Theresa Knorr Starved One Daughter to Death and Burned the Other Alive

Victim’s cries were finally answered by a popular TV show, as police ignored her reports.

The story behind the cruel mother, Theresa Knorr

Theresa Knorr was the daughter of Swannie Gay and James Cross. When her father, James Cross, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, he lost his job and soon, fell into depression. Finances in the family became tight when they lost the sole breadwinner, Swannie Gay when she passed away due to heart failure. Theresa was devastated by the loss of her mother and reportedly, her father often took out his frustration on her.

By the age of 16, Theresa married Clifford Clyde Sanders, a man 5 years older than her and within less than a year, she gave birth to Howard Clyde Sanders. However, their marriage was far from perfect as Theresa was distrustful towards Sanders and often accused him of infidelity. After yet another argument on the day after Sander’s birthday, Sanders decided to end the relationship. As he was walking out of the door, Theresa shot him from the back.

During the trial, Theresa claimed that it was an act of self-defense against her abusive, alcoholic husband but many witnesses came forth denying Sander ever had such character. Theresa’s older sister too testified against Theresa but in the end, pregnant Theresa with her second child was acquitted.

After Theresa gave birth to her daughter, Sheila Gay Sanders, she began to drink heavily. She moved in with Estelle Lee Thornsberry, a US veteran whom she met in a bar but it seemed that Theresa only treated him as a babysitter as she would often leave her children with him while she drank away. Again, the relationship fell apart.

She remarried another 3 times and gave birth to Suesan Marline Knorr, William Knorr, Robert Knorr, Jr, and Theresa “Terry” Knor-Walker. Though, again, all of her relationships ended due to her drinking problem, her distrust of her husband, or for the 4th husband’s case, it was his hobby of taking consensual nude photographs of women.

Escalation

After her 4th divorce, her alcoholic and abusive nature towards her children grew worse. Theresa even locked Terry in a deep freezer when Theresa thought Terry had supposedly told the teachers about the abuse. She kept watchful eyes on her children, not letting them out of the house, made her children dropped out of school, and cut off communication by removing the telephone line. In Mother’s Day by Dennis McDougal, Robert Knorr said,

“I grew up in an insane asylum basically, but what’s worse is we didn’t know it was an insane asylum. I never really admitted or even knew that I was being abused or that my family was being abused, because I thought it was normal.”

Her anger mainly focused on Suesan whom she believed practiced witchcraft that made Theresa fat. Poisoned with jealousy, Theresa force-fed and beat her children and even, made her children take turns to beat up their sister. If Suesan was too full and ended up vomiting out the mac and cheese filled with lard, she had to eat her vomit. Once, Suesan managed to escape and begged the police for help but only to be brushed off and returned home.

The Murders

In 1982, Suesan got into another terrible argument with Theresa and Theresa shot her from the back. Theresa refused to call the hospital and left her to die in a bathtub handcuffed to a soap dish.

Miraculously, Suesan recovered with the bullet lodged in her back as Theresa nursed her. 2 years later, Theresa stabbed Suesan with a pair of scissors and again, refused to get medical help for her. She did recover from it but Suesan had enough. She wanted to move to Alaska to which surprisingly, Theresa agreed if she let her remove the bullet so that it could not be used as evidence.

Desperate, Suesan agreed.

Theresa tried to operate with help from Terry. The ‘operation’ was in their kitchen with whiskey as an anesthetic but days later, Suesan developed sepsis and became delirious. With her sons, William and Robert, Theresa duct-taped Suesan’s mouth and wrists, drove into the mountain, dumped the 17-year-old, doused with her with gasoline, and set the breathing girl into flames.

Her body was found the next day but the police were unable to identify her. Half of her face and hands were burnt badly to the point that fingerprint matching was not an option.

Theresa showed no signs of regret as she continued to physically and mentally abused her children. She would even throw steak knives at her children when she was drunk. Once, the mother pointed a gun at Terry,

“I shot once and I can do it again.”

One year later, in 1985, Sheila also met her end. 20-year-old Sheila was forced into prostitution to bring money home. After an accusation of Sheila transmitting STD through the toilet seat, Theresa punished Sheila by starving her in a poorly ventilated closet. According to Terry, her sister pleaded,

“Please, Mom. Please let me out.”

Theresa forbade any of her siblings to give her water or food but Terry, the youngest of all, sneakily brought her beer. After 3 days, her cries and moan ceased. On the 6th day, they finally opened the closet. At that point, Sheila’s body was already decomposing. Heartless Theresa once again dumped her daughter in a taped-up cardboard box at the side of the road. Her body was discovered but it was unidentifiable as her fingerprints did not return a match.

Just like that, the case of the two sisters went cold.

Concerned about the physical evidence and stench from the decomposed body, Theresa ordered Terry to pour lighter fluid all over and set the apartment on fire.

She went into hiding after that. Only the youngest son, Robert, remained by her side while her remaining children left Theresa including underaged Terry by using Sheila’s identity.

Justice

In 1989, Terry tried to report the horrific murders of her sisters to Utah’s police but they did not believe her. Neither did her therapist. They simply thought Terry was delusional or perhaps, it was because Terry often got into trouble with the law. Terry eventually got married but her struggles continued with domestic violence in the household.

Almost a decade later, Terry saw a glimpse of hope when she saw America’s Most Wanted on TV. Perhaps this time, the truth would be finally be unveiled.

She called the tip line. The lady from the TV show took her seriously and advised her to contact the police in Placer County where Suesan’s body was found. All the details provided by Terry matched and explained the two mysterious, unidentifiable deaths including:

1. The long, odd cut on Suesan’s back was from the bullet removal ‘surgery’

2. The diapers found near Suesan were diapers Suesan used as she was cuffed to the kitchen table

3. The ring and earrings Suesan wore

4. The card box that Sheila was stuffed in was a drink cup box from Robert’s workplace

5. The chipped teeth Sheila had from being force-fed.

With Terry’s information, the detectives were able to match one of the fingerprints found on the garbage bag found together with Suesan to Robert Knorr.

The Arrest

Arrest warrants were filed for William and Robert where both testified against Theresa Knorr. In exchange for their testimonies, Robert who was already serving jail time for another crime was only charged with one count of accessory. Meanwhile, William was sentenced to mandatory therapy and probation.

The detectives tracked down Theresa who had been hiding by using her maiden name. Ironically, she had a kind-hearted occupation, a caretaker. Her employee even had a good impression of her as she did a great job in caring for his mother. He said,

“I can’t say anything bad about her. She was there 24 hours a day for the last 15 months. We consider her a part of the family.”

Theresa Knorr was arrested, charged with two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to two life sentences, and would be eligible for parole in 2027 when she is 80 years old.

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