You’ve heard of Ed Gein, Jeffery Dahmer and the fictional Hannibal lecter now meet a killer just as sick and twisted. On February 29th 2000 Katherine Knight would stake her claim to be included amongst these names.
Childhood
We begin this story where we begin most as we analyze the childhood to find out where such a monster could have come from. Her mother, Barbara Roughan, had been having an affair with a rather prominent man within the community ,Ken Knight, whom she had met through her then husband Jack Roughan. Given they lived in a conservative community this scandal forced the two lovers, Barbara and Ken to move away taking the young Katherine with them. Despite the new start this was not a happy life for Katherine or her mother. Ken was a violent alcoholic who raped her mother multiple times a day. This is where Katherine’s hate of men began brewing below the surface. Katherine also stated how she was sexually abused by family members until the age of 11. We don’t have any more detail here unfortunately however these claims have been backed up by other family members at the time. A quote later shared shows how her mother had become completely hopeless and was at the will of Ken Knight; Katherine had gone to her mother complaining a boyfriend wanted to perform sex acts she wasn't comfortable with to which her mother responded ‘put up with it and stop complaining’. This is something that seemed to stick with Katherine in her relationships as she did entirely the opposite of this.
At the age of 15 she left school taking a job with a clothing factory. This job however was not her true calling and she found her ‘dream job’ in a slaughterhouse a year later. It’s hard to imagine a young 16 year old taking this job, which involved decapitating pigs, and also thriving at it. Given her size she gave as good as she got with her older and mostly male colleagues. She also showed a macabre interest in other areas of the slaughter house often watching other colleagues actually killing the animals. During this time she also got her first set of butcher knives which she kept above her bed to show how proud she was of this achievement. This is it for what we know of her childhood and it's safe to say it was pretty eventful, we can certainly see where the deep hatred for men began to blossom.
Toxic Relationships
In 1974 while working at the slaughterhouse she met and married David Kellett however this marriage was doomed from the start with her mother putting it best when she warned David at the wedding. ‘You better watch this one or she'll fucking kill you. Stir her up the wrong way or do the wrong thing and you're fucked, don't ever think of playing up on her, she'll fuckin' kill you.' I mean imagine your own mother in law making this kind of statement on your wedding day. Despite this David, who was allegedly drunk, married Katherine Knight. On the wedding night David was woken to his bride strangling him apparently because he hadn’t been able to satisfy her given they had only had intercourse 3 times that night. This was a precursor for things to come in this marriage. On one occasion David arrived home late and was met with a frying pan to the face. It is reported by different sources that David was knocked unconscious or badly burnt. It is hard to tell given the differing reports however either way this was clearly an abusive relationship. In another incident David recalls waking up with Katherine on top of him and a knife to his throat with her laughing and saying how easy it would be to kill him. It is important to note all these accounts came from David himself and that Katherine claims she was abused constantly by the alcoholic David.
Throughout the relationship David continued to cheat on Katherine and when she found out things became dangerous. On one occasion she left her two month old daughter on the railway tracks with no regard for her safety. She was luckily found by a local man just minutes before a train passed through. Following this incident she was sent to a psychiatric hospital for treatment. Upon her release Katherine and David went back to their marriage however the next incident wasn’t far around the corner. Katherine was found violently pushing and swinging her child in a stroller next to a main road. She was again taken into psychiatric care and diagnosed with postnatal depression. Now this is a serious mental health issue and shouldn’t be taken lightly however it seems Katherine didn’t receive the proper care. Again she was released from the psychiatric hospital where she then slashed the face of a woman leading to her being admitted again. Eventually after 10 years of marriage Katherine left and took everything that wasn’t nailed down from David on the way out.
Next up was David Saunders who was a local miner she met in 1986. This relationship was much like the others in her life. Firstly David kept his own apartment even after moving in with Katherine. This jealousy eventually came to a head when she slit the throat of a dingo puppy before hitting him over the head with a frying pan just to ‘show him what she was capable of’. Somehow they stayed together with Katherine becoming pregnant with his daughter. This relationship did not last long as David left Katherine after she tried to stab him with a pair of scissors. This was clearly the final straw for David and luckily he escaped before meeting a grisly end.
