Murder of Suesan and Sheila Knorr

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Suesan Marline Knorr (September 27, 1966 - July 16, 1984), and Sheila Gay Knorr (March 13, 1965 - June 24, 1985), were teenaged sisters from Sacramento, California, who were both abused and later killed by their mother, Theresa Cross. Suesan was shot and later killed by being burned alive and Sheila was beaten and then died of starvation while locked in a closet.

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[edit] Abuse

None of Theresa Cross's children were immune to the physical and psychological abuse she doled out. However, according to an interview with her surviving daughter, Terry, in an episode of A&E's Cold Case Files (titled "Mommy's Rules"), Cross had a special hatred for her daughters Suesan and Sheila, fueled by jealousy that the girls were growing up and blossoming into young women while she faced the prospect of growing old and losing her looks. For years Cross beat and tortured her daughters in various ways, including burning them with cigarettes and forcing them to eat large helpings of macaroni and cheese mixed with lard (if they vomited, she forced them to eat their vomit).

[edit] Suesan's Death

In a heated argument in 1982, Cross grabbed a 22-caliber pistol and shot Suesan in the chest. The bullet became lodged in her back, but her mother refused to seek medical help and left Suesan to die in the family bathtub. Suesan survived, so Cross then handcuffed her to a soap dish and began to nurse her back to health. Suesan eventually recovered from her wounds without professional treatment [1].

In 1984, Suesan decided to tell her mother she would like to move out. Cross agreed under one condition: that Suesan let her remove the bullet from her back. The removal took place on the kitchen floor with Mellaril capsules and liquor being used as the anesthetic. Cross ordered Robert, Suesan's 15-year-old brother, to remove the bullet with a scalpel. Not long after, an infection set in, her skin turned yellow from jaundice, and she became delirious. Suesan lay dying on the floor and Cross demanded the other children to merely walk over her. As Cross' daughter Terry told Cold Case Files, Cross told her other children that Suesan's illness was a result of possession by Satan and that the only way to purge the demon was with fire. She asked Suesan's brothers, Robert and Bill, to help her to dispose of their sister. They drove Suesan to Sierra Nevada, Interstate 80 outside Truckee, laid her down, poured petrol on her and burned her alive [1].

[edit] Sheila's Death

The following year, Suesan's older sister, 20-year-old Sheila, also died at the hands of Cross remained unidentified for years afterward.

Subsequently, Terry Knorr claimed, Cross forced her to burn down the Sacramento apartment the family had called home, hoping to destroy any evidence that might implicate her in Sheila's death. Terry later said she survived because she stood up to her mother and demanded to be allowed to leave the house.

[edit] Aftermath

Cross was eventually caught based on a police report from Terry, who, according to her Cold Case Files interview, was inspired to contact authorities after watching an episode of America's Most Wanted. On November 15, 1993, Theresa 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. On October 17, 1995, she was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences. She will be eligible for parole in 2027.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Article at crimelibrary.com, page 8

[edit] External links