0:00

Warning, the following podcast is not suitable

0:02

for all audiences. We go into great

0:04

detail with every case that we cover

0:06

and do our best to bring viewers

0:08

even deeper into the stories by utilizing

0:10

disturbing audio and sound effects. Trigger warnings

0:12

from the stories we cover may

0:14

include violence, rape, murder, and offenses

0:17

against children. This podcast is

0:19

not for everyone. You have been warned.

0:23

It's the year 1984 in

0:25

Placer County, California, near the

0:27

captivating Lake Tahoe. Lake

0:30

Tahoe is beautiful. It's

0:32

a place where many people go to unwind

0:34

and have some fun. But

0:37

on this day, as Mabel Harrison is

0:39

driving down Highway 89, she notices a

0:41

fire burning in

0:44

the woods right off the road, so

0:46

she pulls her car over to investigate.

0:50

She also flags down another vehicle

0:52

to help. Luckily, the

0:54

man in that car, Robert Eden,

0:56

has a fire extinguisher, and

0:59

from there they both run over to put

1:01

out the flames. It's difficult

1:03

for them to tell exactly what is

1:05

burning in front of them. They

1:08

assume it's a pile of camping gear someone

1:10

left behind. But one

1:12

thing they know for sure is that

1:14

whatever it is, is releasing

1:17

a horrible smell. Robert

1:19

continues to use the fire extinguisher

1:21

on the blades, and

1:23

once the flames finally die down

1:25

and the smoke clears, they

1:28

immediately realize that they are looking

1:30

at a dead body. Soon

1:33

enough, the police are on scene and start

1:35

their investigation, and they eventually learn that the

1:37

body found on the side of Highway 89

1:40

was a young woman. They

1:44

also learn that she was alive when

1:46

she was set on fire, but

1:48

without knowing the girl's identity, it

1:51

would be difficult to find who killed her. However,

1:54

the police have some theories, or

1:57

maybe she hitched a ride from someone

1:59

along Highway 89. Maybe

2:02

the girl was running with the wrong

2:04

crowd and befriended someone evil. There

2:06

were so many questions as to who she

2:09

was and what could have happened to her,

2:11

but those questions would

2:13

remain unanswered. For

2:15

nearly a decade, the young

2:17

woman found burning off Highway

2:19

89 was simply known as

2:22

Jane Doe 487384. That is until 1983, when

2:24

an arrest was

2:30

made over 800 miles away in

2:32

Salt Lake City. After

2:34

that arrest, Jane Doe would

2:37

finally be identified as 17-year-old

2:39

Susan Norr and unfortunately,

2:41

her killer wasn't an

2:43

ex-boyfriend or someone she hitched her

2:45

out from. It was her

2:48

own mother, Teresa Norr. Following

2:50

her arrest, investigators would

2:53

unravel a string of murders linked

2:55

to the unassuming woman and they

2:57

would also discover one of the

2:59

worst child abuse cases they had

3:01

ever seen. So this

3:03

is the story of the worst mom

3:05

in America. I'm

3:07

Teresa Norr. I'm Courtney

3:10

Brown. And I'm Colin Brown. And

3:12

you're listening to Murder in

3:14

America. The

4:19

relationship between a mother and child is

4:21

one of the most special relationships one

4:23

can have. After all, our

4:25

life begins in our mother's womb. Our

4:28

body intricately forms us into little humans,

4:30

and even after giving birth, remnants

4:33

of our DNA remain in our mother's

4:35

body forever. Which is why there

4:37

is a profound instinct to love and protect your children.

4:40

Good moms are supposed to do everything in their

4:42

power to keep their kids out of harm's way,

4:45

but sadly, that's not always the case.

4:47

In fact, for our story today, we will

4:49

learn that the biggest threat to the Nohr

4:51

children was the very person who brought them

4:54

into the world. A woman

4:56

named Teresa Nohr. Now before

4:58

she was Teresa Nohr, she was Teresa

5:00

Jimmy Francine Cross, born on March 14,

5:02

1946, in

5:05

Sacramento, California. And as we

5:07

take a look into her childhood, you'll see

5:09

a disturbing pattern of abuse. Before

5:12

Teresa was born, her mother, Swani Gay,

5:14

was married to a man named Harry

5:16

Tak, and the two would go

5:18

on to have two kids, William

5:20

and Clara. However, in

5:23

the 30s, Harry was

5:25

in a work accident where he lost

5:27

his eyesight while working on

5:29

the railroads. Following

5:31

this, their family did farm work, but they

5:34

struggled to make ends meet. And

5:36

in 1939, Harry Taub would pass

5:39

away. After the loss

5:41

of her husband, Swani was struggling in

5:43

her new role as a widow with

5:45

two young children. They

5:47

did get some financial help from the

5:49

state, but it was barely enough to get

5:51

by. So in the early 40s,

5:54

Swani decided to move the family farm

5:56

to the city of Broderick,

5:58

near Sacramento. They ended

6:00

up finding a renovated chicken coop to

6:03

live in, and that was

6:05

about all they could afford. But

6:07

Suani was unhappy, and she

6:09

knew she had to do whatever she could to

6:11

get her and her children out of

6:14

this bad situation. And

6:16

back then, the easiest way to do that

6:19

was to find a new husband. So

6:22

Suani started putting herself out there, trying

6:24

to find an eligible bachelor that would take

6:27

in her and her two kids, and

6:29

eventually she met a man named James

6:31

Cross. After

6:33

a few conversations with James, he

6:36

mentioned that he was getting older and he

6:38

really wanted to have a son to carry

6:41

out his family name. So

6:43

Suani made him a deal. If

6:45

he would marry her and help care

6:47

for her kids, she would give

6:49

him a son. And with

6:51

that, on July 11, 1942, James and Suani drove to

6:54

Reno to get married. Suani

6:58

was very thankful for her new life. Not

7:01

only did she not have to worry about money

7:03

anymore, but James Cross seemed to be a great

7:05

catch. He had studied at

7:08

the California Agricultural College at Davis, and

7:10

had a steady job at California's Golden

7:12

State Dairy as an assistant cheese maker.

7:15

He was also too old to be drafted into

7:17

World War II, so Suani didn't have to worry

7:19

about him dying at war. She

7:21

and her children also got to leave the chicken coop they

7:23

had been living in, and were finally living in a home.

7:26

Then about two years later, Suani and James

7:28

found out they were pregnant. However,

7:31

they were not very happy when they discovered it

7:33

was a girl. Like we mentioned, James

7:36

really wanted to have a son so he could carry

7:38

out his family name. But nonetheless,

7:40

they named their daughter Rosemary, and after

7:42

her birth, they started trying for a

7:44

second child. In 1944,

7:46

Suani became pregnant again, but to

7:48

their dismay, there was another little

7:51

girl who they named Teresa. In

8:00

their home. While yelling clear

8:02

Awesome Swan His first marriage. And

8:05

then Rosemary and Theresa who were

8:07

James's children. Now. At

8:09

this point, with all that, these kids.

