Suspect in Italian murder saw killer, lawyer says

PERUGIA, Italy (CNN) -- The latest suspect in the case of murdered British student Meredith Kercher was in the victim's apartment when she was killed and tried to confront the assailant after the attack, his lawyer told CNN Sunday.

Rudy Hermann Guede, 20, was in Kercher's apartment the night the 21-year-old woman was stabbed in her bed, although the two did not have sex and he did not kill her, said Guede's lawyer, Walter Biscotti. They "kissed and flirted and touched the way 20-year-olds do," Biscotti said.

Last week, investigators said DNA on a vaginal swab taken from Kercher matched Guede's DNA, indicating the two had sex.

At some point during the night, Guede felt sick, Biscotti said, and left to use the bathroom. While outside the bedroom, Guede heard Kercher scream and ran into the room to help her, Biscotti said. The lawyer would not say in what condition Guede said he found Kercher.

Kercher whispered "A.F.," into Guede's ear, Biscotti said without elaboration.

Guede panicked and fled the bedroom, Biscotti said. The lawyer did not say whether Guede says Kercher was alive or dead when he last saw her.

Guede has said he saw a person, whom he describes as the killer, outside the bedroom door, Biscotti said.

Guede tried to confront the person, but the person ran away, Biscotti said. Biscotti would not describe the person or elaborate on the subsequent timeline of events other than to say that Guede left the apartment that night.

Italian police say that they have connected Guede to a bloody fingerprint on a pillow at the crime scene, and that DNA tests on skin cells found on toilet paper there have linked him to the villa.

An arrest warrant issued by an Italian judge cites fears that Guede may kill again as among the reasons he needs to be in custody, according to the prosecutor's office in Perugia. How murder is affecting historic university town »

Guede has maintained his innocence.

Kercher, an exchange student at Perugia's university, was killed late on November 1 in the villa where she lived, according to police.

Investigators found her the next day, half-naked, with a stab wound to her neck. A report issued more than a week ago by an Italian judge suggested she may have been sexually assaulted at knife point before she was killed in her bed.

In addition to holding Guede, who was arrested last week in Germany, police are holding two other suspects in the slaying: Amanda Knox, 20, Kercher's roommate, and Knox's boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, 23.

Last week, the prosecutor's office said no DNA from Kercher was found on Sollecito's shoes -- he wears the same size and type of shoe as one that made a bloody print on the duvet under which her body was found.

Knox, an American, has given police contradictory statements about the night, which she explains by saying she recalls various scenarios of what happened but is not sure which is correct.

Last week, Knox wrote a three-and-a-half-page statement in English when she learned she was going to prison. In the statement, first published in Italian by the Corriere della Sera newspaper, Knox said she did not kill Kercher but finds it hard to remember the events of the night because she and Sollecito had smoked marijuana.

Meanwhile, Sollecito's lawyer, Luca Maori, said investigators issued findings from an examination of his client's computer, which Sollecito maintains he was using at home when Kercher was killed.

Maori said the Italian Postal Police concluded the computer was switched on that night but was not necessarily being used. Maori contested their findings, saying the police's instruments weren't sophisticated enough to make a proper finding.

Maori said the defense team had examined a clone of Sollecito's hard drive that showed he was in his house and using the computer from 8:30 p.m. on November 1 to 1:33 a.m. on November 2. Police have said Kercher died between 10 p.m. and midnight on November 1. E-mail to a friend

CNN's Hada Messia in Perugia contributed to this report.

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