Love Thy Mother?

~*Warning: Some photo's on this page are graphic and may be disturbing. You have been warned.*~

Theresa Knorr, aka Theresa Jimmie Cross, was born on March 14, 1946 in Sacramento California. she gave birth to  six children, three boys and three girls.

 

When Theresa was 15, her Mother died. This made Theresa go into deep depression because she was very devoted to her Mother. She never fully recovered from her depression, and perhaps feeling lonely, would be the reason of marrying so young.

When she was 16, Theresa married her first husband, Clifford Clyde Sanders, who she shot to death in 1964. She was acquitted, claiming self defense. Two of her six children were with Clifford. Their names, Howard and Sheila.

 

~*Sheila, could not find a picture of Howard*~

Robert Knorr was her second husband. She had her remaining four children with Robert. Their names, Suesan, William, Robert and Theresa, aka Terry. Robert and Theresa ended up getting divorced. Theresa would not let Robert see his children, so he gave up and remarried. After the divorce, Theresa's drinking and drug use went out of control. She became delusional, and stated that the girls were evil spawns of Satan that were out to get her. 

 ~*Suesan, William, Robert and Theresa*~

Theresa was a very abusive Mother, but only towards her daughters. She felt that her daughters were evil and making her look ugly and fat. She had trained her Sons to beat, discipline and restrain their sisters. She would put cigarettes out on their flesh, have the boys hold the girls down and beat them or hold them down for their Mother to beat them. She would force feed the girls so much that they would vomit, and then she would make them eat their vomit.

Theresa seemed to treat the oldest of the three daughters the worst. Knorr thought that Suesan was putting spells on her forcing her to gain wait so she shot Suesan in the chest. The bullet lodged into Suesan's back. If someone was hurt in this family, no one went for help, they knew better. Suesan was left to die in the bathtub, however, she didn't die. When Theresa noticed that her daughter was going to live, she started to nurse her back to health.

Suesan recovered and demanded that she be allowed to move. Theresa told Suesan that she could move, as long as, she could remove the bullet from the back, so to remove evidence. Suesan agreed, anything to get freedom. Suesan was given a concauction of Mellaril capsuls and some hard liquor to knock her out. Once she was out, Theresa ordered her 15 year old son Robert to take a box cutter and cut out the bullet. Robert did as he was told, and after cutting through several layers of skin and muscle, he found the bullet. Suesan woke up to horrible pain, she had an infection. Soon Suesan had jaundice, and went into a coma. Theresa thought her daughter had died, so she ordered all the children to get all of Suesan's belongings, and Suesan, and put them in the car. They all drove to Square Creek Bridge, where Theresa ordered the boys to take Suesan out of the car and carry her to the creek bank. The youngest daughter Terry was ordered to get all of Suesans stuff and put it down by Suesan. Then she was ordered to douse everything, even Suesan, with gasoline and light it on fire. No one looked back. She was 16.

~*Suesan's body*~

The next target, now being the oldest, was Sheila. Sheila was forced into prostitution. Sheila kind of welcomed being a prostitute, because it meant that she got to come and go as she pleased. However, one day Theresa accused Sheila of transmitting an STD to her via the toilet seat, and she completely freaked out again, beating Sheila black and blue. Sheila was handcuffed and locked inside an excruciatingly hot closet, with order from Theresa to provide Sheila with no food or water. She died a week later of starvation and dehydration. She was thrown into a cardboard box and dumped along the side of the road. She was 20. She was not identified until years later.

~*Sheila's body*~

The last of the daughters was Terry. She claimed that she lived because she stood up to her Mother telling her that she is going to leave. Her Mother stated that Terry could leave, as long as, she burned down the apartment they were living in to get rid of any evidence that was left from killing Sheila. Of course, Terry did as she was told, and burned the apartment down. Theresa held a knife to her daughter's throat to make it so Terry didn't leave, but Terry stood up to her again, and left. She went to the authorities, but no one believed what she was saying, saying it was too grotesque and unheard of.

A detective was on the case of the two female bodies that were found. Once by the creek and the other along side the road. Terry was watching American's Most Wanted, none of the stories were about her family, and decided, again, to try to provide the story of what happened in her family. They checked with Jane Doe reports, and everything started to fall into place.

After the apartment was set on fire, Theresa and Robert, the only one to stay by his Mother's side, moved to Vegas. Before they moved, Howard had left, wanting nothing to do with the family, and William moved in with a girlfriend. While Theresa and Robert were in Vegas, Robert went into a bar, details still are not clear, but when he left in handcuffs, he also left the bartender dead. He was sentenced to 16 years in Jail. After the commotion, Theresa was scared and moved to SLC, UT. This is where she was captured, due to a drivers license application.

Knorr was charged with the two counts of murder, two counts of conspiracy to commit murder, multiple murder and murder by torture. She pled not guilty at first, but when she got news that one of her Sons was going to testify against her, she avoided capital punishment by pleading guilty to all charges. She has been sentenced to two consecutive life sentences, with the possibility of parole in 2027. Robert was given 3 more years to be added to the 16 he was already serving, and William got probation.