All-American sweetheart who plunged into world of drink, drugs and easy sex

[vino]

In her home town of Seattle, Amanda Knox was described as a wholesome young woman — the perfect date for a high-school prom. Her friends are trying to comprehend how she could have become an alleged sexual deviant capable of a role in the murder of the British student Meredith Kercher.

When she arrived in Perugia for a three-month stay, Ms Knox, 20, was seen as an all-American sweetheart, a soccer player of note and an accomplished rock climber.

But something happened to her in those three months, according to people within the university community of the Umbrian hill town. At some point, apparently quite early on in her stay, she lost control. In the town’s seedier bars, she soon became known as someone who was capable of intense jealousy and rage. She dedicated her free time to the drink, drugs and easy sex of Perugia’s nightlife.

As she contemplates spending up to a year in an Italian jail awaiting charges — she was detained yesterday along with her Italian boyfriend, Raffaelle Sollecito, 24, and Diya “Patrick” Lumumba, 38 — those who knew her spoke out. One acquaintance said that Ms Knox had not been corrupted by any particular person because she was “already up for it”. She had plunged fresh from Seattle into a world of vodka, marijuana and free-and-easy sex. According to Mr Sollecito’s statement to police, she went to bed with him the day they met and, according to leaked testimony, she was known to pick up men in the bars and internet cafés. Ms Knox is thought to have “befriended” at least one North African man.

SNIP-

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article2844000.ece