(Reuters) - Amanda Knox, the U.S. college student cleared of murder by an Italian court after four years in prison, will talk publicly about the trial for the first time to ABC News in April, the network said on Monday.

Knox, 25, will discuss the sensational case with Diane Sawyer in an interview to be broadcast on April 30 - the same day her book "Waiting to Be Heard" is published.

Knox was convicted of murdering her British roommate, Meredith Kercher in 2007 in a grisly, sex-fueled crime in the Italian hill town of Perugia. She was sentenced to 26 years in prison.

She was cleared on appeal in 2011 and returned from Italy to her Seattle-area home, where she has kept a low profile.

Kercher's half-naked body, with more than 40 wounds and a deep gash in the throat, was found in the apartment she shared with Knox in Perugia where both were studying.

The crime and the trial drew worldwide attention and criticism in the United States of the Italian legal system.

ABC said Knox will divulge details she has never shared about her journey from an American student studying abroad to a young woman facing decades behind bars in Italy.

(Reporting By Noreen O'Donnell; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Xavier Briand)