Candace Dempsey

Award-winning Italian-American reporter Candace Dempsey has covered the sensational murder trial of Amanda Knox, the American college student convicted of killing her British roommate Meredith Kercher, since Knox’s arrest in 2007. Candace’s influential true crime blog on the Knox case, read around the world, has been featured on Newsweek.com, CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, and Corriere della Sera.

Based in Knox’s hometown of Seattle, Candace travels to Italy to capture every twist in this study-abroad murder mystery, alongside reporters from the Associated Press, every U.S. TV network, plus CBS 48 Hours Mystery, Larry King Live and other news shows. The Knox case attracts blockbuster coverage on British television and in all major British newspapers and tabloids. Knox’s journey from fresh-faced, 20-year-old University of Washington student to convict has mesmerized Italy, with front-page treatment in La Stampa, La Repubblica and every other major newspaper, plus Italian news shows and such popular magazines as Oggi and Gente. A worldwide backlash against Knox’s 26-year prison sentence keeps the case in the news. Oprah recently featured an hour-long segment with family members. Knox will appeal her conviction this fall.

Candace Dempsey has personally reported on the Knox case for:
*CNN Headline News
*KOMO TV, Seattle’s ABC affiliate
*Italian television
*The British documentary, “The Trials of Amanda Knox,” which focuses on the media storm
*E! Channel’s documentary, “Americans Arrested Abroad” (May 2010), which explores Knox’s conviction, along with other Americans jailed around the globe
*Candace’s case blog, “Italian Woman at the Table,” hosted by
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Candace Dempsey has decades of writing experience in newspapers and magazines. She’s also been a magazine editor and producer of Underwire, a MSN Website that Newsweek called "cheeky, nicely written, fun" and The New York Times praised for "serious sisterhood." She has won three first-place writing awards from the Society of Professional Journalists. Her adventure/travel tales appear in such well-reviewed anthologies as Solo: On Her Own Adventure (2005, Seal Press) and Women in the Wild (2004, Travelers’ Tales). She’s also written for The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Phoenix and many other publications.

She belongs to Sisters in Crime, the Author's Guild, the Society of Professional Journalists, Pacific Northwest Writers Association, Women in Digital, JAWS, Italia Seattle and Microsoft Alumni. She holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the University of Oregon where she was a graduate teaching fellow.

Candace grew up in a highly colorful extended Italian-American family in Spokane, Washington, and often visits her relatives in Italy. She lives in Seattle with her husband, who is an attorney. She likes to ski, mountain climb, hike, kayak and read everything from detective novels to true crime, from biographies to serious fiction. Her favorite writers are F. Scott Fitzgerald, Alice Munro, Anton Chekhov and Jon Krakauer.

About MURDER IN ITALY


On November 2, 2007, police found beautiful British student Meredith Kercher, lying half naked on her bedroom floor in the Italian college town of Perugia, Italy. She had been stabbed to death. Her pretty American roommate, Amanda Knox, and Knox’s rich Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, soon became the prime suspects. When Knox accused her boss, bartender Patrick Lumumba, of being the killer (in a false confession she later said was the result of police pressure), police arrested Knox, Sollecito and Lumumba, and accused them of killing Meredith during a marijuana-fueled orgy.

Then it turned out Lumumba was innocent and that another young man, drifter Rudy Guede, had left a bloody footprint on Meredith’s pillow and his DNA everywhere in the murder room (where no trace of Amanda Knox has ever been found). Police arrested Guede and accused him of conspiring with Knox and Sollecito to commit the crime. Using the same sex game theory, the controversial Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini won convictions for all three. The book examines the case against the defendants; suggests other crime theories, and offers insights into what Italians call “the trial of the century.” The medieval college town of Perugia plays a major role in MURDER IN ITALY, which is a true crime thriller, a travel book, and an expose of modern Italy and its much-criticized justice system.

Suspect Amanda Knox, the All-American girl, was voted Italy’s most-famous person in 2009.

