Australia - Katherine Knight
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It was the early hours of March 1st, 2000, when police [00:01:00] officers arrived at 84 St. Andrew Street in Aberdeen, New South Wales, Australia. Responding to a concerned call from a co worker of John Price, who had not shown up for work, the officers arrived for a routine welfare check. They were not prepared for the horror that awaited them behind the closed door.

The house was eerily quiet, the stillness punctuated by the soft hum of fluorescent lights. Inside, the air was thick with the metallic scent of blood. The officers moved cautiously, their footsteps echoing in the silence. They made their way through the hallway, following a trail of blood that led to the kitchen.

What they found there would haunt them for the rest of their lives. Suspended from a meat hook was a human skin, expertly flayed from head to toe. On the stove, a pot boiled away with a gruesome stew inside of it. Nearby, two plates were set on the table, each containing portions of cooked meat, accompanied by [00:02:00] vegetables.

The officers realized with horror that these plates were intended for John Price's children. What was left of John Price lay lifeless on the floor. His body mutilated beyond all recognition. The brutality of the scene was unlike anything the officers had ever encountered. And the person responsible for this unimaginable act was none other than Katherine Knight, a woman known in town for her violent temper and disturbing past.

This is her story, the first Australian woman to be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. A woman whose life was marked by violence, cruelty, and an insatiable thirst for control. A thirst that ultimately led to one of the most horrific murders in Australian history.[00:03:00]

Katherine Mary Knight was born on August 24th, 1955, in the rural town of Tenterfield, New South Wales, Australia. Her upbringing was marked by instability and dysfunction from the very beginning. Her mother Barbara was married to Jack Rowan when she started an affair with his co worker, Ken Knight. And in a small rural town, this affair caused quite a scandal.

When Barbara felt pregnant with twin girls, she moved to Maree to live with her lover. Two of her children stayed behind with John, and the other two were sent to live with an aunt in Sydney. When John [00:04:00] Rowan passed away in 1959, the two children in his care moved in with the Knight family. However, Kathy, as everyone called her, was not very fond of her half siblings.

The Knight household was anything but peaceful. Kathy's father, Ken, was a violent alcoholic who frequently beat his wife and children. He raped Barbara often, and she freely shared details of these sordid occurrences with her daughters. Kathy was also sexually abused, although not by her father, but other family members.

She once told her mother of a boyfriend who wanted her to do a certain sex act, but she didn't want to. Barbara reportedly replied, but I wouldn't stop complaining. By all accounts, Barbara was a hard woman. With little empathy for her children, Barbara was known to be verbally and physically abusive, particularly toward her daughters.

She would often vent her frustrations about men to Kathy, [00:05:00] expressing her deep seated hatred. These disturbing conversations had a profound effect on the young woman, warping her perception of relationships and intimacy from an early age. The chaotic environment in the Knight household left a lasting impression on Kathy, who began to emulate the aggressive behavior she witnessed at home.

From a young age, she displayed a volatile temper and a tendency toward violence. She was known to fly into uncontrollable rages over the smallest provocations, a pattern that would continue throughout her life. Kathy struggled to make social connections and did not have many friends. At school, she had mixed reports.

On the one hand, she received awards for good behavior, but then there were incidents where she had violent outbursts. Her antisocial behavior made her a loner, and she found it difficult to form lasting friendships. Her classmates remember her as a bully, who even once beat up a boy. On another occasion, Kathy [00:06:00] was injured by a teacher who was acting in self defense.

A classmate recalled an incident she had witnessed between Kathy and Joy, her sister. They shared a bicycle, and it was Kathy's turn to have it. When Joy refused, a full on fistfight ensued, with the sisters out to destroy each other. At the age of 15, Kathy left school, barely literate. She found work as a cutter in a clothing factory, but her real ambition lay elsewhere.

She had long been fascinated by the local abattoir, where her brothers and father had worked. The slaughterhouse represented a place where she could channel her aggression into something productive. And at the age of 16, she secured her dream job at the abattoir. She quickly excelled in her role, being tasked with removing the bones from animal carcasses.

The position required both precision and a strong stomach. This might not be a job for anyone, and some do it merely as a means to an end. But for [00:07:00] Kathy, she loved it. She reveled in the savagery as well as the blood associated with it. And it was at the abattoir that Kathy's obsession with knives began.

She treated her set of butchering knives with reverence, keeping them in pristine condition and hanging them above her bed at home so they would always be within reach. This fixation on knives became a central part of her identity, and she often bragged about her skill in butchery. She got a thrill from people being scared of her.

