Even on the evening of November 1, when Francesco Sollecito called his son (it was at 20:42 pm {Meredith was probably murdered from 21:00 to 21:42} , to tell him the plot of the movie he had just seen, “The Pursuit of Happiness”), Raffaele was with Amanda and told his father that the next day he would also be with Amanda: they had in fact planned a trip to Gubbio. He recalled as well that it was on the evening of November 1, when he phoned his son at 20:42 pm, that Raffaele had told him that "ʺwhile he was washing the dishes he had noticed leaked water… that had spilled onto the floor”, and that he had specified that he was with Amanda (p. 45, statement by Francesco Sollecito).
That Amanda and Raffaele were together on the evening of November 1 is also indicated by Jovana Popovic in her testimony (see statements made at the hearing of March 21, 2009). She reported that on the evening of November 1 she went to the house of Raffaele Sollecito on Corso Garibaldi twice; on both of these occasions, she met Amanda. Jovana Popovic also testified that on October 31, 2007 her mother, who was in Milan, told her that she was sending her a suitcase on the coach departing from Milan and arriving in Perugia at midnight. So on November 1, 2007 she therefore stopped by Raffaele’s (page 6, Popovic statement, hearing of March 21,
2009) and asked if he would accompany her to the coach station. She came by
around 5:45 pm and in any case a little before 6 pm {Meredith was probably murdered from 21:00 to 21:42}. At home there was Amanda, who opened the door to her, and there was Raffaele.
A short while later, her mother had called her back saying that she was not able to send the suitcase because the coach driver refused to take it.
[53] So Jovana Popovic, after finishing her lesson at the Tre Archi, which ended at 8:20 pm, returned on foot to the home of Raffaele, to tell him that she no longer needed to be accompanied to the station. It took her about twenty minutes to walk the distance, so she arrived at around 8:40 pm, {Meredith was probably murdered from 9:00 pm to 9:42 pm} again finding Amanda, who opened the door and let her know that Raffaele was in the bathroom.
A relationship, therefore, which had sprouted between Amanda and Raffaele
recently enough but especially intensely during the immediately succeeding days, a fews days, in fact hardly any, because the tragedy that followed occurred barely a week after their first meeting. On the afternoon and in the evening and night of November 1, 2007, Amanda and Raffaele were together.
The obligations of one or the other would have separated them, even if only for a little while, but events completely independent of their choices kept them together, almost as if making an attempt on their freedom and putting them to the test:
Raffaele Sollecito, as noted above, was to accompany Jovana Popovic, a medical student, to the Perugia station to pick up the suitcase that the girl'ʹs mother wanted to send to her by coach from Milan. The driver, however, refused to accept it; so Popovic Jovana had made it known that she no longer needed a ride to the station.
As for Amanda Knox, she was scheduled to work that night at the Le Chic, the pub managed by Diya “Patrick” Lumumba. However, he had sent her a text message - at a few minutes past 8 pm {Meredith was probably murdered from 9:00 to 9:42} on November 1, 2007 - telling her that there was no need for her to go to work that evening (see statements by Patrick Lumumba, hearing of April 3, 2009, pp. 160 and following).
And so Amanda, like Raffaele, came to be free of any commitment for the evening and night of November 1, 2007.