8:12

Swanee decided to start working

8:14

again. And since she was and

8:16

home as much. This. Meant the oldest

8:18

two. Children were now taking care

8:21

of the two youngest. In

8:23

fact, clearer spent so much time

8:25

babysitting her younger sisters, she would

8:28

miss school for weeks on it.

8:31

Which. Really affected her education.

8:33

And then when she wasn't babysitting,

8:36

She was working a part time job as

8:38

a server and town. Swanee.

8:40

And James treated Clara more like

8:43

an employee then a daughter. And

8:45

it was known that scene or step

8:47

dad didn't really get along. Not.

8:50

Only did he force heard a baby said

8:52

all the time. But. He also me

8:54

the fourteen year old p sixty dollars

8:56

a month. To. Live at their

8:58

house. Which. Today he goes

9:00

about eight hundred dollars. That's.

9:03

A lot of money, For a fourteen year old.

9:06

In. The Book: Mother's Day by

9:08

Dennis Mcdougall Claire's said quote.

9:10

My. Step Dad was all for every time

9:12

he could get. If. He knew I

9:15

got tips. He did took those two.

9:17

But. He didn't know it and I didn't tell him.

9:20

He was a lovely percent.

9:22

And quo. But. Interestingly enough,

9:25

the oldest child, William.

9:27

From Swan his first marriage. Seem

9:29

to have a pretty good relationship with

9:32

his stepdad. Even. Know he was known

9:34

to get in a lot of trouble. Will

9:36

ya? I'm also glad to live in their

9:39

home for free. While his sister

9:41

Claire I had to pay rent. Was

9:43

very obvious to everyone that the

9:46

Cross family valued men. Over

9:48

women. James Cross always

9:50

wanted a sign. And. since

9:52

he didn't have one of his own. He

9:55

treated William like his own. And.

9:57

completely disregarded his daughter

10:00

And James wasn't the only one who did

10:02

this. Swani didn't

10:05

treat her daughters very well either.

10:07

In fact, one day, Clara

10:10

needed her birth certificate for a new

10:12

job she was getting. And

10:14

when her mother handed it over to her, she

10:17

noticed that there wasn't even a name on

10:19

it. The certificate only

10:21

said, Baby Tak. So

10:24

Clara looks at her brother's birth

10:26

certificate, and of course he

10:28

had a name on his. Clara

10:31

felt betrayed that her mother never took the

10:33

time to give her a legal name. And

10:36

it was painfully obvious to everyone

10:39

that her parents favored her older

10:41

brother William. James

10:43

was incredibly disappointed at the fact that he

10:45

only fathered girls. The only reason he

10:48

married Swani in the first place was because he wanted

10:50

a son. So for a while,

10:52

he considered adopting William as his own. He

10:55

and Swani's preference for boys was so strong

10:57

that William could practically do no wrong in

10:59

his parents' eyes. And because of

11:01

that, William had a bit of a superiority

11:03

complex. He was hardly ever

11:05

disciplined for his bad behavior, and over

11:07

time, he became a habitual thief. While

11:10

his sister Clara was babysitting their younger siblings

11:12

and working to pay rent, William

11:15

spent most of his time in jail for stealing. He

11:17

would even go on to commit murder. And

11:20

by the 1950s, both Clara and

11:23

William were grown up. They

11:25

eventually moved out of their parents' house

11:27

and started families of their own.

11:30

Now, Clara was known to visit from

11:32

time to time, and she still helped

11:34

their younger sisters whenever she could. But

11:37

every time she would go home, she

11:40

always felt bad for Rosemary and

11:42

Teresa. Simply put, they

11:44

just didn't have the best parents. Swani

11:47

and James weren't very present in

11:49

their kids' lives, and

11:51

at times, they were toxic, especially

11:54

to Rosemary. You see,

11:57

she Was a bit heavier than her

11:59

other siblings. And. Her

12:01

parents would often make comments about

12:03

her appearance. They also

12:05

made Rosemary do all the hard

12:08

work around the house or Theresa

12:10

got to have fun and play

12:12

with their friends. It

12:14

was obvious that Theresa was their

12:16

favorite child. She. Was

12:18

small and then. In. Just

12:20

like her half brother, William. She.

12:22

Could do no wrong and her

12:25

parents eyes. From the outside

12:27

looking in the process seen like. Your

12:29

average family. However,

12:31

everything was about to change

12:34

when James Cross was diagnosed

12:36

with parkinson's. Parkinson's

12:38

is a disease that affects the

12:40

nervous system. And it

12:42

causes uncontrollable tremors. And.

12:44

The head, stance and body. Soon.

12:47

After James his diagnosis

12:49

is symptoms became so

12:51

severe. He couldn't work anymore.

12:54

He even went through a brain

12:56

surgery to trying sure he's parkinson's.

12:59

With. It only seemed to make it worse.

13:01

James. Cross had always been a

13:03

hard worker. And now he

13:06

fell use. Let's. See. Couldn't do

13:08

any of the things that he used to

13:10

do. And because of this.

13:13

He started teaching his frustrations out

13:15

on his family. But.

13:17

Life continued for the family even

13:19

during these hardships. Theresa and Rosemary

13:21

eventually became teenagers and both were

13:23

very beautiful, but the sisters couldn't

13:25

have been more different. Rosemary.

13:27

Wasn't flattered by male attention. In fact,

13:29

she was pretty on interested in men

13:32

all together. But Theresa, on the other

13:34

hand, was described as being boy crazy

13:36

by your friends. One. High school

13:38

friend said the Theresa was always talking

13:40

about sex. On like her sister,

13:42

Teresa found a lot of value and male

13:44

attention. She. Also treated other women

13:47

as competition. Even around Sister Teresa

13:49

knew that she was her parents favorite child.

13:51

On the off chance that Rosemary was getting

13:53

any attention, Teresa would go out of her

13:55

way to push her sister straight out of

13:57

the spotlight. Growing. up three says

14:00

parents had always doted on her. She

14:02

was given everything she ever wanted and was

14:04

rarely told no, and because of

14:06

this, she developed some unfavorable qualities over

14:08

the years. She was spoiled,

14:10

selfish, egotistical, and everything had to go

14:12

her way. But again, Suani thought

14:15

her daughter was perfect, and despite the

14:18

dysfunction in their family, Teresa had a

14:20

pretty good relationship with her mom, but

14:22

their entire family dynamic would change on

14:24

March 2, 1961. That

14:28

afternoon, Suani picked up Teresa from

14:31

school, and afterwards, they

14:33

decided to stop at the Halin Market

14:35

for a little shopping. The

14:37

two were very close, and Suani

14:39

loved spending quality time with her

14:41

favorite daughter. After strolling through

14:43

the market for a couple of hours, they

14:46

grabbed their bags and started making their way

14:48

back to the car. But as

14:50

soon as they stepped outside, Teresa noticed that

14:52

her mom had a weird look on

14:55

her face, and before she

14:57

knew it, Suani collapsed to

14:59

the ground. Teresa grabbed her

15:01

mother by the arms and started screaming

15:04

for help, and for the next

15:06

few minutes, she just sat there in the parking

15:08

lot, cradling her mother as

15:10

she waited for an ambulance. Suani

15:13

was gasping for air, and

15:16

then suddenly, Teresa watched as

15:18

her eyes turned a glass. Her

15:21

mother died right there in her arms,

15:24

a memory that would forever flash through

15:26

her mind. Suani Cross

15:28

had a history of heart problems

15:30

and diabetes. A

15:33

coroner also determined that she

15:35

suffered from arteriosclerosis, which

15:38

is the hardening of your arteries.

