Amanda Knox returns to Seattle, thanks supporters

SEATTLE — Amanda Knox has thanked all those who believed and defended her during her trial in Italy over the sexual assault and fatal stabbing of her British roommate.

"Thank you for being there with me," she said through tears Tuesday, shortly after the plane carrying her to freedom landed in her hometown of Seattle.

"I'm really overwhelmed right now. I was looking down from the airplane, and it seemed like everything wasn't real," she said.

Her attorney, Theodore Simon, reiterated her claims on innocence in the case, which has made her a tabloid staple on two continents. The conviction was overturned amid doubts over DNA evidence. Prosecutors insist she was among three people who killed 21-year-old Meredith Kercher.

Knox said her family was 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."

The University of Washington student was studying abroad in Perugia at the time.

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