In a macabre tale straight out of a horror film, a mother-of-four went on a murderous rampage, stabbing her lover 37 times, cutting off his head and boiling his flesh, before hanging his body up on a meat hook while splattering blood throughout her home, reaching as far as the front door.
Later, Katherine Knight callously cooked her de-facto husband John Price’s flesh, serving it for dinner with potatoes, cabbage, and gravy to his unsuspecting children as they returned from school.
The ghastly incident occurred in the peaceful town of Aberdeen, New South Wales, Australia, where on the fateful day of February 29, 2000, Knight killed, skinned, beheaded and boiled Price’s head before collapsing. Her unprecedented savagery not only shocked the nation but also secured her place in history books by becoming the first woman ever to be sentenced to life behind bars without parole in Australia.
Labelled by some as “Australia’s Hannibal Lecter”, Knight was apprehended after police discovered her unconscious next to Price—a tale that gripped listeners when reported by the Australian Broadcasting Company. Imprisoned since 2001, her attempts at appealing her life sentence were thwarted in 2006.
Knight’s brutal killing was seemingly inevitable given her history of violence. She once stabbed Price prompting him to obtain a restraint order against her—though they would later reunite, reports the Mirror US.
Forebodingly, following a particularly intense dispute prior to his murder, Price eerily cautioned his workmates that should he not appear for work, they ought to inform the authorities, an ominous prelude to his tragic demise.
Bloodstains were a grim herald on Knight’s front door, prompting neighbours to alert the authorities on the morning of March 1, 2000, with police discovering Price’s gruesomely disfigured corpse inside and Knight unconscious nearby.
“By the time I got to the scene, Katherine was leaving in an ambulance. She had taken some pills. Not enough to kill her, but they made her sleepy,” recounted former Sergeant Robert Wells in an interview with ABC.
“I walked inside and saw the human skin pelt hanging up, completely intact in one piece. John Price’s decapitated and skinned body was lying on the floor in the lounge room.
“We found his head, it had been boiled and cooked in a pot on the stove. There were a number of slices of rump, taken off his human rump, baked in the oven with some vegetables and put on plates, with the name of two of his children on them.
“The last minutes of [Price’s] life must have been a time of abject terror for him, as they were a time of utter enjoyment for her,” noted Supreme Court Justice Barry O’Keefe during Knight’s sentencing.
Yet, to acquaintances, their partnership appeared entirely routine. Described by neighbour Rick Banyard as “a very proficient meatworker,” no one foresaw any noteworthy trouble from Knight, much less an atrocity that would be etched into Australia’s annals as a most heinous crime.
“I think, basically, nobody sort of expected any significant drama at all, let alone the crime that became recorded as one of the worst pieces of history in Australia,” remarked Banyard, reflecting the community’s shock.
Former detective Luke Taylor, speaking to news.com.au, revealed that she had a tendency for violence that stemmed “from an abusive childhood.”
The outlet reported that Knight had been subjected to horrific sexual abuse throughout her youth by numerous different men. She was sexually abused by various men in her family during her childhood, leading to a series of troubled relationships with men throughout her adult life.
“There were so many warning signs yet none were heeded,” Taylor said.
Peter Lalor’s book Blood Stains delves into Knight’s early years. She was seen by her peers as a bully who once assaulted a boy.
She attempted to strangle her first husband, David Kellett, on their wedding night and once fractured his skull with a frying pan. She also killed another partner’s dog and stabbed him with a pair of scissors.
“She was a horror movie in the making,” Taylor said.