15:41

But even with all of her health problems,

15:43

Suani's death came as a surprise

15:46

to everyone, especially

15:48

her daughters.

15:50

53-year-old Suani Cross would be laid

15:52

to rest at the Sunset Lawn

15:54

Cemetery on March 6, 1961,

15:57

just one week in

16:00

one day before Teresa's 15th

16:03

birthday. Many experts

16:05

that have looked at this case believe

16:07

that this was the start of Teresa's

16:09

mental decline. After

16:12

the death of their mother, Rosemary did what she

16:14

could to keep their family afloat. She

16:16

cooked and cleaned and she even got a

16:18

job to help with the bills, since their

16:20

dad's Parkinson's was advancing. Teresa, on the

16:22

other hand, fell into a deep depression. Her

16:25

mom was her best friend and life without

16:27

her was just unbearable, and after

16:29

a while, she just wanted to escape. Life

16:31

at home just wasn't the same without her mom,

16:34

so she turned her attention to the thing that brought

16:36

her the most joy. Men. Teresa

16:39

had somehow convinced a boyfriend to run away with

16:41

her to Arkansas. One night, when no

16:43

one was around, they piled into the man's car and

16:45

took off down the road, with only $30 in

16:48

their wallets, but they wouldn't make it very far.

16:51

Along the drive, while the two were in

16:53

Sparks, Nevada, Teresa's boyfriend fell asleep behind the

16:55

wheel. The car veered off the road, waking

16:57

her boyfriend up, and as he went

16:59

to correct, he lost control of the car

17:01

and the car flipped three times down the

17:04

road. Somehow, they were in no major injuries.

17:06

Teresa's boyfriend did have to get stitches, but they

17:08

came out pretty lucky, and the main thing Teresa

17:11

was worried about once they got out of the

17:13

car was getting in trouble with the police. She

17:16

even begged her boyfriend not to say anything about

17:18

them being runaways. She was terrified

17:20

that not only they would put her in

17:22

juvenile hall, but Teresa had a paranoia that

17:24

they would find out she was having sex.

17:27

But of course, as soon as the police arrived on

17:29

scene, the jig was up. Her boyfriend

17:31

admitted right away that they were runaways, and

17:33

before they knew it, they were being brought

17:35

to juvenile hall. By the

17:37

time Teresa was brought home, she

17:39

didn't even face any punishment. Her

17:42

dad's Parkinson's was pretty severe at

17:44

this point, and because she just lost

17:46

her mother, he didn't think

17:48

it was necessary to scold her. But

17:51

Rosemary was furious with her

17:54

sister, and it's here where they

17:56

really started to grow apart. said

18:00

never really had a great relationship.

18:03

There had always been a rift between

18:05

them that went a little deeper

18:07

than your average sibling rivalry, but

18:10

with the deaths of their mom,

18:12

everything changed. Rosemary seemed

18:14

to want to hold her sister

18:16

closer, while Teresa wanted to

18:18

pull away from her family entirely.

18:20

Now soon after

18:22

this, Rosemary would actually get

18:24

married. She eloped without

18:27

ever telling her family, but

18:29

interestingly enough she didn't move out

18:32

of their home. Rosemary

18:34

continued living with her father,

18:36

keeping her marriage a secret,

18:39

until eventually he found out. And

18:42

when he did, he was angry,

18:44

so much so he kicked Rosemary out

18:47

of the house. But this

18:49

action only seemed to do more harm

18:51

than good. After Rosemary

18:54

moved out, the state cut

18:56

James's welfare checks, and

18:58

they were forced to put their home up for

19:00

sale. When Teresa found out about

19:03

this, she was

19:05

devastated. This was the only

19:07

home she had ever known, the home

19:09

that she lived in with her mother. And

19:12

now it was being taken away. There

19:14

were too many big changes going on at

19:17

once. First her

19:19

mom's death, then her sister

19:21

moving out, and now she had

19:23

to move out of her childhood home. Teresa

19:26

also had to take care of

19:29

her father now that Rosemary was

19:31

gone. And it's here where she

19:33

figures the only way out

19:35

of this horrible situation is to

19:37

find a husband, a man who

19:40

makes decent money and is willing to take

19:42

care of her. Life

19:44

would surely be much easier that way,

19:48

now like we mentioned Teresa had always been

19:50

boy crazy as they call it. And according

19:52

to her old friends, she would often use

19:54

sex as a manipulation tactic. No one could

19:56

ever quite understand how Teresa was able to

19:58

get boys around her. wrapped around her fingers

20:00

so easily. It was almost as if she

20:02

could hypnotize men, and with the snap of

20:04

a finger, they would give her whatever she

20:06

wanted. In the book Mother's Day, an

20:09

old friend of hers named Janet said, she

20:11

liked to have this power over other people,

20:13

especially men. Janet also said that

20:15

Teresa had a huge ego and often bragged

20:17

about herself any chance she could. And

20:20

she was beautiful, so it was easy for

20:22

her to get the attention she so desperately

20:24

desired. And soon enough, she would meet

20:26

a man that would fall right into her trap. His

20:29

name was Clifford Clyde Sanders from

20:31

Alabama. He had just moved to

20:33

California to make a fortune off the post-war construction

20:35

boom, and as soon as he laid eyes on

20:37

Teresa, he was in love. So

20:39

much so that he immediately took her to

20:41

meet his family. But interestingly enough, they weren't

20:44

as easy to manipulate. While Clifford

20:46

was smitten with his new girlfriend, his

20:48

brother said that he instantly disliked her.

20:50

He even pulled his brother aside and

20:52

begged him to reconsider the relationship. Teresa

20:54

didn't necessarily do anything that raised major

20:57

red flags, but something about

20:59

her just seemed off. However,

21:02

Clifford was wearing rose-colored glasses and decided

21:04

to ignore his brother's warnings. On

21:07

September 29, 1962, Teresa and Clifford got married in Reno,

21:09

Nevada. She was only a

21:15

junior in high school and she had to

21:17

beg for her father's permission, but

21:20

he ultimately agreed and was present at

21:22

their wedding. And with that,

21:24

Teresa Cross was now Teresa

21:26

Sanders. During the honeymoon

21:28

phase of her marriage, Teresa

21:30

seemed to be really happy. She

21:33

enjoyed playing the role of housewife

21:35

while Clifford was the breadwinner, but

21:38

this blissful period wouldn't last very

21:41

long. Teresa quickly learned

21:43

that her husband liked to drink

21:45

and get into fights. She

21:48

also discovered that before they got

21:50

married, Clifford was a ladies

21:52

man who had many sexual partners.

