Theresa Knorr's Abuse Of Her Daughters
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.
The murders were profiled on the A&E series Cold Case Files, featuring an exclusive interview with Terry Knorr Walker. The case was also profiled on the series Most Evil, Wicked Attraction, Evil Lives Here, and Deadly Women. Theresa's older sister testified against her, stating that Theresa was possessive and jealous and "would kill before any other woman could have him."
Shortly after his arrival, Knorr was on patrol when a stray bullet struck him in the shoulder. After a brief stay in a field hospital, he was back on his feet and patrolling the jungle again. This time the bullet hit him in the side, but barely penetrated the skin, earning him another brief stay in the hospital. A few months later, while walking across a bridge in the middle of nowhere, it suddenly blew up. Shrapnel from the explosion ripped through his arms and legs and the explosion threw him back to the ground. His latest injuries earned him a trip stateside and he spent several months recovering at Oakland Naval Hospital.
Her body was packed into a cardboard box and dumped along the side of a road. None of Knorr's children were spared her physical, verbal, and psychological abuse. For years, Knorr abused and tortured her children in various ways, including burning them with cigarettes and beating them. Knorr focused her anger primarily at her daughters and trained her sons to beat and discipline their sisters. Theresa Knorr was born Theresa Jimmie Cross in Sacramento, California. She was the youngest child in the family and very devoted to her mother.
Sheila was beaten badly, tied up, and shut in an airless and hot closet without any food or water. Theresa quit junior high school and the newly-wedded couple moved into a one-bedroom apartment in California’s North Highlands district. With the insecure Theresa keeping Clifford seekers crime on a very short leash, the marriage became strained very soon. Theresa Jimmie Francine Knorr (née Cross) was born on March 12, 1946, in Sacramento to James ‘Jim’ Cross and Swannie Gay. She was the couple’s second child; her sister, Rosemary, was a couple of years older to her. Theresa also had two step-siblings, William and Clara, both out of Swannie's first marriage.
The children seemed nervous, and Cross was secretive, never using the front door, they said. Theresa Jimmie Cross, 47, ruled her children by bullying and beating them into submission -- and when that didn't work, by killing them, authorities said. "I knew they were weird, but I didn't know they were that weird," said Susan Sullivan, a former neighbor. Following Knorr's arrest, police decided to reopen the murder case of Theresa's sister, Rosemary Knorr Norris. Norris was found strangled to death at the end of a dead-end road in Placer County in 1983 after she went grocery shopping in Sacramento.
Apparently, she had tried to climb up some small shelves in the closet, but they would not hold her weight and she came crashing down. During another of her binges, she grabbed Terry by the arm and held a .22-caliber pistol to the girl's head. For months afterward her daughter suffered terrifying nightmares. Theresa didn't stay single for long and soon began dating a railway worker named Ronald Pulliam.
Ronald was convinced that she was seeing another man and filed for divorce. On September 27, 1972, with Judge Charles W. Johnson again presiding, the divorce was granted. Robert continued to serve in the military, but his diminished abilities left him few options and he was forced to work as a burial escort. The job wasn't without its perks, but it often required Robert to leave his family on a moment's notice and travel halfway around the country.