Knox's family: Stolen letters, lies and distortion mucking up case

After having been unable to speak out for so long, Amanda Knox's family is finally taking on the tabloids, refuting the rumors they claim have twisted the truth and damaged their daughter's chance at a fair trial. And even as they fight the rumors, family members say they fear their every word is being monitored and used against them.

The Knox family says fresh-faced girl next door captured in a rarely-seen home video is the real Amanda Knox -- a talented student who worked three jobs to save enough money to study in Italy. The real Amanda, the family says, is a far cry from the imaged painted in the Italian media.

"You talk to any one of her friends, people who know her, and you will find an individual who is 180 degrees different than what the media has made her out to be," said her father, Curt Knox.

Amanda, her former Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, and a third man, Rudy Guede, were arrested in November for the murder of Amanda's roommate, Meredith Kercher.

Curt says ever since Amanda's arrest, the family's private conversations have been monitored and leaked to the press.

"We were told by our attorneys that it (Italy) is a controlled country," he said. "'They will read your e-mails, they will wiretap your cellphones, hard lines.'"

And worse yet, claims Curt, authorities have twisted their words, poisoning public opinion.

The family has been renting a small apartment in Italy and fears it's bugged. And Amanda's parents figured out authorities are eavesdropping on their prison conversations when bits and pieces of Amanda's comments to them appeared in the press, quoted completely out of context.

"(She said) 'II can't lie; I was there,' meaning 'I was at Raffaele's house,'" said Edda Mellas, Amanda's mother. "Well, they took the part about 'I was there' and used that to say, 'Oh, she confessed to being at the house."'

The family claims to having had to buy a shredder because strangers are pawing through the trash and their mail at their Seattle home. Family members say the letters Amanda writes home end up in the tabloids before they even see them.

Amanda, they say, has no better luck at the other end.

"I number my letters. She gets maybe half of them," said Amanda's sister, Deanna Knox.

"We know all of it's read, you know, or at least opened," Mellas said.

As for the press reports of Amanda having written she had had sex with seven men in her first two months in Italy, Mellas says that's not what Amanda meant at all.

"She never wrote that," she said.

Mellas says a prison doctor told Amanda she was HIV-positive.

"She was terrified. She thought she was going to die," she said.

Amanda poured out her fears in her prison diary as she tried to sort out whether it could be true.

"She went on to list any body that she'd been even slightly intimate her whole life, and that was turned into seven guys in a month in Italy," Mellas said.

After the Italian press had a heyday with the false information, Mellas says, the doctors told Amanda they had made a mistake; she was not HIV-positive. But the damage to Amanda's reputation was already done.

The family says every part of Amanda's life has been scrutinized, then vilified.

"It tears you up inside," said Curt.

Take the now-famous nickname, "Foxy Knoxy." Deanna says the name had been given to Amanda during her childhood years.

"She's good at what she does on the soccer field. So she got the name Foxy Knoxy because she's a little fox out there," she said.

And what about the photo that circulated in the media?

The Italian press read it as proof of Amanda's provocative side, but Deanna says it's anything but. She says she talked her sister into posing for the picture as a part of a photography class project.

"I made her wear all black. I pulled her hair back. I put makeup on her," she said. "She didn't like it at all."

The family suspects the surveillance and leaks are all part of a calculated strategy.

"It's very convenient that right before any of the key dates associated with this case, lo and behold a new portrayal has come out in the media that benefits the situation of the prosecution," Curt said.

"So that's what's scary," said Mellas.

Amanda's parents say they may not be able to stop the leaks, but they're determined to counter what they claim are distortions, exaggerations and flat-out lies.

"There is this perception of her out there," said Mellas. "How do you change people's minds who don't know her and have heard all these negative things, other than trying to come out with the other side of it?"

On Tuesday Amanda's pre-trial hearing is set to begin. A judge will decide whether to put her on trial or dismiss her charges and send her home.

Amanda has spent ten months in jail. Her family says she has difficult days she spends crying, but she is trying to stay positive and use her prison time productively by taking several language classes. Some of the younger inmates have been coming to her for advice, the family says, and she's showing them the ropes.

The third final part in the series, which will be published on Tuesday night, will take a revealing look at Amanda's life behind bars. Her parents will also explain why they're bracing themselves for the worst.