Kathy's personal life was as turbulent as her childhood. Her first significant relationship was with David Kellett, a truck driver who worked at the same abattoir. David was a heavy drinker with a reputation for getting into bar fights, but Kathy was instantly drawn to him. She made an impression on him by backing him up during his fights, fearlessly jumping in to join in.

The two began a passionate and volatile relationship that was marked by frequent arguments [00:08:00] and physical altercations. From the outset, Kathy's violent tendencies were apparent. On one occasion, she tried to strangle David with an electrical cord simply because he had come home late from work. Despite these alarming incidents, David married Kathy in 1974.

On her insistence, they arrived at the church together on her motorbike. She was driving with a heavily inebriated David on the pillion. David would come to regret his decision to marry her almost immediately. He even recalled his new mother in law Barbara's advice to him on his wedding day, saying, The old girl said to me to watch out.

You better watch this one or she'll fucking kill you. Stir up the wrong way or do the wrong thing and you're fucked. Don't ever think of playing up on her. She'll f*** kill you. And that was her mother talking. She told me she's got something loose. She's got to screw loose somewhere. And soon, his bride would live up to her [00:09:00] mother's prophecy.

On their wedding night, Kathy attempted to strangle him again, this time because he had fallen asleep after only having intercourse three times. David managed to escape, but the incident set the tone for their marriage. Kathy's violent outbursts became a regular occurrence. And David found himself living in constant fear of his wife.

In one incident, while heavily pregnant, she burned her husband's clothes and hit him on the head with a frying pan because he returned home late from a darts competition. David fled to a neighbor's house with a fractured skull and reported the incident to police. But Knight convinced him to drop the charges by briefly changing her behavior.

After the birth of their daughter, Melissa, in 1976, David left Kathy for another woman, unable to endure her abuse any longer. He fled to Queensland, hoping to be free from his tumultuous life. The day after he left, [00:10:00] Kathy was seen in town shaking a pram from side to side with their newborn inside.

Diagnosed with post natal depression, she was admitted to a hospital, but after her release, she placed Melissa on a railway track just before a train was due, though the baby was saved by a passerby. Kathy Knight was arrested again, and after a series of violent threats, Including plans to kill David Kellett and his family, she was admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

She was released on August 9th, 1976 into her mother in law's care, and David moved back to help. His mother Florence recalled waiting in the car outside the hospital with David when Kathy's mom Barbara approached them. Through the window, Barbara grabbed David by the throat. His hands clenching to the steering wheel.

She was strangling him, and Florence was unable to fend her off. Then, as if from nowhere, Kathy appeared and sideswiped her mother with her fist, causing Barbara to fall to the ground. [00:11:00] Florence was astounded, and she had never witnessed anything like it. And it was with apprehension that she took Kathy in.

After a while, David and Kathy moved to Ipswich, near Brisbane, where she began working at the Dinmore Meatworks. They had another daughter together, Natasha Marie, in 1980. In 1984, Kathy left David and moved back to her parents home in Aberdeen. She returned to work at the abattoir, but injured her back the following year and was placed on disability pension.

No longer needing to live near her job, she was provided a housing commission residence in Aberdeen. Kathy was back on her feet and always managed to find new boyfriends. Each situation as explosive as the last. Kathy's next significant relationship was with David Saunders. Like her previous relationships, this one was also marked by violence and control.

Kathy was possessive and jealous, often accusing David of infidelity without cause. In a fit of rage, she once slit the throat of his two month old [00:12:00] dingo puppy in front of him as a way to show him what she was capable of doing. Despite this horrifying act, David stayed with Kathy as she was pregnant with their daughter, and Saunders put a deposit on a house which Kathy later paid off.

She took pride in decorating her home, and every square inch was covered, even the ceiling. Her decoration style referenced a lot of her dark views of the world, animal skins and skulls, horns, leather jackets, knives, and machetes. Their relationship took another violent turn when Kathy hit David in the face with an iron and stabbed him in the stomach with scissors.

He fled back home to Scone, and when he returned, he found that Kathy had destroyed his clothes. Fearing for his safety, David went into hiding, taking long service leave. Meanwhile, Kathy told the police she was afraid of him. falsely portraying herself as the victim and taking out an apprehended violence order, AVO, against him.

But Kathy was not [00:13:00] planning on being single for long and moved on to her next partner, John Chillingworth. This relationship, too, was fraught with turmoil. And after three years and one more baby, this time a boy, it ended. Kathy had been having an affair with John Price, a local miner, for quite some time and was ready to get serious with him.

