Originally published November 20, 2007 at 12:00 AM | Page modified November 20, 2007 at 6:32 PM
Fourth suspect arrested in slaying of British student; Congolese released in Perugia
A fugitive wanted in connection with the killing of a British college student in central Italy — the fourth suspect detained in the...
The Associated Press
ROME — A fugitive wanted in connection with the killing of a British college student in central Italy — the fourth suspect detained in the slaying — was arrested today in Germany, Italian officials said. Hours later, one of the suspects jailed in Italy was released.
Rudy Hermann Guede, 20, was arrested Tuesday in the western German city of Mainz, an investigator in Perugia told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
Guede emerged Monday as another suspect in the slaying of 21-year-old Meredith Kercher, found stabbed to death Nov. 2 in her Perugia apartment.
Two other suspects, Kercher's American roommate, University of Washington student Amanda Marie Knox, and her Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, have been jailed in Perugia since Nov. 6.
A third suspect, Diya "Patrick" Lumumba, a 38-year-old Congolese who owns a bar in Perugia, who had been jailed on the same day, was released today. "I am fine. I thank God who helped me go back home," Lumumba told reporters who mobbed him as he left the Perugia jail.
The ANSA news agency reported prosecutors asked the judge to release Lumumba for lack of evidence.
"He was jailed with the shame of being a monster and today he comes out with his head held high," lawyer Giuseppe Sereniwas quoted as saying.
The three suspects who were jailed in Italy have denied wrongdoing.
Authorities said they found Knox's DNA on the handle and Kercher's on the blade of a knife that belongs to her boyfriend and is implicated in the killing.
In the days leading up to Guede's arrest, investigators had launched a manhunt for a new suspect who had left a bloody fingerprint on Kercher's pillow.
The man was arrested on a train bound for nearby Frankfurt for traveling without a ticket, said Mainz police spokesman Achim Hansen.
The man is to be brought on Wednesday before a German judge, who will rule whether he can be kept in custody on the Italian warrant, said Karl-Rudolf Winkler, a spokesman for prosecutors in Koblenz who have now taken over the case.
![]()
If the man is ordered held, Koblenz prosecutors will then begin preparing a case for his deportation, he said.
Guede is an Ivorian former basketball player who has been living in Italy since childhood, Italian media reported.
Italian police traced Guede to Germany through a friend who established Internet contact with the suspect Monday night and chatted with him for hours, the investigator said.
In Perugia, Police Chief Arturo De Felice praised international cooperation and said Guede will be transferred to Italy as soon as possible.
Shortly before Lumumba was released, his lawyer, Sereni, said his client was "serene: he knows he will come out of this, there is no trace, nothing that leads to him."
According to a ruling by the Perugia judge who had originally ordered his jailing, Lumumba became a suspect based on Knox's accusations. The same judge ruled that the American was confused about the events because she had smoked hashish the night of the killing.
No physical evidence has emerged tying Lumumba to the crime scene, and witnesses have placed him at his bar the night of the murder.
Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company
Food-safety lawyer's wish: Put me out of business
Illegal workers quietly let go
Metro won't cut bus service after all
Jerry Large: Food-bank theft turns into a gift
Bumper to Bumper: How can the city let bridges go dark?

PNW Magazine | Easy As Pie
A little friendly competition between professional pie-baker Kate McDermott and The Seatttle Times' Kathleen Triesch Saul is handled with great taste.
nwautos
Local riders say they've seen a surge in scooter interest in recent years, mostly from people wanting another commuting option. Seattle now ranks as o...
Post a comment
nwjobs
Post a comment
Michelle Goodman blogs about work/life balance.
Do you suffer from "sitting disease"?
Post a comment
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Tugboat sinks at Seattle waterfront pier
- Illegal workers quietly let go
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- Vikings easily beat the Seahawks
- Craigslist adoption ad: A plea by young mother-to-be? A scam?
- Chase shrugs off loss of CD investors
- Woman stabbed by stranger in North Seattle
- Snow piles up on Cascade slopes
- Denny Triangle gains skyline, but tenants slow to come
- Illegal workers quietly let go
403 - Climate change speeds up since 1997 Kyoto accord
215 - Metro won't cut bus service after all
160 - New Husky recruit: Enes Kanter
105 - Middleton says Huskies "plan on scoring at least 50 points'' Saturday
86 - Tattoos at Mill Creek Church pierce skin, soul
85 - Bellevue residents blast new bikini espresso stand
79 - Jerry Brewer: Seahawks can't lean on the Hutch Crutch now
75 - Seattle woman charged with knife attack on boyfriend's ex
75 - Senate Democrats split on health bill's fate
58
- Sprouts, raw fish on attorney's 'do not eat' list
- Tattoos at Mill Creek church pierce skin, soul
- Food-safety lawyer's wish: Put me out of business
- Illegal workers quietly let go
- Architects, chefs find 'kid' within to build Gingerbread Village
- Rediscovering Moab, 'the most beautiful place on Earth'
- It's possible to recover a life lost to hoarding
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Taste | The Great Pie Bake-off pits friends and fruit





