Whatever Mother Says... (24 page)

The detectives’ job was prodigious. But the investigation could have been even more complicated if Sheriff Nunes and his officers had not taken full responsibility for both deaths, despite the jurisdiction problems.

John Fitzgerald knew full well that Theresa Knorr’s much publicized arrest did not mark a slowing down of the investigation process. On the contrary, he had to keep pushing for nugget after nugget of information that would contribute to her eventual trial on murder charges alongside her two sons.

His main aim was to interview as many of the other Knorr family members and friends as possible. The task force was particularly interested in Knorr’s oldest son, Howard Sanders. On November 16, Investigators Smith and DeCecco reinterviewed him to clear up a few loose ends from his earlier statement, on November 3. They were especially interested in establishing exactly how Howard came to be informed of his sisters’ fate. Sanders was fully cooperative, and no suggestion has ever been made that he was in any way involved in the deaths of his sisters.

Howard Sanders’s wife Connie also provided a fascinating insight into life inside the Knorr household, including colorful references to black magic. She had also witnessed some of the abuse inflicted on the Knorr daughters.

Other important developments included the discovery of William Knorr’s palm print on the popcorn-cup box that Sheila’s crunched up corpse was dumped in. Bonnie Paolini, latent print examiner at the California Department of Justice, must take credit for that and the later matching of two of William Knorr’s fingerprints and one of his brother Robert’s on a plastic bag found near the spot where Suesan died.

Meanwhile, brief court appearances at the Placer County Courthouse became Theresa and William Knorr’s only glimpse of the outside world.

On the day I visited the court, Monday, January 31, 1994, it was a crisp, sunny, fifty-degree winter day, with a cool wind cutting through from the mountains to the east.

The first thing anyone inside the courtroom noticed was the fidgeting, gray-haired man sitting in the aisle behind me. He wore a shapeless suit and tie, not really in keeping with the man himself. His face was stern, steel-edged, but unemotional, almost devoid of expression. He looked dead ahead of him without blinking once. A slight belly bulged through his white shirt. That was Robert Wallace Knorr Sr., the father of four of Theresa’s children.

And there was a sizable cast of other characters there too.

DeLois Knorr, William’s wife, glowered uneasily from the front row after acknowledging the presence of her father-in-law. William Hall, longtime friend and car pool associate of William Knorr, looked on with concern. Another pal of William’s was Nikolaas Bos. Both men later insisted their good friend was completely innocent of the charges. In the front row, a local TV newsman had set up his camera on a huge tripod, ready to get some fresh footage of mother and son the moment they appeared. At least a dozen other journalists, print and TV, filled the remaining rows of seats.

Just then, the expectant courtroom quieted down.

Theresa Knorr, unemotional, wrists cuffed at the front, was led into the hushed room from a door at the back of the court. Investigators told me before the court hearing that she had lost at least fifty pounds, thanks to the diet inside jail. Her face seemed sallow; the skin beneath her chin hung almost like a turkey’s. The prison clothes, still her favorite crimson-red, did not help. Her hair parted down the middle and frizzled from lack of conditioner. As cameras clicked in her direction, she seemed momentarily flustered. There was even a flicker of anger in her eyes. She was led to a chair at a table. She seemed relieved when her court-appointed attorney, Mickey Sampson, appeared alongside her. From that moment on she played a game of cat and mouse with the waiting pressmen and family members by ensuring that Sampson blocked their view of her.

William Knorr, head bowed, was led in through the same wooden door as his mother a minute earlier. His wrists were cuffed at the front, his face pale in contrast to his bright, crisp, and clean orange prison clothes. William walked to the middle row of seats well away from his mother and sat down, not looking up for even a second, in case he caught the eyes of the waiting family, friends, and media … and worst of all, his mother, who sat just three feet in front of him.

Judge J. Richard Couzens referred to her as “Miss Cross” throughout the brief hearing. Neither mother nor son were required to utter a word, but her attorney, Sampson, made an interesting request to the judge. Center stage at last, Mickey Sampson, in his mid-thirties, had a soft, dark beard, shaped so the round white baby jowls and soft chin didn’t show. His longish, well-groomed, brown hair shining despite the onset of baldness, Sampson wore an inoffensive brown suit and had a friendly but somewhat anxious demeanor.