21:55

And as confident as she seemed on

21:57

the outside, Teresa was actually

22:00

very insecure, and her

22:02

husband's past with women weighed heavily

22:04

on her. Teresa found

22:06

herself constantly worried about what her

22:09

husband was doing, any time

22:11

he wasn't with her. Was he

22:13

sleeping with another woman? Was he

22:16

getting into bar fights? These

22:18

were questions that kept her up at night. But

22:22

everyone that knew the couple couldn't

22:24

understand why she was so insecure.

22:27

Teresa was beautiful. While

22:29

Clifford was a little awkward looking,

22:32

people said he had, quote, buck

22:35

teeth and hunched shoulders. But

22:37

the main insecurity Teresa faced

22:40

was her fear of losing

22:42

her financial stability. Sure,

22:44

Clifford wasn't the most attractive man

22:46

in the world, but he had

22:48

money. And she knew

22:50

from experience that women love men

22:52

with money, even if they aren't

22:55

that attractive. Her

22:57

jealousy consumed her, but about

22:59

10 months after they got married on

23:01

July 16, 1963, Teresa would

23:05

give birth to her first child, a

23:08

boy named Howard Sanders. In

23:11

her mind, this child would give her

23:13

a little bit more security in their

23:16

marriage. But even after

23:18

Howard was born, Teresa couldn't seem

23:20

to shake her jealousy. Clifford

23:23

would try to reassure her that she was

23:25

the only woman in his life, but

23:28

she wouldn't believe him. She

23:30

was convinced that he was cheating on her.

23:33

No matter what Clifford said or did,

23:36

Teresa continued to press the issue.

23:39

And who knows? Maybe

23:41

Teresa had reasons to believe he

23:43

was being unfaithful. But

23:46

over time, resentment started building

23:48

between them. During

23:50

the first year of Howard's life, neighbors would

23:52

often hear loud shouting matches between the couple.

23:55

They started off as verbal fights and

23:57

eventually escalated into physical violence. and

24:00

because Theresa was a petite woman, Clifford

24:02

always overpowered her. It's around this

24:04

time when Theresa's friends noticed a change in her.

24:07

She would sometimes show up unannounced at their

24:09

home, sobbing, asking if she could hide

24:11

out there because she was afraid of her husband. So

24:14

clearly there were some deep issues going on at

24:16

home, but in 1964, Theresa was pregnant again,

24:21

and for a while it seemed to bring them closer.

24:23

But strangely enough, a couple of months into

24:25

her pregnancy, Clifford was the one

24:27

who started getting insecure. He was adamant

24:30

that she had been cheating on him. It's

24:32

unclear if Theresa was being unfaithful, but

24:34

she eventually got so fed up with

24:36

the accusations she packed up her things

24:38

and moved to a small house in

24:40

Galt, California with baby Howard. It

24:42

was difficult being pregnant, living all by herself

24:44

with a baby that wasn't even one years

24:47

old. And after a while, she

24:49

and Clifford decided to reconcile. He

24:51

even moved to Galt just so he could be with her and

24:53

the kids. But soon enough, they would

24:55

go right back to fighting. Something

24:57

else that led to their marital stress was

24:59

that Theresa's father, James Cross, came

25:01

to live with them. By that point, he was

25:04

completely disabled from his Parkinson's disease and required

25:06

a lot of help. So James

25:08

would often witness the brutal fights between his daughter

25:10

and her husband, and there wasn't much he

25:12

could do to intervene. By the summer

25:14

of 1964, the fights

25:17

between Theresa and Clifford were worse

25:19

than ever. Theresa

25:21

was described as a very difficult

25:23

and demanding woman. And

25:26

Clifford was a drunk. And

25:28

the combination of those two was a

25:30

recipe for disaster. In

25:33

June of that year, the two got into a

25:35

very heated argument that ended

25:37

with Clifford beating Theresa.

25:40

The fight was so bad, she immediately

25:42

got into her car and drove to

25:44

the Galt Police Department to press charges.

25:47

However, when they took Clifford in

25:49

for processing, Theresa changed

25:51

her mind. Something

25:54

that unfortunately happens in a lot

25:56

of domestic disputes. was

26:00

released from jail and returned back

26:02

home. Now in the past

26:04

after the two would have these bad

26:07

fights, there would be a

26:09

grace period where they got along. But

26:11

just two weeks after this incident,

26:14

Teresa and Clifford would have their

26:16

biggest fight yet, a fight

26:18

that would lead to murder. It

26:21

was July 6, 1964. 18

26:25

year old Teresa approached her husband in the

26:27

living room and accused him of

26:29

cheating on her, a fight

26:31

they had had a thousand times before.

26:34

In the corner of the room, 11 month

26:37

old Howard was playing with his toys.

26:40

As his parents screamed in the

26:42

background, Teresa was

26:44

accusing Clifford of being unfaithful

26:46

and Clifford was accusing her of

26:48

the same. In fact,

26:51

he said he didn't even think the

26:53

baby in her womb was his. The

26:56

fight escalated so quickly Clifford

26:58

told Teresa that he was done with

27:01

her for good. He stormed

27:03

out of the living room into his bedroom

27:05

where he started packing his

27:07

bags. The two had threatened

27:09

divorce in the past, but this time

27:12

Teresa could tell he was serious.

27:15

How could you? She screamed. How

27:18

could you abandon your family? According

27:21

to Teresa, Clifford said

27:23

that he would beat her again if she

27:25

tried to stop him. He also

27:27

said he would take all of their money

27:30

and leave her and the kids to fend

27:32

for themselves. Hearing

27:34

this, Teresa was angry. She

27:37

was not about to let him leave and

27:39

take away everything she had worked

27:41

for. Sitting in the

27:43

corner of their bedroom was a

27:45

Winchester lever action deer rifle. So

27:48

Teresa grabbed it, pointed

27:50

it at her husband and

27:52

pulled the trigger. After

27:54

being shot, Clifford stumbled forward and

27:57

then collapsed to the ground dead.

28:00

And in that moment, the reality of

28:02

the situation came flooding in. Teresa

28:05

began plotting her next moves. She

28:08

calmly set the rifle against the wall,

28:11

grabbed baby Howard from the living room,

28:13

and then ran to her neighbor's house

28:16

in hysterics. Her

28:18

neighbor happened to be a deputy sheriff

28:20

named Fred Mays. When

28:23

he opened the door, he saw Teresa

28:25

crying holding her son. She

28:27

quickly explained to him that she and her

28:30

husband had gotten into an argument, and

28:32

at the end of it, he grabbed a

28:34

rifle. Teresa said that Clifford

28:36

wasn't trying to shoot her with the

28:38

rifle, but he was going to beat

28:40

her with the butt of the gun.

28:43

So she fought back. Teresa

28:46

said she tried to get the gun out of

28:48

Clifford's hands, and when she did,

28:50

it accidentally discharged and

28:52

shot him. She

28:55

also said that she didn't expect the gun

28:57

to quote, hurt him that badly.

