What Happened to Convicted Killer Rudy Guede in Amanda Knox Case?

It’s been nearly 17 years since Rudy Guede went to jail for the sexual assault and murder of Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy. Since then, Amanda Knox, the American student who was first wrongly convicted of the crime, has moved on, becoming an author, activist and subject of several movies and documentaries examining the case.

As for Guede, 38, his story didn’t end with his conviction. He was initially sentenced to 30 years in prison on a fast-track trial, which was knocked down to 16 years on appeal. Guede served 13 years before being released in 2021 on good behavior.

But the Ivory Coast native is facing possible jail time once again, as he’s back in court on charges of sexual assault, mistreatment and stalking against a former girlfriend.

Guede and his unnamed accuser, who is 25, began dating while he was in prison and broke up in 2023 when she filed the charges. She was granted a restraining order against him that December, and Guede was given an electronic bracelet to monitor him.

More than 100,000 photos, thousands of chats and audio messages between the two will be considered as evidence, investigating magistrate Rita Cialoni said, according to CNN. He will face a preliminary hearing in Viterbo, Italy, on Friday, August 29.

Guede’s lawyer Carlo Mezzetti told CNN that his client is innocent, but feared that his previous conviction would render him unable to get a fair trial.

Meanwhile, Guede has maintained his innocence in Kercher’s murder, despite authorities finding his fingerprints and DNA at the scene. His conviction came after Knox, 38, and her boyfriend at the time, Raffaele Sollecito, spent four years in prison before they were acquitted in 2011.

“I never really felt like I had the power to prove my innocence,” Knox told ABC News in an interview published Friday, August 22. “The case was never about the evidence. It was about the story.”

“Amanda and I risked conviction for something we didn’t do because of his lies,” Sollecito, 41, said at the time of Guede’s release. “I’m just sorry that he has never regretted what he did, killing that poor girl.”

A lawyer for Kercher’s family spoke out as well, calling Guede’s time in prison “such a low sentence could be sufficient for a murder of this kind.”

“It will be another aspect I need to explain to Meredith’s family,” Francesco Maresca told La Stampa at the time. “Each time, beyond the legitimacy, it further renews their unspeakable suffering.”