0 Theresa Knorr Ideas
The birth of their first child, Howard Clyde Sanders, on July 16, 1963, brought temporary peace. On July 5, 1964, which was also Clifford’s birthday, the couple had a bitter fight and when Clifford tried to leave home saying that he’d had enough, Theresa shot him dead. Pregnant with her second child at that time, she claimed self-defense at the trial and managed to get an acquittal. Theresa dropped out of school and got pregnant, giving birth to her first child in the summer of 1963.
On September 29, 1962, 16-year-old Theresa married Clifford Clyde Sanders, a man five years her senior whom she had met a few months prior. Immediately she dropped out of high school and became pregnant, and on July 16, 1963, she gave birth to her first child, Howard Clyde Sanders. The Sanders' marriage was rocky as Theresa was possessive and repeatedly accused Sanders of infidelity.
She even became some sort of a recluse, not going out or allowing visitors. On March 2, 1961, Swannie suddenly collapsed and died of congestive heart failure in the arms of Theresa as they were going to the local store. Extremely attached to her mother, Theresa was deeply affected by this loss and became immensely depressed. Jim was employed at the Golden State Dairy in Sacramento as an assistant cheesemaker while Swannie worked at a local timber company.
Theresa lost her mother, Swannie Cross at 15 to a heart attack. This plunged her into severe depression due to her very close affinity with her mom. He also sold their family home having lost his job as a result of his ill-health. Although Theresa is already behind bars, and will remain there for the rest of her life, her crimes are so stomach-churning that humanity can never let them go off memory. Read through to learn all the facts you never knew about Theresa Knorr and her crime-decorated lifetime.
Theresa went into a rage, grabbed a rifle and shot her husband. According to friends of the family, Theresa was a loner and jealous of her sister Rosemary. If they weren't fighting over a neighborhood boy, they were competing for their mother's attention. Theresa was especially fond of her mother, and outsiders felt that Swannie favored Theresa over Rosemary.
Knorr refused to let Suesan leave the house and forced her to drop out of school. Knorr also pulled her other children out of school, and most of them never advanced past the eighth grade. Is an infamous American murderess convicted of brutalizing and killing two of her daughters while forcing the others to abet her and cover up the crimes.
Her marriage to Clifford may not have been happy, but at least it provided her with a sense of belonging. Now, at just 18, she was alone and again desperately seeking stability. To cope, Theresa turned to alcohol and began drowning her sorrows at a local American Legion Hall. It was there that she met Estelle Lee Thornsberry, an Army veteran who had suffered a debilitating blow two years earlier when a swimming accident left him a quadriplegic. Nonetheless, Thornsberry's disability didn't seem to bother Theresa and the two began dating.
Theresa disliked Robert's new job and regularly voiced her opposition. Just as she did with Clifford, she began accusing him of infidelity. Tempers often flared and Theresa took her anger out on the seekers crime children. According to Dennis McDougal, author of the book Mother's Day, Theresa would often punish them by forcing them to sit on the floor without moving. If they budged an inch or moved and eye, she would become angry and slap them.