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  (Photo: Reuters / ANSA / TELENEWS)
  U.S. student Amanda Knox smiles at the Leonardo Da Vinci airport in Fiumicino October 4, 2011. Amanda Knox, cleared of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher, on Tuesday thanked supporters who believed in her innocence as she prepared to return home to the United States after four years in jail.

American exchange student Amanda Knox, convicted for murdering her British roommate Meredith Kercher, was acquitted of the charges Monday and has reportedly left Italy Tuesday.

Knox was released from police custody late Monday night. She reunited with her family outside the prison, where she spent the last four years.

Knox officially left Rome Tuesday morning, on a British Airways flight headed for Seattle, Wash.

Dozens of people crowded outside the courtroom Monday to hear the verdict. Upon Knox’s release, some of those gathered began chanting, “shame, shame.”

Regardless, a free Knox wrote in a letter to her Italian supporters, “I’ll always be grateful, I love you.”

The 24-year-old spent four years in an Italian prison for the murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher, who was found dead in a pool of blood in the apartment she and Knox shared. The two were exchange students in Perugia, Italy.

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Knox was convicted of the murder of Kercher in 2009 and was sentenced to 26 years in prison.

She pleaded with the Italian court Monday to set her free.

“I am not what they say, I am not a promiscuous vamp, I am not violent, I do not disrespect life, these things do not belong to me and I did not do what they’ve said I’ve done,” Knox said.

She told the Italian court in an emotional appeal, “I want to go home, I want to go back to my life.”

The U.S. State Department has responded to the much-anticipated Knox verdict. Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the U.S. “appreciates the careful consideration of this matter within the Italian judicial system.”

However, Knox’s ordeal may not be completely over. Prosecutor Giuliano Mignini told reporters Tuesday that he would indeed seek to appeal the latest verdict in the Knox case to Italy’s highest court.