“We object strongly to her not being allowed to wear her own clothes,” the public defender said. “We ask that the order be lifted for her next court appearance so that Miss Cross be allowed to wear civilian clothes.”

The Honorable J. Richard Couzens denied the request and announced that June 14, 1994, would be the date of the case arraignment. Theresa Cross’s vanity had outlasted two secret lives and the murder charges hanging over her head …

Twenty-two

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has proved out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us.

Romans
5 (New Testament)

In her friendless cell at the Placer County Jailhouse in Auburn, Theresa Cross was feeling lonely, confused, but still determined, no matter what, to keep in touch with friends from Salt Lake City.

On January 12, 1994, Alice Sullivan’s daughter got a moving letter from Theresa, which reduced her and her one-time tough cop husband to tears. She referred to “how hard all this is on my friends. My attorney said I will find out just who my real friends are.”

She insisted that just because her children were saying things, that they were not true. Theresa Knorr called her arrest and the charges “a holocaust” and thanked her friends for standing by her in her “darkest hours.” She even described her three-inch-wide cell window which overlooked a pond across the street and a little of the field below. She signed the letter: “Love in Christ, Theresa.”

“It hardly seems the sort of letter a hardened criminal would write, does it?” Pat said after reading it. “Whatever happens to Theresa, she will always have a friend in us.”

On the same day, January 12, Theresa Cross’s other good friends, Hal and Fran Cheney, got a letter from her that offers yet more insight into her state of mind as she awaited her trial. In it she quoted Romans 5, from the New Testament: “And hope does not disappoint us, because God has proved out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us.” She said she read scriptures every day and had no one to talk to except the Lord our God.

Theresa Knorr also revealed that the jail chaplain had given her a new international version of the Bible and she had just finished reading the great lion of God, about Saul of Shish, which she found inspirational. She also read
Heaven and Earth,
about a Jew and a Catholic in the 1930s in Canada. She signed off “In Christ Love, Theresa.”

Just two weeks later Theresa wrote another lengthy letter to Fran and Hal Cheney. Fran could hardly contain her emotion about her good friend Theresa and wept as she read this letter, written in blunt pencil. It referred to how twenty quails and six Canadian geese had flown over and decided to land on the pond outside her cell window. Seeing the geese made her realize how much she missed her freedom. She also came to appreciate the “little things,” like having tea and a piece of fresh fruit.

The Cheneys were so touched by the letter that they wrote back to Theresa promising they would come and see her at the Placer County Jail on their next trip to California. They have also received a number of collect telephone calls from her since her extradition to California.

Meanwhile, at the Sullivan house where Theresa Cross was arrested on November 10, 1993, there is one lasting memory of the woman who devoted herself to looking after eighty-six-year-old Alice Sullivan. Still parked up in the driveway to the neat, suburban one-story house is Theresa’s pride and joy, her 1986 Dodge, colored her favorite crimson-red, naturally.

April 1994

As of this writing, Theresa Jimmie Cross and her son William Robert Knorr are still being held in protective custody at the Placer County Jail in Auburn. Both mother and son are watched closely by corrections officers.

In jail, Theresa Cross continues writing vast numbers of letters, while William reads books. He frequently makes collect phone calls to his wife DeLois, and occasionally to his father, Robert Knorr Sr.

At the Nevada State Prison, in Ely, Robert Wallace Knorr is still refusing to cooperate with investigators, and it is expected that he will be brought to Placer County to face the charges concerning his sisters’ deaths before the next major hearing, in June 1994.

In Salt Lake City, Terry Knorr—her mother’s only surviving daughter—found that the pressures of living under the same roof as her in-laws plus the worldwide publicity surrounding her allegations put an enormous strain on her marriage to Mike Groves. In February 1994 she reluctantly parted from her husband and moved back to the Sacramento area. Once again, mother and daughter found themselves living just a short distance apart, yet neither had any compulsion to meet.