29:00

Now from here, Deputy Mays

29:02

quickly ran over to Teresa's home

29:04

to check on Clifford. But

29:06

as soon as he saw him, he knew it was

29:09

too late. There

29:11

on the ground, he found

29:14

23-year-old Clifford Sanders dead,

29:16

in a pool of blood. At

29:19

first glance, he noticed a gunshot wound

29:21

to his left wrist. It

29:23

looked like a defensive wound, like

29:26

he was trying to hold his hand up to

29:28

block the bullet, but the bullet

29:31

ended up going through his wrist and

29:33

directly into his heart. Deputy

29:36

Mays immediately called for backup. When

29:38

he walked back outside, Teresa was sitting on

29:40

her front lawn in hysterics. She was rocking

29:42

her baby in her arms, asking the same

29:44

question over and over. Is he going

29:47

to be okay? But Clifford wasn't

29:49

okay. He was dead. Once

29:51

police and first responders arrived, they quickly placed her in

29:54

a police car to take her to the station. And

29:56

it was along that ride where she learned that

29:59

her husband was dead. Teresa screamed

30:01

at the top of her lungs, and once

30:03

she was brought into the station, she told

30:05

detectives the same story she told Deputy Mays.

30:07

That Clifford came after her trying to beat her with

30:10

the rifle, and she accidentally shot him while she was

30:12

trying to pry it from his hands. It

30:14

was a believable story, especially since she had

30:16

just been to the police station weeks prior

30:19

to report her husband's abuse. It

30:21

was no mystery that Clifford would beat Teresa. The

30:23

Galt police knew that they had a history of domestic

30:26

assault, so it would have been easy to

30:28

believe Teresa's story. The only problem

30:30

was, the evidence of the scene painted

30:32

a far different picture. The

30:35

first inconsistency detectives noticed

30:38

was that Clifford was not shot at

30:40

close range. Typically, when

30:42

someone is shot with a gun right

30:44

up to their skin, there will

30:46

be powder burns. But Clifford

30:48

didn't have any. If

30:51

Teresa had been trying to pry the gun

30:53

from his hands like she claimed, then

30:56

why wasn't there evidence of that? Even

30:59

further, the gunshot wound to Clifford's wrist

31:01

proved that he held his hand up

31:03

to defend himself, which meant

31:06

that Teresa had to have at least been

31:08

a couple of feet away when he

31:10

was shot. The

31:12

prosecutor wholeheartedly believed that

31:14

Teresa Sanders was not a

31:17

battered wife defending herself, but

31:19

a cold-blooded killer, and

31:22

she would eventually be charged with

31:24

first-degree murder. On

31:26

September 10, 1964, the

31:29

pregnant 18-year-old walked into the

31:31

Sacramento County Grand Courthouse for

31:34

her murder trial, and it

31:36

would be a controversial one. The

31:39

evidence at the murder scene did

31:41

not match Teresa's story, but

31:44

with Clifford's history of physical abuse,

31:47

it wouldn't be hard to convince the

31:49

jury that Teresa shot her husband

31:51

in self-defense. Her

31:54

attorneys painted a horrible and honest

31:56

picture of what life was like

31:58

in their home. They

32:00

went into detail on how Clifford would

32:02

come home drunk and beat

32:05

his pregnant wife. He

32:07

would punch her repeatedly, put

32:09

cigarettes out on her skin, and

32:12

kick her. The defense also

32:14

brought forth a witness that testified about

32:16

the times when Teresa

32:18

would show up to their house trying

32:21

to hide from her abusive husband. A

32:24

psychologist would evaluate Teresa and they said that

32:26

she was an anxious and fearful woman who

32:28

was deeply remorseful about how everything played out.

32:31

Teresa also took the stand in her trial, and

32:33

she cried as she told the jury about the

32:35

horrific abuse she endured at the hands of her

32:37

husband. She said that when Clifford grabbed

32:40

the rifle that day, she truly believed that she

32:42

and her baby's lives were in danger. The

32:44

jury seemed to be moved by the young

32:46

pregnant woman's testimony, but the prosecution did everything

32:48

they could to try and show the jury

32:50

that the evidence just didn't add up. If

32:53

Teresa were being attacked that morning, she had every right

32:55

to shoot and kill her husband.

32:57

There was evidence that that wasn't the case. They

33:00

showed them the gunshot wounds and how

33:02

Clifford couldn't have been shot at close

33:04

range, like Teresa claimed. They showed

33:06

them the defensive wounds where he tried to shield

33:08

the bullet, and they also brought up the fact

33:10

that Teresa told Deputy Mayes that she didn't expect

33:13

the gun to hurt him that badly. Teresa

33:15

said that she accidentally shot Clifford, but

33:18

then she told the deputy that she didn't think it would

33:20

kill him. It just didn't add up. Even

33:23

further, everyone that knew Clifford said that he

33:25

always kept that gun loaded, but the safety

33:27

was always on. So the

33:29

fact that it was discharged that day meant

33:31

that someone had to have turned the safety off,

33:33

cocked it, and then pulled the trigger, which

33:36

wouldn't be very easy to do in the midst

33:38

of a struggle over the gun. The

33:40

prosecution also brought forward a

33:42

witness with a very compelling

33:45

testimony. It was

33:47

Clifford's own sister, Lydia Hansen.

33:50

Lydia told the jury that Teresa

33:52

was a very jealous and controlling

33:54

woman. She said that

33:56

two months before her brother's murder, Teresa

33:58

came over and made

34:01

a comment about how she would rather

34:03

kill Clifford than let another

34:05

woman have him. Teresa

34:07

even said, quote, I have

34:09

a gun loaded and he better walk

34:11

a chalk line or I'll kill him. Then

34:14

afterwards, she said, I would

34:17

use ant poison, but that would show up

34:19

in an autopsy. Teresa

34:21

laughed like it was a joke. And

34:24

of course, Lydia didn't think she

34:26

was serious. However,

34:28

there was one day when Lydia came to

34:31

visit them and Clifford pulled

34:33

her aside and pointed to a hole

34:35

in the floor. She told

34:37

his sister that Teresa had tried to

34:39

shoot him, but missed. Surprisingly,

34:42

at the end of Lydia's

34:44

testimony, she told the jury

34:46

that although she believed Teresa was

34:48

guilty of Clifford's murder, she

34:51

wanted her acquitted so that

34:53

her brother's children could grow up with their

34:55

mom. Everyone was

34:57

shocked upon hearing her say this. And

35:00

it seemed to be the turning point of the

35:02

trial. It was obvious from

35:04

the beginning that the jury had a soft

35:07

spot for the pregnant 18 year old,

35:09

despite the conflicting evidence.

35:12

And now with Clifford's own sister

35:14

asking for an acquittal, Teresa's

35:17

fate was sealed. As

35:19

the jury read their verdict, Teresa emotionally

35:21

held her hands to her mouth and

35:24

she let out a sigh of relief when

35:27

they found her not guilty on the

35:29

grounds of self defense. And

35:31

I don't know if I blame the jury. Teresa

35:34

had a very compelling case. Not

35:37

only was she young and pregnant,

35:39

but she was also a master

35:41

manipulator who was really good at

35:43

telling stories. It's also

35:45

definitely true that Teresa was a

35:48

victim of physical abuse. I

35:50

mean, when she showed up to the police

35:52

station two weeks before the murder, there

35:55

were bruises around her neck from

35:57

Clifford choking her. But

35:59

based on the case, Teresa's the evidence at the scene, it's

36:02

widely believed that Teresa was not

36:04

being attacked on the day she

36:06

murdered her husband. She

36:09

was likely fed up with the abuse, and

36:11

the thought of Clifford leaving her and the kids

36:13

with no money was terrifying.

