The body of Meredith Kercher was discovered by Italian police at the cottage that she shared with other students in Perugia on November 2, 2007. The 21-year-old British student, who was part of a university exchange programme, was found lying partially clothed under a duvet in her bedroom. Her windpipe had been crushed and throat partially slashed.

Following a murder investigation, police initially arrested two suspects, Kercher's American flatmate, Amanda Knox, and Knox's boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, then a third man, the owner of a local bar (who was later released without charge). A fourth suspect was later arrested after having fled to Germany, on the basis of DNA and fingerprint evidence found on the victim's body. The remaining three suspects were held in custody in Perugia charged with murder, sexual assault and theft. On 28 October 2008, one of the three accused, Rudy Hermann Guede, the only person whose fingerprints and DNA were found on the body, was convicted of conspiracy to murder Kercher in a "fast-track" trial and sentenced to 30 years in prison. The trial of the two remaining suspects, Amanda Knox and her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, began on January 16, 2009.

The case has received heavy media interest in Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States.