Amanda Knox, the American woman convicted of murder by an Italian court in 2009, has been freed after an appeals court overturned the decision on Monday. Her co-defendant and former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, was cleared as well.

Knox had already served four years of a 26-year sentence for the 2007 sexual assault and stabbing death of her British roommate, 21-year-old Meredith Kercher, when they were both students in Perugia, Italy. Knox and Sollecito have denied any involvement in the crime.

“I’ve lost a friend in the worst, most brutal, most inexplicable way possible,” Knox previously told the jury in Italian. “I’m paying with my life for things that I didn’t do.”

The eight-member jury deliberated for 11 hours before reaching Monday’s verdict. When it was read in open court, Knox collapsed in tears.

In a statement, her family expressed gratitude to supporters and said, “We are thankful that Amanda’s nightmare is over … [and that] the court [had] the courage to look for the truth and overturn this conviction. We now respectfully ask you to give her family the privacy to recover from this horrible ordeal.”

More From Mix 94.1