This is a story about how three different personality types, in a rather unhealthy state, came together to produce a tragedy so horrific that it would not have happened absent the presence of all three. This post uses the Enneagram theory of personality to explain this tragic dynamic.

Trolling YouTube, I came along the following story:

Since I haven’t had TV in my home in over a decade, and since I don’t follow “Entertainment” or “Crime” stories, I hadn’t heard of this murder case before.

But this 5-part “Dateline” video series was kind of interesting to watch. Below, I’m assuming you’ve watched it.

Point of this post is to give my Enneagram interpretation of this one. My basic theory is that this murder occurred only because three different damaged personalities came together on one fateful night. In Enneagram terms, the perps were a Two, a Five, and a Seven, all in unhealthy states.

In names, these three people are Amanda Knox, Raffaele Sollecito, and Rudy Guede. In nationality, an American, an Italian, and an Ivory Coastian, respectively. In gender, female, male, and male. In race, white, white, and black. In occupation, student, student, and drug dealer. In relationship, girlfriend, boyfriend, and drug supplier to both. In age, all between 20 and 24.

The victim, a housemate of Amanda, was a white English student named Meredith Kercher. On the morning of November 2, 2007, in a romantic medieval Italian town, Meredith’s body was discovered. She died from a deep stab wound through her neck. Her body also showed that she had been pricked under her chin by a knife, and in other parts of her body.

Rudy’s DNA was all over the crime scene. He has been sentenced to 30 years. Amanda and Raffaele go on trial this Friday.  As you have gathered, I’m pretty sure those two are guilty.

One interesting question about this case is: Motive? Another question is: Degree of guilt?

Let’s start with the latter question.  I believe that all three are guilty of sexual assault. I further believe that Amanda is guilty of second degree murder (i.e. impulsive murder; not premeditated) and that the two guys had no intent to murder.

I believe Amanda stabbed Meredith in the neck, and that when she did this, she surprised the shit out of Raffaele and Rudy, who both suddenly realized that they were in deep, deep, trouble.

I don’t buy the prosecutor’s fantasy theory of a “Halloween cult” involving the three defendants. Instead, I believe this crime was a banal one, born of common, everyday motives, albeit a little extreme. That’s what makes this case so interesting. The idea that, individually, each of these people was not so different than any of us. But that in coming together, they committed an act that very few among us would ever do.

Here’s my Enneagram reasoning for these beliefs:

As an unhealthy, insecure Two, Amanda did much more than simply fornicate with almost every man she met (this is one of the principle ways in which unhealthy Twos seek “love”). Note that Two shifts to Eight in insecurity. In that unhealthy state, Amanda would be argumentative, impulsive, vengeful, and perhaps even violent.

I haven’t read much about Raffaele, but he strikes me as a Five. In insecurity, Five goes to Seven. In that state, the normally ordered, quiet, academic, and boring Five becomes recklessly wild. Fives also tend to have an appetite for lurid, strange, or otherwise “forbidden” subjects. Raffaele’s appetite in this direction seems to have had a sexual aspect to it. The story has it that, shortly before the murder,  Raffaele was “bored with the same old evenings and desiring to try out strong emotions”. Still, I don’t think this kid was a killer.

Rudy seems like the classic criminal Seven. A charismatic liar, a thief, drug dealer. A guy on the make, just trying to scam whatever he could for free. But not a killer.

Somehow, these three people agreed on a plan to enter the room of Meredith, and sexually assault her. Rudy would commit the sexual acts. Raffaele would hold Meredith down. Amanda would threaten Meredith with a knife. This is the prosecutor’s theory.

The motive of each? Here is where I disagree with the prosecutor. I think that, individually, these motives were very common and even benign. Here they are: I believe that Rudy was looking for free sex (what young man isn’t?); Raffaele was looking for a freaky, lurid, erotic scene (common among many young men — just troll YouTube); and Amanda was looking for revenge on Meredith, and to please Raffaele (like many young women).

On the revenge point, it seems that Meredith had registered many complaints toward Amanda. Both to her face, and to others. Among the complaints: Amanda was a slob, a slut, and dangerous in bringing creepy men back to the house. There seems also to have been money disagreements.

Amanda was looking for revenge. So she decided to humiliate Meredith in the way described above. Accordingly, she would be killing three birds with one stone: revenge for herself, free pleasure for Rudy, and service to her boyfriend.

How did this crazy scheme end up as a murder? Turns out that there was no semen of Rudy found on or within Meredith’s body. I suspect that the scheme didn’t get far enough along for that.

I suspect what happened was that, as Raffaele was undressing Meredith, and as Rudy was just getting started with his assault, and as Amanda was poking the knife under Meredith’s chin (i.e. the prosecution’s theory to this point), Meredith said something to Amanda that got her killed.

Who knows, maybe something like: “Amanda, I knew you were a slut, but had no idea that you were a psychopath.” I don’t know. Just something that infuriated Amanda.

In that instant of fury, I believe Amanda simply shoved the knife, with which she was poking Meredith’s neck, through the victim’s neck.

Interestingly, sometime during all of this, Rudy took a crap in the house toilet and didn’t flush (some lucky lab technician traced the poop DNA back to Rudy). When, during all of this, did Rudy take his crap?

I suspect it was before they entered Meredith’s room. As noted, Amanda was a slob of a roommate, and that irritated Meredith to no end. I could see Rudy saying to the team, “Hey, I have to take dump”. And Amanda saying, “Go ahead, but don’t flush.” Just to piss off Meredith.

That’s consistent with my belief that these three people, all high on drugs, had no intention of killing Meredith that night (except for Amanda’s moment of rage).

And the Enneagram take is that the combination of these personalities was needed. It needed a disturbed Two, with motives of revenge and pleasing her boyfriend. It needed a boyfriend with lurid sexual fantasies. And it needed a grifter black guy always on the hunt for the next scam.

The truly tragic thing about this case is that if the wild Amanda had “settled down” with a different Italian, one with a more pedestrian sexual appetite, instead of Raffaele, this murder wouldn’t have happened. Or if Amanda’s drug pusher had been a laconic, peace-loving ganga-smoking cool guy, instead of Rudy, this wouldn’t have happened.

Similarly, if Raffaele had picked another American hottie for his girlfriend, with, let’s say, depression as her pathology, he would never be facing decades in jail as he is this week.

And if Rudy had simply been arrested for drug pushing or stealing — which he had been doing — he would never have hooked up with this dangerous couple, and would thus be spending 5-10 years in jail, not 30.

And maybe even if Meredith had not been so wound up — i.e. had she simply studied her housemate’s promiscuous, slovenly behavior rather than throwing it in Amanda’s face, maybe the worst that would have happened that night would have been a rape. That would have been tragic to be sure. But hey, much better than dead at 21.

Bottom line, four people who brought the worst out of each other.  And all it took was for the one truly disturbed kid in the bunch (Amanda) to light a match to this hormone-fueled kindling. There, but for the grace of God, go (or at least “went” for us older folks) all of us.

p.s. At the trial, Raffaele will almost certainly cop a plea, turn state’s evidence, and tell the true story of what happened that night. With no priors, and no evidence that he did the killing, maybe he’ll get 10 years. Will be an interesting trial. Classic “Prisoner’s Dilemma” problem.