There is little known about her relationship with her next partner John Chillingworth. The most information I could find was they stayed together for three years with no incidents reported. It’s hard to imagine that nothing went on during this time however we do not have the evidence to back this up. The relationship eventually ended when John Chillingworth found out about the affair she had been having with her final partner.
John Charles Thomas Price by all accounts was a ‘terrific bloke’ who was liked by everyone who came into contact with him. After the affair became common knowledge they moved in together and began a serious relationship. Price also brought his two kids to live with him and Katherine, the year is now 1995. The relationship seemed to start off happy and things didn’t start going wrong until Katherine suggested that they marry; Price was opposed to this idea. Katherine then grew jealous and angry, turning to violence to try and get her way. When this didn’t work Katherine recorded videos of ‘stolen’ goods that Price had taken from his workplace. These ‘stolen’ goods turned out to be out of date medical kits Price had brought home, nethertheless Price was fired from a job he had held for 17 years. This series of events forced Price to move out and end their relationship. However some time shortly afterwards they started seeing each other again. How someone could go back after this person had caused them to lose their job is beyond me; and apparently his friends also felt the same refusing to have anything to do with Price whilst he continued to see Katherine. During this time the violence was escalating and came to a head when Katherine stabbed John in the chest. This was a serious assault but clearly not enough to force Price to leave. It is difficult to judge as abusive relationships can be tough and we can’t know exactly what Price was going through at this time. Although if he had left it might have saved his life.
The Night of the Murder
February 29th 2000 Price went to work and told co-workers that if he went missing then Katherine had murdered him. Co-workers tried to dissuade Price from going home that night however he feared that Katherine would hurt his children if he didn’t. At 11pm Katherine returned home and woke Price wearing black lingerie she had purchased earlier. The two had sexual intercourse before Price then went back to sleep. Once Price was asleep Katherine grabbed her butcher's knife she kept by the bed and stabbed Price. He woke during the attack and managed to stumble to the door, however Katherine caught up to him dragging him back inside. In total she stabbed Price 37 times.
Once Price was dead she hung his body from a meat hook and began her ‘work’. She expertly skinned Price creating an almost suit out of skin. She only left one piece of skin, the piece which held the scar from her previous attack. Unfortunately the story only gets weirder, once she was done skinning Price she decapitated him. Katherine then cut pieces off Price and began to cook him in a dish with potato, pumpkin, beets, zucchini, cabbage, squash, and gravy. It is also reported she used the man’s buttocks as steak. She then attempted to eat the dish she created however it is speculated she couldn’t finish it and threw the concoction out on the lawn. She then arranged two more ‘meals’, using other parts of Price, and left notes with Price’s children's names implying she had made it for them. I can’t even imagine these children coming home and finding their father skinned and cooked in a dish for them. Katherine then took a bunch of pills and passed out.
Given Price’s earlier warning to co-workers they were worried when he didn't show up for work in the morning and subsequently called police to perform a welfare check. As soon as police gained entry to the home they knew something was wrong. Inside they found Price’s skin hanging from the ceiling with his decapitated corpse lying beside it. Somehow the officers pressed on and discovered what looked like pieces of meat resting on the kitchen work top, only when officers put two and two together did they recoil with disgust. They also found a large pot simmering on the stove and when they took the lid off they found Price’s skinned head inside. A comatose Katherine was arrested at the scene.
Once in police custody Katherine claimed she had no knowledge of the crimes at first. As time went on however Katherine described how she had acted in self defense. Her claims were that she was abused during every relationship she had ever had with a man and that this was when she finally snapped. We know Katherine did have some earlier trauma however the claims of later abuse haven’t been substantiated. Again it is difficult to prove one way or another as it is possible Katherine was abused during her relationship however given all we have learnt I would say it is less likely. What do you think? A woman who finally snapped or a domineering controlling presence who hated not having her own way?
She was the first woman to be sentenced to life in prison without parole in Australia.
Comments