In February 2000, Katherine Knight shocked the world with one of Australia's most gruesome murders. She not only stabbed her lover, John Charles Thomas Price, 37 times but also dismembered and cooked his remains, planning to serve them to his children.
Katherine
Knight's story is steeped in violence and trauma. Born on October 24, 1955, in
Tenterfield, Australia, her life began with scandal and strife. Her mother,
Barbara Roughan, was in a scandalous affair with her father, Ken Knight, while
still married to another man, leading to a turbulent family dynamic. Katherine
grew up in a chaotic household marked by her father's violent alcoholism and
her own experiences of sexual abuse by several family members until the age of
11.
Knight's
early life foreshadowed the violence to come. At school, she was a notorious
bully. At 15, she dropped out to work at a clothing factory and soon moved on
to her "dream job" at a slaughterhouse, where she relished her role
in cutting up animals. This morbid fascination led her to keep her first set of
butcher's knives above her bed.
Her
relationships mirrored the brutality she had grown accustomed to. She married
David Kellett in 1974, a union marked by violence and tumult. On their wedding
night, she attempted to strangle him when he couldn't meet her sexual demands.
Despite multiple violent incidents, including placing their infant on train
tracks and threatening others with an ax, the marriage lasted ten years.
After
Kellett, Knight's relationships followed a similar pattern of jealousy and
violence. With David Saunders, she slit his puppy's throat to demonstrate her
capabilities. They had a daughter, but he left after she tried to kill him with
scissors. Her relationship with John Chillingworth ended when she started an
affair with John Charles Thomas Price.
Knight
and Price's relationship seemed stable initially, but her violent tendencies
soon resurfaced. After he refused to marry her, she framed him for theft,
leading to his job loss. Despite their volatile relationship, Price allowed her
back into his life, but not into his home.
In
February 2000, Price took out a restraining order against Knight after she
attempted to stab him. On the night of February 29, she visited his home, where
they had sex before he went to sleep. Knight then retrieved her butcher's
knives and brutally attacked him. After killing him, she skinned and decapitated
his body, hanging it from a meat hook. She cooked parts of his body with
vegetables, intending to serve the gruesome meal to his children.
The
next day, concerned coworkers alerted the police when Price didn't show up for
work. Officers found Knight in a comatose state after an apparent overdose,
with Price's remains gruesomely displayed in the house. She claimed to have no
memory of the events.
Knight
was quickly charged with murder. Her trial in October 2001 was brief, as she
unexpectedly pleaded guilty, leading to her being sentenced to life
imprisonment without parole, a first for an Australian woman. She remains
incarcerated, steadfastly denying responsibility for her heinous crime,
maintaining her innocence despite overwhelming evidence.
Katherine
Knight's case remains one of the most chilling in Australia's history, a stark
reminder of the potential depths of human depravity.
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