We have a notion that it is always a male who is responsible for domestic violence throughout the world. Probably 90% of the times it is true but there is no reason to keep women out of frame for they can be equally cruel or perhaps even epic sadistic.
The story of Mary Katherine Knight will put all cruel males to shame. Let us learn 50 interesting Mary Katherine Knight facts and find out what exactly she did to become an iconic killer.
Interesting Mary Katherine Knight Facts: 1-10
History of Mary Katherine Knight
1. Mary Katherine Knight’s mother was Barbara Roughan who was initially married to a man named Jack Roughan. However, Barbara ended up strangled in a relationship with Jack’s co-worker named Ken Knight.
2. Before getting married to Ken, Barbara had 4 children (all boys) with Jack. After Barbara married Ken, two of her 4 sons lived with Jack and two lived with a aunt who lived in Sydney.
3. Barbara and Ken had twins in 1955 but after Jack (Barbara’s previous husband) died in 1959, the two boys who lived with Jack moved in with Knight family.
4. Of the two twins born to Barbara and Ken, Mary Katherine Knight was the younger one. Mary was fond of only two people. One was her elder twin sister and the other one was Oscar Knight – a champion horseman who committed suicide in 1969.
5. Mary’s father Ken was an alcoholic and openly used to rape Barbara up to 10 times a day. Barbara used to tell intricate details of her sex life to her twin daughters and told how much she hated both men and sex.
6. Mary complained later that she was sexually abused by many of the family members barring Ken.
7. At school, Mary Katherine displayed dual character. Small incidents would spark uncontrollable murderous rages in her but when no such incidents happened, she used to display excellent behavior and even earned several awards.
8. She left school when she was 15 years old but never learned to read and write. She however earned herself a job of a cutter in a clothing factory and later took up a job of offal cutting in a local abattoir.
9. Katherine really loved her second job and performed really well. Soon she was promoted to the position of boning and was also given her own set of butcher knives. She would carry the knives to her home and keep them hanging over her bed.
10. In 1973 Katherine met her co-worker named David Stanford Kellett. Kellett was also a hard drinker and the two of them often ended up with a fist fight in which Kellett invariably lost every single time.
Interesting Mary Katherine Knight Facts: 11-20
Wedding Bells for Katherine and Kellett
11. One year later in 1974 Katherine and Kellett got married however, Kellett was in a severely drunk state that day and Katherine’s mother Barbara warned Kellett that if ever he did anything wrong, Katherine would kill him.
12. On wedding night itself, Katherine tried to strangle Kellett because he was tired and fell asleep after having three rounds of intercourse. Kellett however survived that.
13. Quite some time later on a particular night, Kellett returned late from a dart competition and Katherine who was pregnant at that time became furious. Mary was so angry that she took a frying pan and hit Kellett on the back of his head.
14. Kellett managed to get out of that place and fell unconscious at the doorsteps of a neighbor. He ended up with several fractures on his skull. Police did want to charge Katherine for this but because of her good behavior later, all charges were dropped.
15. In 1976, Katherine and Kellett had a girl child and they named her Melissa Ann. However, soon after the birth of Melissa, Kellett left with another woman because he was unable to take the frequent violent behavior of Katherine.
16. The very next day, Katherine was caught punishing the baby Melissa who was seated in a pram. Katherine was violently throwing the pram side by side. Katherine was sent in for a medical examination and was diagnosed for postnatal depression.
17. It took Katherine a few weeks to recover but as soon as she was released, she took Melissa who was at that time only 2 months old and left her on the railway tracks shortly before the train was due. Melissa was however rescued by a man named ‘Old Ted’ who picked up Melissa just two minutes before the train arrived.
18. After leaving Melissa on the railway tracks, Katherine managed to steal an axe and threated to kill several people with that axe. This did not happen and Katherine was sent back to the same hospital but was released the very next day.
19. Only a few days had passed when Katherine came in limelight by slashing the face of a woman with one knife from her set of butcher’s knives and demanded to be taken all the way to Queensland so that she could find Kellett.
20. The woman however escaped when they halted at a service station. Katherine did however manage to get hold of a boy and held him hostage at the edge of her knife. The police arrived and used broom sticks to disarm her. She was immediately sent to a psychiatric hospital.
Interesting Mary Katherine Knight Facts: 21-30
Kellett-Katherine Reunion
21. At the hospital, Katherine confided with the nurses that her motive was to kill the mechanic at the service station who fixed Kellett’s car and then move to Queensland to kill Kellett and his mother.
22. Kellett was informed about the incident by the police. To this, Kellett left his girlfriend and mother and went back to Aberdeen (where Katherine lived) to support Katherine.
23. In 1980, Katherine and Kellett had another daughter but in 1984, Katherine left Kellett and moved in with her parents and rejoined her old abattoir job.
Saunders and Chillingworth Episodes
24. In 1986 Katherine met a miner named David Saunders. Saunders was 38 years old and had an apartment at Scone. He moved in with Katherine and her two daughters but Katherine soon became skeptical about Saunders going to his old apartment at Scone in her absence.
