?
I have not had a specific, articulated threat to arrest me if I go to Italy. I have been counselled not to go to Perugia, because people I do not want to identify believe that I would be detained by Mignini. There have been innuendo and calls for my arrest from Rudy Guede’s attorney, Biscotti, and Mignini had an American investigative writer detained in the past.
You lost your job at Pepperdine University for refusing to be silent about the case. Why did you decide to continue to speak and write about it?
The reason I continued when faced with firing is that I know too much to walk away. Had I stayed at Pepperdine and cashed my cheque every month while I looked out over the ocean at Malibu, I would feel disgusted with myself.
I believe that one is responsible for what one knows. If you saw a broken train track and didn’t warn someone before the next train went by, you would bear some responsibility, even if you had nothing to do with the broken track. I know that Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito are innocent. If I do not do something with that knowledge, I bear some responsibility.
Was it worth it?
Yes. Without a doubt. Although Amanda has not yet been released I believe I did the right thing. Amanda will soon be released; and even if she is not, we will fight until she is. But whether or not my decision was right has nothing to do with that. It has to do with following what I believed to be the right course. I am terribly sorry for the effect it has had on my family, but they agree with me; and an unforeseen consequence of this decision is the further bonding of my family. My wife and I, and my kids and I get to spend much more time with each other, and we support each other. I find great comfort with them. To misquote ‘A Tale of Two Cities’…. “It is the best of times, it is the worst of times”.
You have also famously said that, if Knox is released, you would happily allow your daughter to become her roommate. Do you stand by that statement?
Absolutely! Amanda Knox has never harmed a living thing. The horrific stories from the tabloids about a crazy, drug-fuelled sex fiend are simply lies. She is not the caricature created by the media to sell papers. The year she graduated, her high school created a special award for ‘compassion’ to fellow students, and the inaugural winner? Amanda Knox. These are people who had known her for four years, seven hours a day. Compassion.
I have spoken with many, many people who know her, some since she was eight years old. I have not met a soul who knows her who believes that she had anything to do with the murder. She was on the Dean’s List at the University of Washington. High School and college friends are actually going to Perugia to visit her!
This is the confidence I have in the innocence of Amanda Knox. If the evidence was even slightly in question, I would not make such a statement. Ask my daughter; I am sometimes overly protective of my little girl. Your readers are sensible people: Would a career FBI Agent who never lost a prosecution make this statement if he wasn’t sure?
Finally, I have to ask you the $64,000 question: if Knox didn’t do it, in your opinion, who did?
In my opinion Rudy Guede, a known burglar in Perugia and who was also known to carry a knife, broke into the house, killed Meredith, sexually assaulted her and stole her money. Alone. His bloody fingerprints were found on her purse. His DNA was found in and on the victim and ,his fingerprints, palm prints, shoeprints and footprints were found all over the crime scene. Not a single, microscopic piece of evidence linking Amanda Knox to that murder room exists.
Sadly, crimes such as a burglary that ends in an opportunistic rape and murder happen every day somewhere in the world. Satanic, drug-fuelled sex-murders between close friends do not. One of my wife’s friends put it perfectly: “When you hear the sound of hooves outside, look for a horse, not a zebra.”
Thank you for talking to Italy Magazine, Steve. You have certainly given us all a lot to think about.
