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The World’s Most Evil Mother?
Theresa Knorr murdered two of her children after inflicting unimaginable torture.
Mother and Abuser
Born in 1946, Theresa Knorr was only a teenager herself when she began bringing children into the world. Between 1963 and 1970, she gave birth to six children in total — three girls and three boys — to two different fathers.
In order of arrival, first came Howard in 1963, then Sheila in 1965, Suesan in 1966, William in 1967, Robert in 1968 and lastly Terry in 1971.
Despite being married a total of four times, Theresa’s relationships with men did not tend to last long and consequentially her children did not have a consistent father figure in their lives. A succession of failed marriages and short-lived flings meant that Theresa mostly raised her children as a single mother in their Sacramento, California home.
Although Theresa got along fairly amicably with her sons, she loathed her daughters. After her fourth divorce, Theresa’s mental health began to deteriorate and she began having paranoid delusions, causing her to blame the teenage girls for her ageing and weight gain. As a result of this, Theresa became more physically, verbally and psychologically abusive. Theresa eventually recruited her grown sons to assist her with carrying out acts of unthinkable violence towards the young girls — with fatal consequences.
Torture and Murder
Suesan death (1984)
In 1982, Theresa and Suesan became embroiled in a heated argument. Suesan was accused of putting spells on her mother to make her gain weight, which Suesan denied. In a rage, Theresa drew out a .22 caliber pistol and shot her daughter through the chest. Weak and ailing from the bullet lodged deep in her back, Suesan was dragged into the bathtub by her brothers and handcuffed there. Theresa expected Suesan to succumb to her injuries, however after two weeks she remarkably began to recover without any medical attention.
