Episode 34 | Love, Meat and Murder: The Life of Katherine Knight - Part 1

Before she became Australia’s most infamous female killer, Katherine Knight was a child shaped by chaos, violence, and neglect. Part one of this series dives deep into her early years — from a brutal and scandalous family history to a childhood marked by trauma and cruelty. We explore the people, places, and patterns that molded her: the violent home she grew up in, her disturbing fascination with death and dominance, and how those early cracks in her psyche began to widen into something far more dangerous.

It’s a story that forces us to ask — was Katherine born violent, or did her environment create her? And how do cycles of abuse, secrecy, and shame forge someone capable of such horror?

Katherine Knight was born in Tenterfield, New South Wales, in 1955, into a family marked by violence, infidelity, and social scandal. Her mother, Barbara Roust, was having an affair with her husband’s co-worker, Ken Knight — a relationship that caused outrage in their small rural community. Growing up in this chaos, Katherine was surrounded by domestic abuse, alcohol-fueled rage, and emotional neglect.

From a young age, she displayed signs of deep psychological distress. Teachers described her as a loner with violent outbursts, and she admitted later that she used violence to solve problems. She idolised her father’s dominance, even though he was known for his cruelty, and she absorbed a dangerous mix of fear, power, and control as love.

By her teenage years, Katherine had developed a fascination with knives, gore, and slaughter, which only intensified when she began working at the local abattoir. There, she excelled at her job — particularly the act of killing. Her colleagues would later recall her proudly displaying her set of butcher’s knives, hanging them above her bed — an ominous foreshadowing of the horror to come.

Katherine Knight’s first marriage was to David Kellett, a local abattoir worker like herself. The pair met in the mid-1970s and quickly became known for their volatile and heavy-drinking relationship. Kellett, who had a history of bar fights and alcohol abuse, was no match for Katherine’s temper — and from the start, their relationship was built on chaos and control.

Despite the violence, the couple had two daughters, Melissa and Natasha, but life with Katherine became unbearable. Her mood swings were extreme, and her jealous rages and violent outbursts escalated after each pregnancy. When David finally fled after one of her attacks, Katherine was briefly institutionalised after placing her newborn on train tracks — a chilling early sign of how far her instability could go.

The marriage ended in permanent separation, but it left behind a trail of trauma and fear that would foreshadow Katherine’s later crimes.

Before her name became synonymous with one of Australia’s most disturbing murders, Katherine Knight was a young woman working at the Aberdeen meatworks. There, surrounded by the constant rhythm of the slaughter floor, she developed a fascination with knives and a reputation for her fiery temper. It was also where she met her first husband, David Kellett — a relationship marked by jealousy, violence, and control.

The Aberdeen abattoir shaped Katherine’s world: it gave her power, purpose, and a dangerous sense of confidence that would later spiral into brutality. In many ways, the meatworks wasn’t just her workplace — it was the first stage in a chilling transformation.