Candace Dempsey was the first journalist in the world to write that Amanda Knox could be innocent, suggest other crime theories, and defend Knox’s right to a fair trial, at a time when she was demonized everywhere as “Foxy Knoxy,” the promiscuous, drug-taking, air-headed “study-abroad killer.” After Candace wrote “What if She’s Innocent?” in January 2008, she came under heavy Internet attack from conspiracy theorists. But after Knox’s conviction, a worldwide backlash began, with even Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump weighing in.

As Knox appeals her conviction, the controversy continues. Candace has continued to defend every suspect’s right to a fair trial and to analyze the performance of police and prosecutors in Perugia, as well as scientific experts and lawyers for the defense. “Public servants work for us,” she reminds readers, “so it’s our job to speak out if we suspect injustice.”

Candace also discusses:
*The controversial use of DNA evidence in the trial
*The prosecution’s emphasis on Manga comic books, occult rituals, Halloween customs, supposed anger between the two roommates, poor hygiene and other motivations
*The demonization of Knox based on her sex life in Italy
*Differences between the U.S. and Italian legal system, including the use of hearsay evidence, the failure to sequester juries or question for bias; the trying of civil and criminal cases simultaneously in Italy
*The PR campaign waged by Knox’s family and whether it was effective
*How Italians feel about the verdict and Amanda Knox
*Why Knox made a false confession and how such confessions play key roles in convictions around the globe
*The role that British tabloids played in painting a false picture of Knox before trial
*Resemblances between the Knox case and the notorious Duke University rape case

About The Program
In her speeches and workshops, Candace Dempsey will explain why this case is a real-life global shocker. The author has been talking to the family and friends of Amanda Knox for two years, plus key players for the defense and the prosecution, including Giuliano Mignini himself. Drawing upon candid interviews, case files, police reports, court documents, eyewitness accounts, crime scene videos, prison diaries and DNA evidence, Candace will reveal the story behind the media frenzy surrounding the three prime suspects: honor student Amanda Knox; Raffaele Sollecito, her Italian ex-boyfriend; and drifter Rudy Guede, an Italian immigrant from the Ivory Coast.

Candace will offer her audiences a front row-seat at the 11-month “trial of the century” and explain why Giuliano Mignini believed Knox conspired with the two young men to stab Kercher to death during an drug-fueled orgy. Using court documents and excerpts from Amanda Knox’s diary, Candace will dissect the worldwide backlash and talk about prosecutor Mignini’s later conviction for abuse of office and how he became a key character in the bestselling crime book, Monster of Florence, accusing co-author’s Mario Spezi and Douglas Preston of interfering in his investigations and throwing Spezi into jail.

Finally, she will give insights on what to expect at the November 2010 appeal in Perugia, Italy, an “idyllic” Italian college town with high stone walls and a dark underside. Candace will be there covering the event in Italy as it unfolds.

Key Events In The Amanda Knox Case
1. November 1, 2007: British student Meredith Kercher stabbed to death in Perugia, Italy.
2. November 2, 2007: Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito lead police to the body.
3. November 5, 2007: Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito are interrogated by police.
4. November 5/6, 2007: Amanda gives a false confession, placing herself at the murder scene and falsely accusing her boss, bar owner Patrick Lumumba, of being the stabber.
5. November 6, 2007: Amanda, Patrick, Raffaele are placed under arrest.
6. November 18, 2007: Police announce an international manhunt for the fourth suspect, Rudy Guede.
7. November 19, 2007: Rudy arrested, Patrick Lumumba released.
8. September/October 2008: A judge sentences Rudy to 30 years in prison, sends the other two defendants off to trial.
9. January, 2009: The trial of the century begins in Perugia for Amanda and Raffaele.
10. December 4, 2009: Amanda and Raffaele are convicted of murder and sexual assault; she gets 26 years; he gets 25 years. A worldwide backlash begins.
11. January, 2010: Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini found guilty of abuse of office. He receives a 20-month suspended jail sentence.
12. November, 2010: Amanda and Raffaele will appeal the verdict.

Candace Dempsey is available for keynote speeches, seminars and extended residencies through the MasterMedia Speakers Bureau.