John Price was a well liked and respected member of the Aberdeen community. and called Pricey by everyone who knew him. He was a father of three, known for his easygoing nature and generosity. By all accounts, Pricey was a decent man who had the misfortune of crossing paths with Kathy Knight. Their relationship began in 1995, and at first, things seemed to be going well, as with all of Kathy's relationships.

The honeymoon phase did not last long. Kathy moved into Pricey's home, and almost immediately, tensions began to rise. She became [00:14:00] increasingly possessive and controlling, often flying into flurries of uncontrolled fury. John, who had already been through a difficult divorce before meeting Kathy, tried to make the relationship work, but he soon realized that Kathy was far more dangerous than he had ever imagined.

In 1998, Kathy Knight retaliated against John Price for refusing to marry her by sending his boss a videotape showing items he had allegedly stolen from work. Leading to Price's dismissal from his job of 17 years. After kicking her out, Pricey later restarted their relationship, but refused to let her move back in.

Fortunately, he managed to find work again, which was very important to him as he always took a lot of pride in his work. If only his relationship with Kathy could be as clean cut. Their fights became more frequent, and Pricey's friends no longer wanted to hang out with him while she was in the picture.

Late in [00:15:00] 1999, a stressed Pricey met up with Kathy's first husband, David Kellett, to express his concern for his own safety. He confided in David that he wanted to get out of the relationship, but was scared about what Kathy would do to him if he ended things. David validated Pricey's fears and encouraged him to seek help from law enforcement.

In February 2000, after an argument, Kathy stabbed Pricey in the chest. Although the wound was not fatal, it was a wake up call for him. He broke things off for good and took out an AVO against her in an attempt to keep her away from him and his children. Kathy was not one to be easily deterred. Enraged by Pricey's decision to end the relationship, She began plotting her revenge.

After taking out the AVO against his ex, he told his co workers that if he did not show up to work the next day, it would be because Kathy had killed him. They pleaded with him not to go home, but [00:16:00] Pricey was worried that if he didn't, Kathy would harm his kids. On February 29th, Pricey's children slept over at friends, and he went to his neighbors for dinner.

He arrived home just after 11pm and went to bed. At some point, Kathy let herself in, watched some television, then took a shower, dressed herself in new lingerie she had bought for the occasion, and climbed into bed with Pricey, enticing him to have sex with her. In the early hours of March 1st, as Pricey slept, Kathy retrieved her set of butcher knives and stabbed him.

He awoke during the attack and tried to escape, but a deranged Kathy chased him through the house, continuing to stab him relentlessly. Pricey managed to make it to the front door. But the brutal assault did not stop. She stabbed him a total of 37 times, continuing her savage attack, even after Pricey had collapsed and died from his injuries.

The brutality still didn't end there. [00:17:00] Kathy, with the methodical precision she had homed in in her years working at the abattoir, began to skin Pricey's body. She expertly removed his entire skin, from head to toe, in one piece. She then hung the skin from a meat hook in the doorway of the living room.

Creating a macabre display of her cruelty. But Kathy's gruesome work was far from over. She decapitated the body, and placed Pricey's severed head in a large pot on the stove. She then cooked parts of his body, preparing a sickening meal that included vegetables and gravy. As she was cooking, she fed parts of John to his dog.

Then, she set two plates at the dining table, labeling them with the names of John's children. Her vengeance knew no bounds, even if it meant traumatizing John's kids. After setting the table, Kathy took a large number of pills in an attempt to end her own life. And when police arrived, they found the [00:18:00] comatose killer on the bed.

It was Pricey's work colleagues who raised the alarm as soon as he didn't show up for work. The officers who discovered the crime were completely unprepared for the horror that awaited them inside John Price's home. The sight of his skin hanging from the doorway, the dismembered body, and the grotesque meal on the table were beyond anything they had ever encountered.

And it quickly became clear that this was no ordinary murder. Kathy Knight had committed an act of pure evil. One that would shock not only the small town of Aberdeen, but the entire nation. One might speculate that, throughout her life, Kathy Knight's volatile behavior provided onlookers with ample red flags.

However, the gruesome murder of John Price was something else altogether, and it led many to question her mental state. Throughout her life, Kathy displayed a disturbing pattern of violence and control. Often lashing out at those closest to her, [00:19:00] her relationships were marked by jealousy, possessiveness, and a deep need for dominance.

Psychologists who examined Kathy after her arrest described her as suffering from several personality disorders, including Borderline Personality Disorder and Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Borderline Personality Disorder is characterized by unstable moods, relationships, and general conduct. Those with the disorder often have difficulty controlling their emotions and may engage in self destructive behavior.

