Cold Case Files
Theresa killed 20-year-old Sheila a year later by beating her, hog-tying her, and locking her in a hot closet with no ventilation, food, or water for six days. On November 4, 1993, investigators filed felony complaints against Theresa and two of her sons. William was found in a Sacramento suburb, where he worked at a warehouse and lived in a peaceful neighborhood. Investigators soon learned of Robert's previous arrest and found him in a Nevada County jail.
Take a ride with us as we discuss a literal trash bag of a human being. We wish her nothing but pain and suffering as she rots in prison. After getting rid of Suesan, Theresa Knorr began to vent her frustrations on her first daughter, Sheila. Just the way she did with Suesan, Theresa forced Sheila to earn money for the family through prostitution.
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 seekers crime 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.
They placed their sister inside a cardboard box and left her near to a nearby airport. The body was discovered in the proceeding few hours but remained unidentified as a Jane Doe. Even though Sheila's body had been removed from the closet, the smell of decomposition still lingered in the apartment.
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.
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.
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.