6:48am UK, Wednesday October 05, 2011
Amanda Knox has been greeted by cheering supporters after arriving home in Seattle, following her acquittal over Meredith Kercher's murder.
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The 24-year-old said she was "overwhelmed" by the reception following her flight from Italy via London.
Within half an hour of touching down, she appeared at a news conference, but made only a brief statement and did not answer questions from reporters.
It came just a day after she was cleared following four years in Italian prison over the death of British student Meredith Kercher.
"I'm really overwhelmed right now," she said.
"I was looking down from the airplane and it seemed like everything wasn't real.
Amanda Knox said she just wanted to be with her family
"What's important for me to say is just thank you to everyone who has believed in me, who has defended me, who has supported my family.
"My family is the most important thing to me right now and I just want to go and be with them, so thank you for being there for me."
Throughout her public appearance, her mother and father held her hand and comforted her. Miss Knox at times struggled to contain her emotions.
Her parents Kurt Knox and Etta Mellas also offered their thanks for the support they had received.
Her father has rubbished claims she has already signed exclusive media deals and said she was just concentrating on getting back to a normal life and resuming her education.
Miss Knox arrived in the US just a day after being acquitted
"She has been in a concrete bunker for four years," he said.
Special arrangements had been made for the Knox family aboard the British Airways flight from London.
The group sat on the upper deck of the 747, away from other passengers and journalists.
We were told that photographs were forbidden, and everyone was ordered to remain in their seats after landing until US immigration officials had escorted the family off the plane.
During her press conference, Miss Knox did not mention the name of the fellow student she was once convicted of killing, but her lawyer Theodore Simon did speak of Meredith Kercher.
Meredith Kercher was murdered in 2007
"(Amanda has been through) a trying and grueling four-year nightmarish marathon that no child or parent should have to endure," he said.
Miss Knox was taken to an unknown location to recuperate from the long journey home.
In Italy she was infamous. In Seattle she is a celebrity, and she must decide whether to capitalise on that status and risk being seen to cash in on the gruesome murder of her former roommate.
Miss Knox and former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 27, were freed on Monday night after their murder convictions were quashed.
They had spent four years in prison, with the American serving a 26-year sentence and Mr Sollecito 25 years over British student Miss Kercher's death in 2007.
The 21-year-old was discovered semi-naked with her throat cut in her bedroom at the house she shared with Miss Knox in Perugia.
Read more on the story:
:: Meredith Kercher's family say they feel they are back at "square one".
:: Amanda Knox's family say her nightmare is over as she is freed.
:: Amanda Knox's supporters in the US watch as she is cleared.
:: How disputed DNA Evidence was the key to the success of the appeal.
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