Shopping bag

Episode 358:

A Socially Awkward Person's Great Idea

Serial Abuser and Convicted Murderer Shelly Knotek

Karen

...

Georgia

Episode 358: A Socially Awkward Person's Great Idea

This week, Karen tells Georgia the horrible story of serial abuser and convicted murderer Shelly Knotek.

Listen on Apple Podcasts.

Serial Abuser and Convicted Murderer Shelly Knotek

Serial Abuser and Convicted Murderer Shelly Knotek Notes:

Header Image Source: Photo by Jessica Wong on Unsplash 

 

"Michelle “Shelly” Knotek appeared to lead a charmed life. She had a caring husband by her side and was raising her three daughters in a home in rural Raymond, Washington. The couple was known for their selflessness and invited struggling friends and relatives to live with them. But then, those guests began to disappear.

The first person to vanish in Knotek’s care was her old friend, Kathy Loreno. They had lived together in Knotek’s home for five years before she disappeared in 1994. Knotek assured anyone who asked that Loreno had simply started a new life elsewhere. She said this when two other people vanished from her home, too.

Finally, Knotek’s three daughters bravely came forward with a harrowing tale. All three of them had been physically abused by their parents — and their guests were killed. They said Knotek had starved, drugged, and tortured her victims, forced guests to jump off the roof, drenched their open wounds in bleach, and made them drink urine..."

Source: “The Disturbing Story Of Shelly Knotek, The Serial Killer Mom Who Brutalized Her Own Family” by Marco Margaritoff (All That’s Interesting) 2021

Karen's Episode Sources

  1. “If You Tell” by Gregg Olsen
  2. State v. Knotek (Court of Appeals of Washington,Division 2.) 2006
  3. “The Disturbing Story Of Shelly Knotek, The Serial Killer Mom Who Brutalized Her Own Family” by Marco Margaritoff (All That’s Interesting) 2021
  4. “Kids of murderer Michelle ‘Shelly’ Knotek warn their mom could kill again” by Jane Ridley (New York Post) 2019
  5. “Blood, hair samples are sought from Raymond couple” (Associated Press) 2003
  6. “The Striking Psychopath” by Katherine Ramsland Ph.D. (Psychology today) 2019
  7. “Wallowing” (Murder in the Rain podcast) 2020
  8. “Serial Killer Mom Shelly Knotek” (Sherrilyn Dale)
  9. “Raymond couple befriended 3 strangers, who then disappeared” by Jeffrey M. Barker (Seattle Post-Intelligencer Reporter) 2003
  10. “Couple Charged in Murder of Boarders” by Peggy Anderson (Associated Press) 2003