Ground Report

 

One person whose name has come up frequently is Ron Hendry:  A retired forensic engineer who specialized in accident reconstruction,  Hendry has written a series of articles which carefully detail and document a reconstruction theory which upholds the idea that Rudy Guede,  the Ivory Coast immigrant who was convicted along with Knox and Sollectio, acted alone,  and that Kercher was victimized because she walked into a robbery in progress.   

Hendry’s articles and pictures have been cited and posted on the various internet forums as they debate the appeals trial and its probable outcome for the 2 college students. 

His professional expertise has lent authority to his commentary and analytical documents,  although many nay-sayers will continue to say that the fact that in his professional career  he did not specialize in murder cases specifically negates his power.   

Such refutations along with others which seem ad hominem in nature  do not bother Hendry nor his readers.   He has set forth a strong case for innocence,  and it is largely from his reconstruction evidence that many have changed their own minds about Knox and Sollecito’s guilt. 

Says one avid forum follower,  Julie,  a mental health care professional from Hunterdon County, NJ,  "I read Hendry’s work and then just had too many questions.  I could no longer believe in [Knox and Sollectio’s] guilt,  and it seemed those who refuted Hendry would never do so by explaining why his theories didn’t work,  but only by attacking his character."   Said Betty DeCicco,  a retired librarian from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, NJ,  "It’s too bad that Hendry’s analysis could not have made up the whole of the defense in 2008 -09."   

On the website Injustice in Perugia,  Hendry explains a bit about his involvement in the Kercher case since his retirement in January 2008:   

"My 28 year career as a Forensic Engineer did not include the investigation of person on person crimes. However, I had extensive experience at reconstructing complex incidents, evaluating police investigations and reports, evaluating opposing experts’ investigations and reports, and evaluating witness statements and testimony. I have also extensive experience in evaluating and reconstructing complex incidents from photos. Finally, I have had some success in finding glaring errors and mistakes on the part of the investigations and analysis by both the police and opposing expert investigators. 
[.  .  .  ] 
I switched over to looking into the murder of Meredith Kercher in December, 2009 after Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito had been convicted of her murder. My initial interest was to look into it enough to satisfy myself that both were guilty as charged despite all the news reports in this country which questioned their guilt. Then I could get back to the other two internet investigations. 

I immediately found numerous news articles about the Kercher crime over the internet. Also, bits and pieces of factual information along with a few crime scene photos and videos could be found at several web sites. After having accumulated and reviewed several hundred articles, photos, and other information, I came to the conclusion that Amanda and Raffaele were wrongfully charged of involvement in the murder of Meredith Kercher. 

At that point I found myself unable to move on to something else. Somehow I thought I might be able to help the two in their quest for freedom. So I worked up four articles on the break-in aspect and sent them to Bruce Fisher for consideration for his website. Bruce agreed to publish the articles. [.  .  .  ] 

I was provided access to a great deal of the police crime scene photo documentation and some of the police crime scene video documentation. This extraordinary access has enabled me to perform a much more comprehensive evaluation of the events surrounding the murder of Meredith Kercher. 

As a result of this unusual access to crime scene documentation, I feel a responsibility toward all major involved parties in this matter to assess the physical evidence and other factors with as much balance and reasonableness as I can muster. My highest sense of responsibility is toward the memory of Meredith Kercher. One component of which involves protecting her dignity to the extent possible. [.  .  .  ]" 

Hendry’s papers  –  which contain detailed commentary, documentation,  and photographs on every aspect of the crime and his ensuing theory,  can be read at : 

http://www.injusticeinperugia.org/RonHendryindex2.html 

and an interview on Seattle’s Channel 5 can be viewed at: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWDB8qsrzEU&feature=playe …