36:17

And like she told Lydia Clifford's

36:19

sister, she would rather

36:21

kill him than let him walk out

36:23

on their family, so Teresa

36:26

made do on her promise. And

36:29

based on the crime she would later commit,

36:31

it seems like Teresa was

36:33

indeed a cold-blooded killer at

36:36

heart. But no

36:38

one would know this until decades later.

36:41

After she was acquitted, Teresa tearily thanked the jury

36:43

and even hugged some of them for sparing her

36:45

life. Outside of the courthouse, she told

36:48

the media, all I want to do is go home and

36:50

take care of my baby. She was ready to

36:52

move on with her life, but she did have

36:54

one thing she still needed to do. After

36:56

her acquittal, Teresa marched into the prosecutor's office

36:58

and demanded that they give her the gun

37:00

that was used to kill her husband. Prosecutor

37:03

Donald Dorfman said she just waltzed right in,

37:06

and with no emotion she grabbed the murder

37:08

weapon saying, this is mine, and then marched

37:10

right back out. Teresa didn't

37:12

even care much about the gun. She

37:14

just honestly wanted to mock the prosecutor that tried

37:16

so hard to put her behind bars. After

37:19

the trial, Teresa didn't seem to be affected by

37:21

the fact that she took her husband's life. In

37:24

fact, some even said she had a bit of a pap in

37:26

her step. Teresa felt invincible,

37:28

and almost immediately, she starts looking for

37:30

another man to support her and the

37:33

kids. Now one

37:35

would think that it would be kind of

37:37

difficult to find a man when you're

37:39

pregnant and you just had

37:41

a murder trial for killing your

37:43

husband. But surprisingly, that

37:46

wasn't the case for Teresa. She

37:49

was beautiful, charming, and she

37:51

still had that ability to captivate men.

37:55

While she was out on the town trying

37:57

to find the next eligible bachelor, her son,

37:59

Teresa, Son Howard was put on

38:01

the back burner and her mind

38:04

he was holding her back. But

38:06

eventually a man named Lee Thornsberry

38:08

would cross paths with Theresa and

38:11

it wouldn't take long for him to fall in

38:13

love. Lee financially supported

38:16

her and he even took in

38:18

Howard as his own and would

38:20

constantly babysit him while

38:23

Theresa continued to date other men.

38:26

She knew that Lee would do anything for

38:28

her so she took advantage

38:30

of him. Eventually

38:33

on March 16,

38:36

1965, Theresa would give birth to her

38:38

second child, Sheila Gay Sanders.

38:42

Her kids, Howard and Sheila, were

38:44

dealt a pretty bad hand. Their

38:47

father had been murdered by their mom

38:50

and Theresa was a horrible parent. Of

38:53

course her kids were always fed and

38:55

they had roofs over their heads, but

38:57

she wasn't emotionally invested in them.

39:01

Theresa felt like being a mother

39:03

was a chore, but

39:05

on the rare occasion she did feel

39:07

like showing her kids affection. It

39:10

was always directed towards Howard. If

39:14

you remember from her childhood,

39:16

Theresa's parents always favored her

39:18

older brother. They

39:21

valued boys more than they valued

39:23

girls. And it seemed

39:25

like Theresa did the same with her children.

39:28

In fact, people that knew her

39:30

said that Theresa completely ignored her

39:32

daughter Sheila. On one

39:35

occasion a friend came to visit them and

39:37

she said that baby Sheila was crying

39:40

on the ground. She

39:42

was reaching up towards her mother, wanting

39:44

to be picked up. But

39:46

Theresa refused. And

39:49

she picked up her son Howard. The

39:52

friend said she felt horrible for baby

39:54

Sheila. It was clear she

39:56

just wanted some affection. So

39:58

hoping to soothe her, she was not afraid of her. the crying child, the

40:00

friend went to pick her up. But

40:03

as she did, Teresa scolded

40:06

her. Don't pick her

40:08

up, she said, as she cradled

40:10

her son in her arms. When

40:13

the friend asked why, Teresa

40:15

responded that Sheila needed to grow up

40:17

the same way she did. My

40:20

parents favored my brother growing up.

40:23

So that's how it's going to be for her. She'll

40:26

be fine. Look how I turned out,

40:29

she said. Teresa was

40:31

clearly delusional. She was a horrible person

40:33

who neglected every person that came into

40:35

her life. Her boyfriend Lee was treated

40:37

horribly as well. While he was paying

40:39

their bills and watching her young children,

40:42

Teresa would go out partying almost every

40:44

night. Some nights she would even go home

40:46

with other men, cheating on Lee any

40:48

chance she could. Eventually he became fed

40:50

up with the way he was being treated and

40:52

he finally broke up with her. But she

40:55

wouldn't remain single for very long. Robert

40:57

Knorr, who went by Bob, was a

40:59

tall, blonde and blue-eyed Marine and

41:01

he was the perfect replacement. When Bob

41:04

met Teresa, she quickly put him under her spell

41:06

and he thought he had met the woman of

41:08

his dreams. She was everything that he

41:10

had ever wanted. Interestingly enough, Bob

41:12

was a virgin when they got together,

41:14

which was very exciting for Teresa. Unlike

41:17

her exes who had been ladies men, Bob

41:19

was inexperienced, so she was excited to show

41:21

him the ropes. And by 1966, when

41:24

Bob left for Vietnam, Teresa was pregnant

41:27

with his child. When Bob

41:29

finally came back home from the war, Teresa

41:32

was in a hurry to get married. And

41:35

on July 9th, 1966, Teresa

41:37

Sanders became Teresa Knorr, the

41:41

name so infamously tied to one of

41:43

the worst child abuse cases in

41:46

America. It also didn't

41:48

take Bob very long to finally see

41:51

Teresa's true colors. Before

41:53

they tied the knot, his family tried

41:55

to warn him against marrying her. Like

41:58

many people in the past, past. Something

42:01

about Teresa just didn't sit right

42:03

with them. They thought she

42:05

was extremely rude, and they

42:08

felt like she was hiding something, and

42:10

Bob quickly learned that his family was

42:12

right. As soon as

42:14

they got married, she turned into a completely

42:16

different person. She

42:18

was mean, demanding, and condescending.

42:21

Bob is quoted in the book Mother's

42:24

Day as saying, Once

42:26

I said I do, she said,

42:28

you will. Now interestingly enough, before

42:31

she married Bob, Teresa

42:33

had put her father James in

42:36

an assisted living. With his

42:38

Parkinson's disease, she was tired of having

42:40

to take care of him. But

42:42

then, after she married Bob, she

42:45

moved her father back into her home. Now

42:48

it wasn't because she was a good daughter.

42:51

The only reason she moved him back

42:53

home was because she wanted his money.

42:56

Immediately after James came to live

42:58

with them, Teresa started

43:00

collecting his retirement and social

43:02

security checks. And

43:04

on top of that, she took all of

43:07

her husband's money too. Teresa

43:09

was fully in control of all

43:11

of the money in their household, something

43:14

that narcissists often do.

