View Rudy Hermann Guede YouTube video

A drug dealer who boasted on the internet of being a “vampire who sucks blood” was named last night as the fourth suspect being hunted in connection with the murder of the British student Meredith Kercher.

Rudy Hermann Guede, 20, who has joint Italian and Ivory Coast nationality, is being sought by Italian police on suspicion of sexually assaulting Ms Kercher. His DNA is reported to have been found on her body.

Mr Guede was often seen at the whitewashed cottage where Ms Kercher lived with her American housemate, Amanda Knox, who is also a suspect. His fingerprints have been found on Ms Kercher’s bloodsoaked pillow and in the bathroom. Faeces recovered from the cottage lavatory also match his DNA.

New witness 'saw Meredith suspects together'

Amanda Knox, Raffaele Sollecito and Rudy Guede were see at the house in Perugia where the American student died

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• Murder in Perugia

BACKGROUND

• Meredith Kercher: Q&A

• New DNA not from Meredith suspects

• Timings crucial to Kercher murder investigation

Related Links

• Bleach bills at odds with Meredith evidence

• Arrest warrant for fourth Meredith suspect

• Meredith police want tougher charge

Mr Guede disappeared soon after the murder, telling friends: “I’m going dancing in Milan.” But witnesses have reported seeing him in a street on the outskirts of Perugia three days ago. In a video posted on the YouTube website under the name rudyhermann, Mr Guede is seen, seemingly drunk or under the influence of drugs, ranting to the camera. In a rambling outburst in English, he says: “Oh My God. I’m an extra-terra. I’m from alien earth who must be called human people. Oh Mamma. I’m a vampire, I’m Dracula. I’m gonna suck your blood.”

He wrote on the website that his hometown is Ponte san Giovanni, a district of Perugia, and that he originally comes from Milan. The video is captioned, in Italian: “Ciao dearest ones, this is a gift from God. Tell me all and ask me anything.”

Mr Guede is thought to have fled abroad or to Milan. Giuliano Mignini, the chief investigating magistrate, has issued a warrant for Mr Guede’s arrest and his photograph has been circulated to police at border crossings, ports and airports. However, one police source said: “We think he is still in Italy and may be not far away.”

Mr Guede’s photograph has also been circulated to bars and shops in Perugia. His profile on the Facebook website was last updated on Thursday.

Police said that Mr Guede, who is also known as The Baron, had been “adopted” by a local family with a view to his being taken on in their agricultural business, but they had fallen out with him over his “rebellious” behaviour. He has a history of drug dealing and violence and was once stabbed in the stomach during a fight in Perugia’s main piazza.

Reports say that he has been in Italy since he was a child. After leaving the agricultural business, he left Perugia for Milan, where he has been questioned several times over drugs offences. He then returned to Perugia, where he continued to deal in drugs among the many foreign students in the town.

Reports said that Mr Guede often played basketball in Piazza Grimana, between the University for Foreigners and Ms Kercher’s cottage.

Simone Benedetti, 19, a friend of Mr Guede, said the suspect had arrived in Italy aged 5 with his father, who had returned to Africa. Mr Benedetti said Mr Guede had been a shy, difficult child who told lies. One Italian newspaper quoted police as saying that there was “unequivocal proof” that Ms Kercher was forced to kneel in front of the wardrobe in her bedroom as she was sexually assaulted and her throat was cut. Reports said that the duvet had been used not only to cover Ms Kercher’s body but also to drag it to where it was found on the floor between the bed and the door.

Police now believe that it is “psychologically significant” that Ms Knox made a reference to the wardrobe when first questioned by police, claiming that when police broke down Ms Kercher’s bedroom door, Ms Knox’s boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, had told her he could see Meredith’s body covered by a duvet “in the wardrobe”.

Last week tests revealed that Ms Kercher’s DNA was on a kitchen knife found at Mr Sollecito’s flat, with Ms Knox’s DNA near the handle. Police suspect Mr Sollecito and Ms Knox tried to clean blood from the knife.

Police have seized a handbag belonging to Ms Knox that they believe may have been used to carry the knife to the cottage from Mr Sollecito’s flat and back again. They say this amounts to proof of premeditated murder.

Police may make public today the results of efforts to retrieve a deleted text message sent to Ms Knox on the evening of the murder by Diya “Patrick” Lumumba, who is also a suspect.

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