Amanda Knox Says She Will Return to Italy

Nobody could blame Amanda Knox if she decided never to return to Italy: After going to Perugia as an exchange student in 2007, her roommate was gruesomely killed and she spent the next eight years fighting murder charges. But Knox, who spent nearly four years in Italian prisons, says she has decided to "face her fears" and visit the country again, KOMO reports. Knox, now 31, returned to hometown Seattle after she was exonerated of the murder of Meredith Kercher in 2015 and hasn't been back to Italy since. On Saturday, she told the True Crime festival in New York City that she has been "healing" and she believes going back to Italy at some point will help the process.

"I have an amazing family and friends and an incredible support network," she said, per the Sun. "But you have got to face up to your fears alone if you want to heal and I know the main thing that still terrifies me most is returning to Italy." She said she still receives "an incredible amount of abuse online" but things are harder for Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, who was also cleared after years in prison but can't find work because his name is "toxic." "I got to walk away and come home but for him things didn’t change," she said. "He couldn’t escape it. It was always with him and that is something that I will have to face when I return." Earlier this year, the European Human Rights Court ordered Italy to pay Knox $20,000 because it failed to provide her with an attorney or interpreter during questioning. (More Amanda Knox stories.)