The actual trial of Theresa Knorr and her two sons will probably happen sometime in the early part of 1995, when the painstaking process of choosing a jury will begin.

Meanwhile, Theresa Knorr meets frequently with her attorney, Mickey Sampson, currently mapping out a defense strategy. He will no doubt try to suppress any statements she made to investigators just after her arrest. The attorney will argue that without a full videotaped confession or a written account of the alleged crimes, his client should also not be held to statements made by individuals who might also be implicated in the killings.

An insanity plea may well be considered if she confesses to the killings. But it will only be accepted after a rigorous fight. To be acquitted under such a plea, the defense has to prove that at the time of each murder, the suspect was suffering from a mental illness or defect, and failed to know or appreciate that what she was doing was morally wrong.

Prosecutors want to ensure that Theresa Knorr and her two sons are found guilty and never go free. They will likely fight an insanity defense by calling psychiatrists to testify that all three knew precisely that what they were doing was wrong, and call into evidence the fact that the crimes were covered up after they were committed. They will point out that Theresa Knorr and her sons methodically planned the murders and disposal of the bodies, and that they tried to conceal their connections to Sheila and Suesan by removing all evidence of actual identification.

There is absolutely no doubt that Theresa Knorr’s only surviving daughter, Terry, will play the most crucial role in the outcome of the case. Her key testimony about life inside the Knorr household and the deaths of her sisters is expected to keep the court riveted for days.

Then there is Mark Berg, attorney for William Knorr. He is still insisting that Placer County has no business prosecuting the notorious case because their home was in Sacramento at the time of the alleged killings.

“It is shocking that Placer County would attempt to prosecute a case where the victims and the defendants are from Sacramento,” says Berg. He intends to continue challenging the territorial jurisdiction issue because one of the homicides has no connection to Placer County.

Berg claims the jurisdiction issue has been caused by investigative evidence that shows Sheila Sanders died in the closet at the family apartment in Sacramento. He also noted that her body was found in an area fifteen feet inside the Nevada County side of the Placer-Nevada county line. Berg observed that state law allows any county to prosecute as long as elements of the crime occurred in the prosecuting county. “But there is no connection with Sheila’s death to Placer County,” said Berg, insisting that either Nevada or Sacramento counties—not Placer—had the right to prosecute.

“Whoever made the decision to burden Placer County taxpayers with this case acted irresponsibly,” added Berg, who estimates it will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, to prosecute Theresa Knorr and her two sons.

Placer County District Attorney Paul K. Richardson was reluctant to discuss the merits of the case. “It would behoove me to wait and see what [Berg] is going to file. We think we are on good ground to prosecute the case in Placer County,” he said.

Berg did at least acknowledge that Placer County had jurisdiction to prosecute for the death of Suesan. But he also pointed out that Sacramento County had jurisdiction in Suesan’s death as well because the defendants allegedly planned her death while at home in Sacramento. He is pushing for the two homicides to be dealt with together in one trial, in Sacramento.

Richardson admitted that his office had been in conversation with representatives of the Sacramento District Attorney’s Office on the case, but he would not elaborate or confirm that Sacramento District Attorney Steve White had agreed to let Placer County handle both cases.

Berg also said that he believes Placer County Deputy District Attorney Dan Dong will try to justify doing the Sanders homicide in Auburn because the defendants drove through Placer County while taking her body to its dumping spot in the Tahoe-Truckee area.

But, said Berg, transporting the dead girl’s body through the county line does not justify having Placer County take over the prosecution. Berg warned that he intended to file the motion to challenge territorial jurisdiction as soon as his client, Robert Knorr, makes an appearance in the Placer County court.

*   *   *

As the legal system presses ahead with its case against Theresa Knorr and her two sons, John Fitzgerald and the rest of the Knorr task force will continue their investigations. They are still hunting for more clues to the killings, and continue to be stunned that with each breakthrough come yet more astonishing claims about life inside the Knorr household.