Judge Believes 'Group' Involved in Perugia Murder

ROME, Dec. 20, 2007 — -- Chilling new evidence in the investigation into whether American student Amanda Knox took part in the murder of her college roommate indicates that more than one person was involved in what the court described as a "ferocious" assault.

Newly filed court papers in Perugia, Italy, obtained by ABCNEWS.com, cite a neighbor who heard bloodcurdling screams the night of the Nov. 1 murder, followed by the sound of footsteps from several people running away.

The papers were filed this week by a three-judge panel to keep Ivory Coast native Rudy Hermann Guede in jail on suspicion of murder. The court had previously ruled that Knox and her boyfriend Raffale Sollecito were also to remain behind bars while the investigation continued.

The body of Meredith Kercher, a 21-year-old British exchange student, was found in her bedroom Nov. 2 with her throat slashed.

Knox, Kercher's 20-year-old roommate from Seattle, was quickly arrested along with Sollecito, 23. Guede, 21, was arrested and extradited from Germany earlier this month.

Knox and Sollecito have claimed they were not in the house at the time of the murder, but in an 18-page court document regarding Guede, the judges summarize the evidence so far, noting that it confirms "the presence of more than one person in that house at the time Meredith was killed."

A key piece of evidence is testimony by a neighbor who said she heard terrible screaming come from the house on via della Pergola on the night of the murder. The neighbor told police she also heard the sound of hurried footsteps from a number of people running from the house "right after the tragic ending of the evening."

This is confirmation, the judges wrote, of "a group participation in the ferocious criminal act, that cannot be considered in passive terms for any of those present."

The judges have earlier concluded that Knox and Sollecito took part in the murder, with Guede's role still to be established.

Guede is the only suspect who admits to being at the scene of the crime, but denies any involvement in the murder. He claims he saw and scuffled with the killer and tried to rescue Kercher, but then ran off because he was scared.