Amanda Knox: I Wasn't Home Night Kercher Died

ROME, Italy (CNN) -- American college student Amanda Knox told an Italian courtroom Friday she was at the home of her boyfriend the night her roommate was killed two years ago, her lawyer said.

When she was later told her roommate, British student Meredith Kercher, was found dead, she said in Italian, "I was like, 'No, no, how can this be?"

The 21-year-old from Seattle, Washington, testified the night of Nov. 1, 2007, when Kercher was killed, she was at her boyfriend's house all night and not at home, where Kercher's body was found the next day.

Knox's testimony is expected to finish Friday, but there is a chance she will be called back to the stand at a later date. The trial opened January 16.

Knox, wearing a short-sleeve white top, beige trousers and a ponytail, said she was with her then-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, on the night of Nov. 1. She said she checked her e-mails at his place before the couple had dinner, watched a movie, smoked a marijuana joint, made love, and fell asleep.

In the morning, Knoxtestified, she went home to the villa she shared with Kercher in order to take a shower, because the pipes at Sollecito's house were leaking. That's when she noticed a series of "strange things" including dried blood in the sink and on the bath mat, unflushed feces in the toilet, and a locked door to Kercher's room.

The door to the villa had been left open, too, but Knox said she figured one of her housemates had simply stepped out quickly for an errand or to go for a run. She said she called out but nobody answered.

When Knox got back to Sollecito's house, she told him about the strange things and he suggested they call the police, Knox testified. That's when confusion ensued, she said.

They returned to the girls' villa to check whether anything had been stolen, Knox said. Once there they met Knox's other roommate, Filomena Romanelli, and the Italian Postal Police.

Sollecito also called his sister, a member of the Carabinieri, the Italian military police, Knox said.

As Knox stood outside, police went in and began shouting and banging down Kercher's door, Knox said. Between trying to understand what police were saying and having Sollecito translate for her, Knox testified that she got a confused picture of what was going on.

She sat in Romanelli's car to warm up, and that's when she heard Kercher was dead, Knox said.

"I closed in inside myself," Knox testified in Italian. Continuing in Italian, but using English phrasing, she said, "I was like, 'No, no, how can this be?'"

Kercher's body was found half-naked in her bed Nov. 2, 2007. Prosecutors have said Kercher, 21, died in a "drug-fueled sex game" with Knox and Sollecito, now 25. An investigating judge found Kercher died fighting off a sexual assault.

Both Knox and Sollecito are charged with murder and sexual assault.

A third person, Ivory Coast native Rudy Hermann Guede, was convicted of murder in a fast-track trial in October and sentenced to 30 years in prison. He is appealing the verdict.

Defense lawyers are expected to argue that the physical evidence was tainted by sloppy police work.

Kercher suffered a knife wound to the neck. In court papers, prosecutors alleged Sollecito held Kercher by her wrists while Knox poked her with a knife and Guede sexually assaulted her.

Prosecutors say they have physical evidence placing the defendants at the scene, and that the suspects gave investigators confusing and contradictory statements about their whereabouts the night Kercher died.

Knox first said she was at the house she shared with Kercher, then changed her story, according to court records. Sollecito, meanwhile, said he was never at the house, but was at his apartment, watching a movie on his computer with Knox. Later, he told investigators he did not remember whether Knox was with him the entire night.

The trial is taking place in Perugia, a university town about 185 kilometers (115 miles) north of Rome.

The case is being heard by a panel of eight judges. The trial has drawn more than 140 journalists from 86 news outlets to the courthouse in Perugia.

The presiding judge in the case, Giancarlo Massei, has barred cameras from the courtroom and said he could completely close portions of the trial dealing with the most graphic sexual assault allegations.