A key witness for the prosecution has been arrested after several grams of cocaine were found in his home.
Quoting from the article:
“In a separate development overnight, Italian police arrested an Albanian man in Perugia who is among the key witnesses cited by the prosecution, the ANSA news agency and local media reported. He was picked up on drug charges and cocaine had been found in his apartment, the reports said.The man has told prosecutors that he saw Knox, Sollecito and Guede together the night before the slaying in front of Knox’s and Kercher’s apartment.
He already gave testimony during a preliminary hearing and had been scheduled to appear in court in upcoming hearings”
If this is true and he saw all three together we may have reason to question whether he knew one or all of the three on a more ‘personal’ level.
I would also be interested to know why his house was searched. Though this may potentially discredit him further as a ‘reliable’ witness it also raises a few interesting questions, namely: what was he doing near the cottage that night? Did he know one or all of the defendants? Why did he come forward as a witness if he has been dealing drugs, bit risky…
I have recently read a Le Monde article (kindly translated by Skeptical Bystander) that suggests Perugia has a very high rate of deaths due to cocaine overdose and believe that cocaine may well have played a very key role in what happened that night.
Just another odd coincidence…
Lies Our Mothers Told Us 
February 15, 2009 at 6:52 pm
They could easily just test Amanda’s hair follicles to see if she ever did Cocaine. That stuff stays in your follicles a very long time.
February 15, 2009 at 6:55 pm
Lee:
You are absolutely right I didn’t actually consider this. Thank you. I believe it would show up in blood (depending on level of use) too.
M . R
February 15, 2009 at 6:58 pm
The Albanian did say he knew Guede, says so in the 106 page Micheli report.
With what we now know, I would agree 100% that the most likely senario is that Meredith challenged Amanda over the missing money …. ‘drugged up tart’ is what Guede heard according to one of his versions.
It is far more likely that coke was involved than only hash, both for its cost and potential for fueling an escalation of violence.
February 15, 2009 at 7:24 pm
Most likely wouldn’t show up in the blood. Coke leaves the system pretty fast, that’s why employers do hair follicle tests cause it stays in there longer (believe me I know–made some bad choices,lol)
February 15, 2009 at 8:47 pm
With respect to hair sample analysis, I think use has to be chronic. A one-off indulgence might not be detectable in an analysis of hair.
February 15, 2009 at 9:21 pm
http://www.ipassedmydrugtest.com/hair_drug_test_FAQ.asp
This FAQ says 90 days. Too late to test now obviously. My guess is that the question of Cocaine being involved is pretty speculative at this point. If evidence actually comes out about cocaine, then I guess it’s relevant–but I haven’t seen any as of yet.
If you smoke pot, do cocaine, etc., it will be detectable.
February 15, 2009 at 9:25 pm
Here is a really good book about the drug:
I believe it was published first in the UK. It’s a fascinating read and clears up a lot of misconceptions about the drug. Fair warning though, this book is really hard to put down.
February 17, 2009 at 2:00 pm
I recently had a thought.
Even if there was some sort of test in existence that could find tiny traces of drug in the body after long periods of time, it still wouldn’t prove when the defendants took it, who with and what happened afterwards.
February 19, 2009 at 7:32 am
That is correct, it wouldn’t. I have to say, I really think this Albanian guy is just some nut case. I certainly wouldn’t call him as a witness if I were the prosecution. no no no. Not a good idea.