 Story highlights Meredith Kercher's family says they decided not to attend 
 
 The Italian Supreme Court has sent the case back an appeals court 
 
 Knox is staying in the United States and was not in court 
 
 She has said she is afraid to return to the country where she spent four years in jail 
 
 The latest chapter in Amanda Knox's long legal battle began Monday in Florence, Italy, with a retrial over the 2007 killing of her British roommate Meredith Kercher 
 
 But Knox, 26, who has expressed concern about returning to a country where she spent four years behind bars, was not in court. Knox was convicted in 2009 of murdering Kercher, a 21-year old British exchange student who was found stabbed to death in November 2007 in the villa the two young women rented in the central Italian university town of Perugia. Those convictions were quashed on appeal in 2011 after a court in Perugia found fault with the way the original investigation – particularly its forensic evidence – had been handled. Knox, now a 26-year-old University of Washington student in Seattle, has not returned to Italy for the trial, nor is she compelled by law to do so.  U.S. student Amanda Knox's second appeals trial in her British roommate's murder opened Monday in the absence of the star defendant. Another man, Rudy Guede, from Ivory Coast, is serving a reduced sentence of 16 years in an Italian prison after opting for a fast-track trial and being convicted of the murder in 2008. In a series of interviews in the buildup to the new trial, Knox, who is now studying at the University of Washington, has said she is scared of returning to Italy in case the verdict goes against her. Among other suggestions, it re-floated an original theory of the prosecution that Kercher had been killed as part of a group sex game that spun out of control. Knox's co-defendant, Sollecito, will not be in court on Monday either, but his father, Francesco Sollecito, said he would attend later hearings. But in March, Italy's supreme court overturned their acquittals and ordered a fresh appeal to be heard. If the new appeal – which is expected to last months – confirms her conviction and if that were then upheld by the supreme court, Italy could request her extradition from the US. I think she is guilty, and that is why she slandered me," Lumbumba told reporters. But like I said, I'm doing everything to prove my innocence. Knox isn't the only person watching the retrial from afar.
– Amanda Knox's retrial began in Italy today, with Knox herself, of course, not in attendance. Raffaele Sollecito, who was also convicted of Meredith Kercher's murder in 2009 only to see the conviction overturned in 2011, is also staying away. He's in the Dominican Republic with a friend, CNN reports. Neither is required to be present, and though they could be declared in contempt of court, that carries no additional penalties. As for what will happen during these new proceedings, which could take months, the AP explains that the appellate court will likely take a fresh look at the forensic evidence. In deciding to retry the case last year, Italy's supreme court said "a uniform and global analysis of the evidence" was needed. A related narrative making headlines: Knox said in a recent interview that she'd like to be able to visit Kercher's grave, but in a statement yesterday, Kercher's family "made it clear Knox's presence would not be welcome," writes Lizzy Davies for the Guardian. "It took us as a family nearly five years to even begin to feel ready to lay Mez to rest and it is still extremely painful now," the statement reads. "However, she now has a place near to us that we and her friends can visit to take flowers and spend time … Her grave is now her safe place to sleep in peace and be with us and we hope that is respected by all."