Kathy's violent outbursts, intense jealousy, and inability to maintain stable relationships were all symptoms of this. In addition to that, though, she was also diagnosed with Narcissistic Personality Disorder, which is characterized by an inflated sense of self importance. A lack of empathy for others and a need for admiration.

Kathy's need for control and her belief that she was entitled to dominate others were key traits of this disorder. [00:20:00] Her gruesome murder of John Price can be seen as the ultimate expression of her desire for control, a way to assert her dominance over him, even in death. However, despite her psychological issues, Kathy was found to be legally sane at the time of the murder.

She was aware of her actions and understood that what she was doing was wrong. Also, at some point she drove to Muswellbrook and used Pricey's ATM card to withdraw 1, 000 before returning to the crime scene. Her decision to prepare a meal for his children using his body parts demonstrated a calculated and deliberate attempt to cause maximum harm to those who loved him.

This premeditation was a crucial factor in the court's decision to impose the harshest possible sentence on Katherine Knight. Her trial was one of the most high profile cases in Australian legal history. The brutality of the crime and the shocking details that emerged during the investigation [00:21:00] captivated the nation.

Kathy pleaded not guilty, claiming she had no memory of the events that transpired on the night of John Price's murder. Her defense team attempted to argue that she was suffering from a mental illness that impaired her ability to understand her actions. But the evidence against her was overwhelming.

The crime scene was meticulously documented by the police, and the forensic evidence left no doubt that she was responsible for the murder. Her previous history of violence including the stabbing of John Price in 1998, painted a clear picture of a woman capable of extreme cruelty. As the trial date approached, it became clear that there was little chance of a successful defense.

On October 18th, 2001, just four days before the trial was set to begin, Katherine Knight changed her plea to guilty. This unexpected turn of events spared the jury from having to hear the gruesome details of the crime, [00:22:00] but it also meant that she would face the full weight of the law.

During her sentencing, Justice Barry O'Keefe did not mince words in his combination of Katherine's actions. and stated that Katherine Knight's crime was so appalling and disgusting that it defied description. Justice O'Keefe declared that the killer was beyond rehabilitation and posed an ongoing threat to society, making it necessary to ensure that she would never be released from prison.

And in a landmark decision, she was released. Katherine Knight was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. She had become the first Australian woman to receive this sentence, a reflection of the extreme nature of her crime. The words, never to be released, were etched into her case file, ensuring that she would spend the rest of her life behind bars.

She was incarcerated at the Silverwater Women's Correctional Center in New South Wales, where she remains to this day. Despite her attempts to appeal the [00:23:00] sentence, the court's decision has remained unchanged. Katherine Knight will die in prison, a fitting end for a woman whose life was marked by violence, cruelty, and a complete disregard for human life.

With Knight behind bars, the small town of Aberdeen was still reeling in the shock of events that took place there. Price's children. who were spared from the horror that their father's unhinged girlfriend had planned for them have had to live with the knowledge that their father was brutally murdered and that their names were on the plates of a cannibalistic meal.

The trauma inflicted by Katherine Knight's actions have left deep scars on those who knew and loved John Price. And in the years following the murder, Katherine Knight has remained a figure of infamy. Her crime has been the subject of numerous books, documentaries, and true crime shows, each exploring the depths of her depravity and the impact of her actions on her victims.

Despite this attention, Katherine has shown little remorse for her [00:24:00] actions. She continues to maintain that she does not remember the events of the night in question. A claim that has been met with skepticism by both legal and psychological experts. The case of Katherine Knight also sparked a broader conversation about domestic violence in Australia, particularly the often overlooked issue of violence against men.

Kathy's relationships were characterized by a disturbing cycle of abuse and control, with each partner suffering under her manipulative and violent tendencies. Her escalating brutality serves as a warning of the dangers of unchecked aggression in intimate relationships. The murder of John Price is often cited as an extreme example of the potential consequences of domestic violence, but it also brings to light the challenges men face in reporting abuse.

Societal perceptions and gender stereotypes can make it difficult for male victims to come forward, and their experiences of domestic violence are frequently underreported, or not given the same level of attention. [00:25:00] Pricey did everything he could. He broke off the relationship, he took out a restraining order, and He even reached out to Kathy's ex for advice, yet sadly, none of that was enough to protect him.

For the residents of Aberdeen, the memory of Katherine Knight's crime is a dark stain on the town's history. The house where John Price was murdered was eventually sold, and the new owners have tried to move on from the horrific events that took place within its walls. But for those who were there on that fateful day, the images of the crime scene are impossible to forget, and will surely haunt them forever.

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