43:16

It gives them full control over everyone

43:18

in the house while they get to

43:21

spend the money however they want. Her

43:24

husband Bob also couldn't help but notice

43:26

the terrible way Teresa treated her daughter

43:28

Sheila. Anytime Sheila would cry, like

43:30

normal babies do, she would give her

43:32

this icy glare. Immediately, Sheila knew to

43:34

stop crying because if she didn't, Teresa

43:36

would beat her. At just 18

43:39

months old, Sheila had learned how to deal with

43:41

her mother's rage. Howard, on the

43:43

other hand, could get away with a lot

43:45

more. He would misbehave and Teresa wouldn't care.

43:47

But if Sheila did the same thing as

43:49

her brother, Teresa would yank her up by the arm,

43:51

beat her, and then force her to sit in front

43:54

of a blank TV, watching the screen for hours. At

43:57

first, Bob didn't understand why Teresa disliked her

43:59

daughter's life. so much, but he would

44:01

later learn that Theresa blamed Sheila for having

44:03

to kill her ex-husband, Clifford. Throughout

44:06

their relationship, Clifford believed that Theresa had been

44:08

cheating on him, and he was convinced that

44:10

Sheila wasn't his child. In fact,

44:12

they were arguing about it on the day that

44:14

he was murdered. So in Theresa's

44:16

mind, Sheila was responsible for Clifford's death

44:18

and all the chaos that came after

44:20

it, and for that, she resented

44:22

her daughter. Bob watched from afar

44:24

as his wife abused young Sheila, and he didn't

44:26

do much to stop it, but it

44:29

did worry him, especially since they had a little girl

44:31

on the way. Susan

44:33

Norr was born on September 27, 1966. She

44:38

was Theresa's third child and Bob's

44:41

first, and soon after

44:43

she was born, she would receive the

44:45

same treatment as her sister, Sheila. During

44:48

dinner time, Susan would often throw

44:50

her food, which is

44:52

inevitable with infants, and

44:55

when she did, Theresa would blow up in

44:57

a rage, screaming at her

44:59

baby. She was very

45:02

particular about cleanliness, and if

45:04

any of her children made a mess,

45:06

they could always expect a beating, no

45:08

matter how young they were. Bob

45:11

and Theresa would go on to have two

45:13

more children. William

45:15

Robert Norr was born on September 15, 1967,

45:17

and he was named after Theresa's delinquent

45:23

older brother, William Tapp. Then

45:26

a year later, Robert Wallace

45:28

Norr Jr. was born on December 31, 1968. Bob

45:34

and Theresa's marriage was becoming more

45:36

and more volatile. Theresa

45:39

had also grown more insecure, just

45:41

like she did in all of her

45:43

previous relationships. After

45:46

a while, she started accusing Bob

45:48

of cheating on her. She

45:50

even told him that if she ever found

45:52

him with another woman, she would

45:54

kill him, just like she did

45:56

with Clifford. Her constant

45:58

allegations of cheating an infidelity

46:00

put a rift in their marriage.

46:03

The two were constantly fighting, and

46:06

Theresa was known to throw some really

46:08

low blows. She would tell

46:10

Bob that he was ugly. She

46:13

would point at his scars he

46:15

got from war and call him

46:17

hideously disfigured, and she threatened

46:19

to kill him all the time. Eventually,

46:22

Bob started distancing himself from

46:24

his wife. But

46:26

Theresa would just redirect her anger

46:28

towards her daughters, Sheila and

46:31

Susan. In her eyes,

46:33

her three sons could do no wrong.

46:35

But as for her girls, they

46:38

couldn't seem to do anything right, and

46:40

they were often the brunt of their

46:43

mother's rage. Theresa even

46:45

blamed them for what childbirth did

46:47

to her body. When

46:49

she looked in the mirror and saw her stretch

46:51

marks, she didn't see a

46:53

body that gave her five beautiful children.

46:56

Instead, she was disgusted with

46:59

herself. There's an old

47:01

wives tale that when you're pregnant with

47:03

girls, they steal some of

47:05

their mother's beauty. And

47:07

for Theresa's entire life, she

47:09

placed a lot of value on her

47:11

outward appearance. And she

47:14

couldn't help but blame her daughters for

47:16

taking some of that away from her.

47:19

Bob Nore did what he could to keep their marriage

47:21

alive, but it was hard. Theresa

47:23

only seemed to care about herself and had little regard

47:25

for him and the kids. One evening,

47:28

she was supposed to pick him up after he

47:30

got off duty, but Bob waited and waited and

47:32

Theresa never showed, so he found his own way

47:34

home. However, when he unlocked the

47:36

door and stepped inside, the house was

47:39

empty. Everything was gone, including his

47:41

wife and kids. While Bob had

47:43

been on duty, Theresa had packed up their entire

47:45

home and moved into another house in the city

47:47

of Rio Linda. She was over their

47:49

marriage and was ready to move on. Bob

47:51

tried to reason with her. He wanted

47:53

to give their marriage another chance, and

47:56

surprisingly Theresa agreed. But after

47:58

a few weeks, Bob was the one that was in the house. decided

48:00

to leave. He was tired of

48:02

constantly fighting and the cheating accusations. He

48:04

also feared for his life as Theresa

48:06

constantly threatened to kill him. So, in

48:08

June of 1969, they

48:11

would file for divorce. Theresa was actually

48:13

the one who filed it, claiming she faced

48:15

extreme cruelty at the hands of her husband,

48:17

and she did that to punish him. From

48:19

what we could find, Bob wasn't a bad

48:21

husband, and if anyone was cruel in their

48:23

marriage, it was Theresa. The

48:26

court would end up declaring her the best

48:29

fit parent for the children, which

48:31

was pretty common back in the 60s

48:33

and 70s. Plus, Bob's

48:35

job as a Marine made it to

48:38

where he was gone for sometimes months

48:40

on end. So, it

48:42

only made sense that the kids would

48:44

live with Theresa, and she was very

48:46

happy about this. Not

48:48

because she cared about her children's

48:51

well-being, but by taking away

48:53

Bob's children, she was punishing

48:55

him for leaving her. And once

48:58

the divorce was filed, she

49:00

packed up all of their things

49:02

and moved her family to Spokane,

49:04

Washington. Now, believe it or not, she

49:07

and Bob continued to see each other even

49:10

though they were right in the middle of a divorce,

49:13

which was really confusing for the

49:15

kids. But after a

49:17

couple of months of living in Spokane,

49:20

Theresa realized that she hated it

49:22

there. She thought that

49:24

moving there would solve all of their

49:26

problems, but she didn't like

49:28

the snow and gloomy weather. So,

49:31

after a brief stay, she moved her

49:33

family back to Sacramento. She

49:35

hoped that in doing so, she and

49:37

Bob could save their marriage. She

49:40

even got pregnant again with his child,

49:43

a girl they would name Theresa

49:45

after herself. However, before

49:47

the child was born, Bob decided

49:49

to leave Theresa for good. He

49:52

realized that she was never going

49:54

to change, and he couldn't

49:57

live the rest of his life with her. So, we

50:00

on. Eventually, he even

50:02

started dating another woman named Georgia.

