We have seen and read stories of killers who use food to dispose of their bodies in many movies and popular culture. What if I told you one woman killed to eat in the Land Down Under?

Is Fiction That Far From Reality?

WARNING: Animal Abuse | Butchery | Meat | Cannibalism | Overdose | Police

A famous story is Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Like in the movie adaptation of the musical, Sweeney Todd, kills his victims while his helper bakes the human meat into pies. 

In the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones, something similar took place. The character of Arya Stark serves the King his own children cooked a meal for him to eat.

Another example would be in Gotham‘s series, where Oswalt Cobblepot grows angry with his stepmother. To teach her and her children a lesson, he assassinates the children. He then cooks them for his stepmother to eat to his satisfaction.

What About The Real Cannibalistic Chef

Being from New Zealand, I wanted to share some of the crazy things that can happen in the world Down Under. 

Today’s case that I chose for you takes place in Australia—the Land Down Under. The person in question is a female Sweeney Todd named Katherine Mary Knight.

Katherine Knight holds the criminal record for being the only female sentenced to life imprisonment without parole in Australia. Remember that we don’t have the death penalty on this continent.

However, Katherine Knight was also a bit of a loose cannon. According to John Price—the husband she murdered—was, in fact, her fourth relationship and the only one she successfully managed to kill.

A Little Back Story

The three previous men managed to survive. But it wasn’t without suffering multiple injuries that they lived through it.

Katherine was very familiar with knives. From the age of fifteen, she worked in a local abattoir cutting bits of offal and boning. Katherine loved her job and her set of butcher knives. 

So much so that she hung her set of knives where someone might hang a dreamcatcher. It was placed right above her bed. Her love of knives and skills would soon become her MO. 

Relationship #1: David Kellet 

In 1973, Katherine married David Kellet. Her mother gave David some fair warning on their wedding night. She told him he should be careful. She referred to her daughter as a crazy bride with a few loose screws.

David should have heeded that warning. The first act of violence came on their wedding night when Katherine tried to strangle David three times. 

Katherine would rage out on those she believed wanted to have her husband leave her. Her wrath had no boundaries when it came to slashing a woman’s face with one of her knives. The same happened to a mechanic who fixed David’s car, which allowed him to leave. The result had David suffering from a fractured skull. 

After the last incident, she was admitted to the Morisett Psychiatric Hospital and later released in 1976.

Relationship #2: David Saunders

The year is 1986. Katherine met her second lover, David Saunders. The relationship was no different than the first. Katherine committed animal abuse by killing a dingo puppy with a throat slash. She engaged the act before David’s eyes. 

However, she moved from taking her rage on animals to David. She would hit him in the face with an iron. She would also stab him in the stomach with a pair of scissors.

David took a leave absence and went into hiding. When David returned, he found out he was classified as a predator. Katherine had him receive an AVO—apprehended violence order filed against him. Katherine wasn’t just good at torturing her lovers but also manipulating men.

Relationship #3: John Chillingworth

A fun fact to me was how she chose two men named David in a row and then two John. I wonder if it was a coincidence or planned by Katherine.

John Chillingworth was Katherine’s former co-worker at the abattoir. But while she was going out with him, she saw another man.

Relationship #4: John Price

Her affair with John Price would have a deadly and fatal fate. After marrying John Price, she became a nightmarish monster we only see in horror movies.

In February 2000, John and Katherine had many arguments and what we can assume would be assaults on her husband. The last straw was a Katherine stabbing John several times in the chest. John survived and kicked Katherine out of his house, hoping never to see her again.

After not showing up for work, on March 1st, 2000, at 6:00 am, a friend of John contacted the authorities. The police showed up at John’s door and broke it down. They found a macabre scene of parts of John’s body and a bottle of pills Katherine swallowed in the hope of an overdose.

John Price – the man she would be sentenced to life for murder. This is where Katherine Knight decided to become a female Sweeny Todd and turn her husband into stew. 

Want A Husband Stew?

John Price was stabbed thirty-seven times, was skinned and hung on a meat hook on the lounge door. The man was decapitated, and Katherine used parts of his body to cook.

They found pumpkin pieces, cabbage, and other vegetables in the stew Katherine made using her husband. John Price’s head was found in another large pot boiling with vegetables.

On November 8th, 2001, Katherine Knight received her sentence. There was no mercy for this obviously mentally distressed woman. In June of 2006, Katherine Knight tried to appeal her ruling, but it was denied.

To this day, Katherine Knight serves her sentence, and it remains as so until the day she dies.

Sentenced finally on November 8th, 2001, Katherine was given the harsh sentence as she showed no remorse. She tried in June 2006 to appeal the verdict but was denied and is still in prison to this date, where she remains till she dies unless a miracle appeal happens.  

Paula Phillips