SHORT READS
Sabrina Zunich, The Girl Who Stabbed Her Foster Mother 178 Times
She later testified against the victim’s husband.
On November 16th, 2012, Megan was awoken by her mother’s screams. She found her foster sister, Sabrina Zunich, stabbing and slashing her mother, Lisa Knoefel. 13-year-old Megan was not able to stop her 19-year-old sister but she did dialed 911 where she frantically pleaded the operator to send help as she begged her sister to stop.
When police dispatch arrived, he found Sabrina Zunich covered in blood with a 12-inch knife in her hand and Lisa Knoefel had passed away. He also found 3-year-old Hayley Knoefel, the biological daughter of Lisa Knoefel and Kevin Knoefel, hiding in the closet where her mother was brutally killed in the very same room.
Sabrina Zunich was abandoned by her biological parents, Mark Zunich and Susan Edwards, because the unmarried couple had troubles with the law that included grand theft and drug abuse. Sabrina was then taken under the wings of her grandmother but was sent away because she was unruly. Finally, she was adopted by Lisa Knoefel, a social worker who mainly worked in the sex abuse department. Both Lisa Knoefel and Kevin Knoefel were divorced and had children from their previous marriage. The girl who called 911, Megan, was a child from Lisa’s previous marriage.
According to Sabrina’s grandmother’s testimony in the trial, Sabrina Zunich had plans to model or enroll in a cosmetology school. Sabrina’s assistant principal said,
“She was never in trouble, not once. She was never even tardy. She had never missed a day or was even tardy up to that point, she had perfect attendance.”
During the investigation, the coroners counted 178 stab and slash wounds on Lisa Knoefel. Despite Sabrina saying that she did not remember anything of the murder, she was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
When Kevin Knoefel, a truck driver, returned to town, he showed a lack of remorse. Soon, he cashed out his wife’s large life insurance worth $750,000 and spent it on flying lessons, new cars, and allegedly a new boat.
According to Sabrina’s friend, Sam, Sabrina always got along with Kevin but their relationship was a bit too close. He said,
“It was a weird feeling, he was a touchy dude.”
Sam was right.
Almost 9 months after the murder, Sabrina Zunich testified against 43-year-old Kevin Knoefel as she revealed details about their sexual relationship and Kevin’s plot to murder his wife as she was ‘worth more dead than alive’. On November 12th, Kevin told Sabrina in tears that he had a bad fight with Lisa and he would suicide if Lisa was not dead. Kevin taught Sabrina how to stab his wife by twisting the knife into the body, to stage it as burglary and if Sabrina was caught, she should claim that she could not remember anything and use insanity as her defense.
Kevin Knoefel was arrested in August 2013 and was found guilty on all 11 charges that included conspiracy to commit aggravated murder and sexual battery. Similar to Sabrina, he was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 30 years as Sabrina’s testimony helped to reduce her from prison for life without the possibility of parole to prison for life with the possibility of parole in 30 years.
In 2014, Lake County Public Defender, Charles Grieshammer asked whether could Sabrina’s sentence reduced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 20 years instead of 30 years as she did not deserve the same sentence as Kevin Knoefel.
‘She was sent to the absolute worst place for her. Kevin hijacked her future.’