25. In 1987 just to warn Saunders of the results that would follow if he ever had a relationship with another woman, Katherine slit the throat of Saunders’ two-month-old puppy and then knocked Saunders unconscious with a frying pan.
26. Next year the couple had a daughter named Sarah. Katherine went on decorating the entire house including the ceilings with pitchforks, rakes, machetes, old boots, leather jackets, rusty animal traps,horns, skulls and animal skins.
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27. Saunders wasn’t happy with this and in 1989 they ended up with a heated argument. The result was that Katherine hit Saunders on his face with an iron and then took a pair of scissors and stabbed him in his stomach.
28. Saunders somehow managed to get back to his apartment at Scone but later returned only to find that she had cut up all his clothes. Saunders took a long service leave and disappeared never to be seen again.
29. One year later in 1990, Katherine hooked up with 43-year old John Chillingworth – a former co-worker from abattoir. Katherine became pregnant and gave birth to a boy.
30. 3 years after her relationship with Chillingworth, Katherine left him for a man named John Price with whom she was having an affair for quite some time. Price did not turn out to be as lucky as Kellett, Saunders and Chillingworth and ended up dead, making Katherine the epic murderer she is.
Interesting Mary Katherine Knight Facts: 31-40
Price Pays a Price!
31. John Charles Thomas Price was already a father of 3 when he was having an affair with Knight but his marriage actually ended in 1988. Everyone who knew Price loved him because of his good nature.
32. In 1995 Katherine moved in with him but he was already aware of her violent past. They two somehow managed to stick together despite their heated arguments. In 1998 Price refused to marry Katherine. Furious with the refusal, Katherine video taped the items Price stole from the local mines where he worked and sent the same to the mine owner.
33. Despite the fact that the stolen items were outdated and useless, Price lost his 17-year old job. This time Price was furious and he kicked Katherine out of his house. The news of Katherine’s deeds spread throughout the town like wildfire.
34. A few months later, the couple went back into a relationship but Katherine was denied of moving into Price’s home.
35. Needless to say, Katherine was not happy and in February 2000, she eventually stabbed Price in his chest. Price was again fed up and threw Katherine out. On 29th of February, he managed to a get a restraining order from Scone Magistrate’s Court in an attempt to keep Katherine away from himself and his children.
36. That very afternoon he told his coworkers that if he fails to show up for work the very next day, they should know that Katherine killed him. His coworkers asked him not to return home but Price said that if he didn’t go home, Katherine would kill his children.
37. Price returned home and found Katherine was not there and that she had sent his kids to a friend’s house to spend the night. He later went off to sleep at 11 pm. Katherine showed up after he had slept. She watched TV for a few minutes and then took a shower. She came back from shower and woke up Price and they both had sex.
38. After sex Price went back to sleep but woke up in horror to find Katherine stabbing him repeatedly. He did manage to get out of bed and move towards the door in an attempt to flee but Katherine kept stabbing him on the back.
39. Price did manage to open the front door but he was either dragged back into the hallway or he simply stumbled back and fell down where he died because of severe bleeding. A later autopsy of Price’s body revealed that he was stabbed 37 times on the front and the back.
40. As if stabbing and killing Price was just not enough for Katherine. She took the brutality and insanity to epic scales by neatly skinning Price and hanging his hide on a meat hook in the lounge room.
Interesting Mary Katherine Knight Facts: 41-50
41. Katherine wasn’t done yet. After skinning Price, she decapitated the corpse of Price and cooked his body parts.
42. The meat was then served at dinner table in two settings along with gravy, yellow squash, cabbage, courgette, pumpkin and baked potato.
43. Who was she serving the food to? She was actually preparing to serve the meat to Price’s children. Each plate had a note by its side and the notes had the name of Price’s children on them.
44. Yet another meal was found in the back lawn. Why exactly was it thrown away is not known but it is believed that Katherine tried eating it but failed and threw it away.
45. Price’s head was also found in a pot alongside some vegetables. The pot, when discovered, was pretty warm at around 40ºC to 50ºC. This suggested that Katherine cooked Price’s head somewhere in early morning so that it could be served to the children when they come back.
46. After beheading the corpse of Price, Katherine actually arranged Price’s body with his left arm draping over a 1.25 liter empty bottle of soft drink and his legs arranged in cross position.
47. A handwritten note was left by Katherine on Price’s photo. The note was covered with small flesh pieces and was stained with blood.
48. The note read: “Time got you back Johathon for rapping [raping] my douter [daughter]. You to Beck [Price’s daughter] for Ross – for Little John [his son]. Now play with little Johns Dick John Price. (sic)”.
49. The accusations found in the note were later investigated only to be proved baseless and incorrect.
50. Mary Katherine Knight was eventually sentenced to life imprisonment without parole possibility by Justice Barry O’Keefe. The judge instructed her papers to be marked as ‘never to be released’. This made Katherine the first Australian woman on whom such punishment was imposed. Katherine is currently detained in Silverwater Women’s Correctional Centre.