1. Theresa Jimmie Francine Knorr is an American woman convicted of torturing and murdering two of her six children while using the others to facilitate and cover up her crimes.
55 Facts About Theresa Knorr
1. 2.
Theresa Knorr was acquitted of murdering her first husband and was considered a suspect in the unsolved murder of her sister Rosemary Norris.
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Theresa Knorr is currently serving two consecutive life sentences at the California Institution for Women in Chino, California.
4.
Theresa Knorr was born on March 14,1946, in Sacramento, California, the younger of two daughters born to Swannie Gay and James "Jim" Cross.
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Theresa Knorr's father worked as an assistant cheese maker at a local dairy, eventually saving up enough money to buy a house in Rio Linda.
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Theresa Knorr developed depression and reportedly took his frustrations and anger out on his family.
7.
Theresa Knorr was reportedly very close to her mother and was devastated when she died of congestive heart failure on March 2,1961.
8.
On September 29,1962, a 16-year-old Theresa Knorr married 21-year-old Clifford Clyde Sanders, whom she had met a few months earlier.
9.
Theresa Knorr immediately dropped out of high school and became pregnant, and on July 16,1963, she gave birth to her first child, Howard Clyde Sanders.
10.
The marriage was rocky; Theresa Knorr was possessive and repeatedly accused Sanders of infidelity.
11.
Theresa Knorr reported the incident to police but refused to press charges against Sanders; the assault charges were subsequently dropped.
12.
Theresa Knorr became enraged and shot Sanders in the back with a rifle as he was walking out the door; killing him.
13.
Theresa Knorr was arrested and charged with Sanders' murder, to which she pled not guilty claiming that she was acting in self-defense.
14.
Theresa Knorr gave birth to her second child, Sheila Gay Sanders, on March 16,1965.
15.
Theresa Knorr regularly drank at the local American Legion hall where she met Estell Thornsberry, a disabled United States Army veteran.
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Theresa Knorr soon became pregnant and the couple married on July 9,1966.
17.
Theresa Knorr divorced her in 1972 after he became convinced that she was having an affair.
18.
Theresa Knorr filed for divorce from Harris in November 1976 after she reportedly found out that Harris enjoyed taking consensual nude photographs of women.
19.
Theresa Knorr was physically, verbally, and psychologically abusive toward her children, behavior that escalated after her fourth divorce.
20.
Theresa Knorr gained a tremendous amount of weight, and became reclusive to the point of disconnecting the home phone and refusing to allow the children to have visitors.
21.
Neighbors noticed that the children, whom Theresa Knorr never let go outside, seemed fearful, nervous and high-strung.
22.
Theresa Knorr made her children hold each other down while she assaulted them with a special beating paddle.
23.
In one instance, Theresa Knorr held a pistol to her youngest daughter Terry's head and threatened to kill her.
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Theresa Knorr primarily focused her anger and abuse on Terry's older sisters, Sheila and Suesan.
25.
Theresa Knorr believed that her fourth husband, Chet Harris, had turned Suesan into a witch, so Suesan received the worst of Theresa Knorr's abuse.
26.
Theresa Knorr was picked up by police and placed in a psychiatric hospital where she told staff that her mother abused her.
27.
Theresa Knorr denied the abuse claims and told the hospital staff that Suesan had mental issues.
28.
Theresa Knorr immediately punished Suesan by beating her while wearing a pair of leather gloves, and forced Suesan's siblings to take turns in the assault.
29.
Theresa Knorr pulled her other children out of school, removing their access to phones and not allowing them outdoors; most of them never advanced past the eighth grade.
30.
For two years, Theresa Knorr tortured Suesan by handcuffing her under the dining room table.
31.
The next morning on July 16,1984, Theresa Knorr went on a rampage and started hitting all her children.
32.
Theresa Knorr uncuffed Suesan for a minute, but handed Terry a gun to point at her and shoot her if she moved.
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Theresa Knorr immediately rechained her under the dining-room table; her only response to the fact that her daughter was profusely bleeding, begging to be taken to the hospital was to get upset that her blood had stained the carpet.
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Theresa Knorr decided to "nurse" Suesan back to health, making her stay in the bathtub for several weeks.
35.
Theresa Knorr demanded to remove the bullet before letting Suesan go; she managed to gouge the bullet out while Suesan was unconscious, which led to infection and sepsis.
36.
That same day, Theresa Knorr packed all of Suesan's belongings in trash bags and, after binding her arms and legs and placing duct tape over her mouth, ordered her sons Robert and William to put Suesan in their car.
37.
Theresa Knorr ordered Robert to douse the bags and Suesan in gasoline and set fire to them; Robert thought she was already dead, but she was still alive.
38.
Theresa Knorr did not work and received unemployment benefits from the state of California.
39.
Theresa Knorr was so pleased with this arrangement because of the large amounts of money Sheila was earning that she allowed Sheila to leave the house whenever she pleased.
40.
When Sheila denied the accusations, Theresa Knorr beat her, hog tied her, and locked her in a tiny closet with no ventilation.
41.
Theresa Knorr forbade the other children to give her food or water or open the closet door, but Terry disobeyed her mother and gave Sheila a beer.
42.
Theresa Knorr left Sheila's body in the closet for an additional three days before discovering that she was dead.
43.
The only child to remain with Theresa Knorr was 19-year-old Robert Theresa Knorr Jr.
44.
Shortly after his arrest, Theresa Knorr left Las Vegas and relocated to Salt Lake City, Utah.
45.
William Theresa Knorr was arrested on November 4,1993, in Woodland, California, where he had been living and working.
46.
On November 10,1993, Theresa Knorr herself was arrested at her home in Salt Lake City.
47.
On November 15,1993, Theresa Knorr was charged with two counts of murder, two counts of conspiracy to commit murder, and two special circumstances charges: multiple murder and murder by torture.
48.
Theresa Knorr initially pleaded not guilty, but then made a deal with the prosecution after learning that her son Robert Jr.
49.
Theresa Knorr pleaded guilty on the condition that she be spared the death penalty.
50.
On October 17,1995, Theresa Knorr was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences.
51.
Theresa Knorr is incarcerated at California Institution for Women in Chino, California.
52.
Theresa Knorr had a parole hearing in July 2019, but was denied release.
53.
William Theresa Knorr was sentenced to probation and ordered to undergo therapy for participating in his sister Suesan's murder.
54.
Theresa Knorr worked as a grocery store cashier in the same neighborhood where her mother had lived and worked before her arrest.
55.
Police later determined that Theresa Knorr was not involved in Norris' death.