The American flatmate of murdered British exchange student Meredith Kercher allegedly confessed to police that she heard her die, it has emerged.
Amanda Knox, 20, reportedly told officers she covered her ears to the sound of screaming coming from the student's bedroom in the house they shared in Perugia, Italy. In her alleged confession, published in the Corriere Della Sera newspaper, she claimed Miss Kercher was in her room with suspect Lumumba "Patrick" Diya when she started to scream.
Italian police believe Miss Kercher, 21, was killed after she refused to have violent sex with her friends.
Knox, from Seattle, Washington, her Italian boyfriend, student Raffaelle Sollecito, 24, and Diya, 37, originally from the Congo, were all arrested on Tuesday. They are being held on suspicion of conspiracy to commit manslaughter and to commit sexual violence.
Knox's mother Edda Mellas was travelling to Perugia to support her daughter after Miss Kercher's horrific murder when she was told Knox was now a suspect in the case.
Sollecito's account was also published in the paper, which claimed he had changed his story between Monday and Tuesday night. Local reporter Nick Pisa told Sky News the suspects were not being questioned and had been left in prison to "reflect" on their different versions of events.
Meanwhile, Miss Kercher's parents John and Arline and sister Stephanie, 24, returned from Perugia to the UK after an overnight visit.
Before they left, they took a walk through the city and Mr Kercher laid a single red rose on the steps of its cathedral. A note left beside it read: "Love you forever Meredith. All my love, Dad."
Staff at the Italian department where Miss Kercher studied spoke of their shock at her death, and a vigil is being held at her university. A university spokesman said: "We will remember Meredith as a beautiful, clever and happy young woman, who was serious about her studies and popular with her peers."
Miss Kercher arrived in Italy at the end of August as part of a one-year Erasmus programme. She is thought to have died after being stabbed with a pocket knife. Police are still said to be searching for the murder weapon.
