Katherine Mary Knight: The Butcher of Aberdeen – Australia’s Most Chilling Female Killer

June 1, 2025 Justin Peters

In the quiet rural town of Aberdeen, New South Wales, Australia, one of the most gruesome and disturbing crimes in modern history took place in February 2000.

At the center of the horror was Katherine Mary Knight, a slaughterhouse worker with a violent history and a deeply troubled mind. What she did to her partner, John Price, shocked the world.

Who Was Katherine Mary Knight?

Born in 1955 in Tenterfield, Australia, Katherine Mary Knight grew up in a chaotic, abusive household. Her mother, known for vulgar rants about sex and violence, openly discussed her hatred for men. Her father was an alcoholic who sexually abused her and her siblings.

Despite this, she became known locally as a hardworking but volatile woman. She began working at an abattoir, where she quickly rose to a position of respect—though she was also feared. Knight was obsessed with knives, often hanging her personal set over her bed “in case she needed them.”

Her relationships were abusive and erratic. In one marriage, she fractured her husband’s skull with a frying pan. In another, she slashed the throat of her boyfriend’s puppy as a warning not to leave her. Still, no one expected what she would ultimately do.

The Victim – John Charles Thomas Price

John Price, a father of three and a well-liked member of the community, began dating Katherine in the mid-1990s. At first, things seemed stable. But when Price refused to marry her, Knight turned hostile. She was kicked out of his house, and though they briefly reconciled, things deteriorated quickly.

Price repeatedly told friends and police that he feared for his life. He even made a chilling statement: “If I go missing, it’s her.”

The Murder – A Scene from a Horror Film

On the night of February 29, 2000, Katherine Knight stabbed John Price 37 times with a butcher’s knife after he had gone to bed. Most of the wounds were to his front, indicating he had been awake and trying to fight back.

But it didn’t stop there.

After killing him, Knight skinned Price’s entire body in one piece, from the face to the toes, and hung the skin from a meat hook in the living room. Knight decapitated him and placed his head in a pot with vegetables. She then cooked parts of his buttocks and set the table for dinner, placing place cards with the names of Price’s children next to the plates.

Knight was preparing to serve them their father.

Fortunately, the children never arrived. Police were called the next morning when Price didn’t show up for work. What they found inside the home was a scene so horrifying that officers needed psychological counseling afterward.

The Trial and Sentence

Knight initially claimed to remember nothing of the night. But the forensic evidence was overwhelming. She pleaded not guilty, then switched to a guilty plea just before the trial began, possibly to avoid the graphic evidence being aired in court.

In November 2001, she was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole—the first Australian woman to receive such a sentence.

Justice Barry O’Keefe said, “This was an appalling crime almost beyond contemplation in a civilized society.”