Amanda Knox is once again facing the prospect of a trial over the murder of her former study abroad roommate Meredith Kercher in November 2007. With the release of her memoir less than two weeks away, horrifying new details of her plight are already surfacing.
Knox and her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were soon found guilty in the subsequent trial, but in 2011, were found innocent in a retrial, largely due to a botched investigation by Italian authorities. Knox spent four years in jail before returning to America in 2011.
"Things creep up on me and all of a sudden I'm overwhelmed by the feeling of helplessness and that desperation and fear to even hope," Knox told People Magazine. "Just that can make my heart race and makes me paralyzed until I can breathe it away."
And her paralyzing fear wasn't just the result of the prospect of being locked away for up to 25 years either. Rather, much of it seems to have stemmed from what happened to her while she was in prison.
Knox recalls how she would be constantly called into a prison official's office to have "chitchats" with him. The talks usually centered around her sexual history and preferences, and often had little to do with the case itself. The official, Raffaele Argiro, would also proposition her for sex during the talks.
"Obviously to hit on a prisoner who has no power when you're a man who is a prison official with enormous power, is very, very scary for a young woman,"Vanity Fair contributing editor Judy Bachrach said.
But it didn't stop there. Knox also mentions how one of her fellow inmates, a lesbian, attempted to start a sexual affair with her while behind bars. Even worse, she was told by Italian officials that she was HIV positive during her stay in prison.
"Within the Italian people there is still that feeling that she's a spoiled rich kid who decided to kill her roommate for kicks. This is ludicrous. So there is a possibility she will be found guilty again," Bachrach said.
The first interview of Knox since she has been freed from jail will air on April 30 on ABC at 10 p.m. ET, and coincides with the time that her memoir will be available for purchase.