Amanda Knox Is Engaged

Amanda Knox is engaged, PEOPLE has confirmed.

The Seattle native, 27, known internationally for her protracted legal odyssey through the Italian judicial system over the 2007 murder of her British roommate, Meredith Kercher, is set to marry musician Colin Sutherland.

The couple have reportedly known each other since middle school but only started dating after Knox split from Seattle musician James Terrano last year.

This happy news comes at an otherwise uncertain time for Knox, who previously spent four years in an Italian prison for Kercher’s murder before being acquitted on appeal in 2011.

Although Knox returned to the United States to pick up the pieces of her life in Seattle – Knox received her bachelor’s degree in creative writing at the University of Washington last year – Italy’s upper court reviewed the case and in January 2014 reinstated the guilty verdict. Later next month, Knox may learn the fate of an appeal.

In the meantime, Knox, who currently works as a freelance journalist and editor in Seattle, has some celebrating to do.

This article originally appeared on PEOPLE.com