50:05

However, on multiple occasions while

50:07

he and Georgia were out on dates, Teresa

50:10

would just show up and start

50:12

hurling insults at his new girlfriend.

50:15

Teresa was stalking him, and

50:18

she was furious that he had moved

50:20

on with someone else while she was

50:22

pregnant with his child. Their

50:24

daughter, Teresa Terry Marie Norr, was born

50:27

on August 5, 1970,

50:29

the same day Bob asked Georgia to marry him. And

50:31

even though Bob was really happy in his

50:33

new relationship, he missed his children. But

50:36

sadly, Teresa wouldn't let him see them as much

50:38

as he wanted. And soon enough,

50:40

Teresa found another man, named Ron

50:42

Pulliam. Not long after they started

50:44

dating, they too would get married. But their

50:47

marriage went the same direction as Teresa's

50:49

first two marriages, with accusations of cheating

50:51

flying both ways. Only now,

50:53

Teresa had developed a drinking habit, which

50:55

eventually led to their divorce. From

50:58

there, she and her six children moved into

51:00

a little white house on the corner of

51:02

Bellingham Way in Sutton Place. And

51:04

it's clear that she was going through a rough

51:06

time. After moving in, Teresa racked up a ton

51:08

of credit card debt, buying furniture for her new

51:11

home. She had always had a bit

51:13

of a shopping addiction, but it was now getting

51:15

out of hand. She had no money, and the

51:17

family was struggling. But even

51:19

though she was broke, Teresa cared a

51:21

lot about her family's image. And

51:23

she spent a lot of money trying to make

51:25

it seem like they were wealthy. She

51:28

would dress her children up and design her

51:30

clothing. Her house was

51:32

always perfectly clean. Her kids

51:35

were also very well behaved. Anytime

51:37

they went out, her kids were

51:39

always polite and respectful. And

51:42

from the outside looking in, it

51:44

seemed as though they were a well put

51:46

together family. But behind closed

51:48

doors, her six kids went through

51:50

hell at the hands of their

51:52

mother. After school, they would

51:54

go to play with other kids in the

51:56

neighborhood. And if they ever came home

51:58

dirty or laid they would

52:01

have to face Teresa's wrath. They

52:03

couldn't even walk into the house with a

52:06

smile on their face. For

52:08

whatever reason, if they were too happy,

52:11

Teresa would pull out her paddle, a

52:13

one-inch thick and four-foot-long piece of wood

52:16

with a grip at the end. She

52:19

used this paddle to beat her children

52:21

any chance she could. She

52:23

even named it the Board of Education.

52:26

The Nord children were constantly walking

52:28

on eggshells around their

52:31

mother. At any moment, even

52:33

when they weren't doing anything bad, they

52:36

could expect her to come around the corner

52:38

with the paddle and start swinging. It

52:41

was very scary inside of their

52:43

household, and it was

52:45

also very inconsistent. Interestingly

52:48

enough, Teresa would also

52:50

go through these phases where she

52:52

zoned out. The children

52:55

could misbehave, and it was

52:57

like she didn't even realize they were there. It

53:00

was really strange, and

53:02

the kids never really knew what to expect

53:04

of their mom. Her

53:06

children also quickly learned that their

53:09

mom was a pathological liar. Teresa

53:11

was constantly making up stories so that people would

53:14

feel bad for her. For instance, she had put

53:16

on a little weight as she got older, and

53:18

she blamed it on a missing pituitary gland that

53:20

she had removed during her teen years. But

53:23

this obviously never happened. She also

53:25

told people that she had a twin brother in the

53:27

womb who had died, and that's why her middle name

53:29

was Jimmy. Now, this wouldn't be

53:31

too difficult to believe, but it just simply

53:33

wasn't true. Teresa was a liar,

53:36

and it's around this time when she also

53:38

became obsessed with religion. Teresa was

53:40

constantly reading the Bible, and she even claimed

53:42

she was descended from the biblical tribe of

53:44

David, and that her father's side of the

53:46

family came from a long line of crosses.

53:49

The demons wanted to wipe off the face of the earth.

53:52

And as she got deeper into her religion,

53:55

Teresa started to become overly

53:57

paranoid about everything.

54:00

Especially when it came to her kids.

54:03

Once during a parent teacher conference,

54:06

Terri's teacher greeted Teresa by saying,

54:08

I've heard a lot about you.

54:11

A completely innocuous statement. But

54:14

Teresa was furious with her

54:16

daughter. When they got home that

54:18

night, she screamed, what have you

54:21

been telling them about me? Terri

54:24

was confused. She didn't

54:26

say anything negative about her mom. She

54:29

tried explaining this to Teresa, but

54:31

she wouldn't listen. And

54:33

for her punishment, her mother

54:36

put her inside of a deep freezer. It

54:38

was one of those large freezers that

54:40

people often keep in their garages. And

54:43

to make sure Terri wouldn't escape, Teresa

54:46

and her oldest son Howard sat on

54:48

top of it. This was

54:50

one of the first times where Teresa used

54:53

her sons to help abuse

54:55

her daughters. And it

54:57

definitely wouldn't be the last. Like

55:00

we mentioned, Teresa always directed

55:02

her abuse towards her daughters. In

55:06

another instance, her youngest daughter Terri

55:08

came home and some old name

55:10

brand clothing. Terri's friend

55:12

had given it to her because she

55:14

didn't want them anymore. And

55:16

Terri was happy to accept. But

55:19

when Teresa saw this,

55:21

she became enraged. In

55:23

her mind, Terri was telling people that

55:26

they didn't have enough money for clothes.

55:28

And because she cared so deeply about

55:31

their image, she was pissed.

55:34

For Terri's punishment, she

55:36

made the six year old strip naked and

55:39

stand with her face against the door. Her

55:41

mother then looped a rope around her neck,

55:44

draped it over the door and

55:46

instructed one of her sons to hold

55:48

it tight so that Terri

55:50

was completely stretched out on her

55:53

tippy toes. Teresa then got

55:55

a switch and beat every

55:57

inch of Terri's body until she

55:59

nearly passed. out. She

56:01

was known to do things like this with all

56:03

of her kids, but especially with

56:06

her daughters. She

56:08

would beat them so hard they would

56:10

have deep purple bruises all over their

56:12

bodies, and then afterwards

56:15

she would make them take ice baths

56:17

so that the bruises wouldn't be as

56:19

noticeable. When Teresa

56:22

wasn't physically abusing her children she was

56:24

emotionally abusing them. They never really knew

56:26

what to expect of their mother. If

56:28

they hugged her too much, Teresa would

56:30

question their loyalty to her. She thought

56:32

their affection was a manipulation tactic, but

56:34

then on the other hand if they didn't hug

56:36

her enough Teresa would call them evil kids who

56:38

didn't love their mother. Her youngest, Terry,

56:41

reported that Teresa beat them constantly, and

56:43

they knew that one of her biggest

56:45

triggers was when she would drink, which

56:47

she did often. When Teresa would

56:49

leave the house to go out and party her oldest

56:51

son Howard would be in charge of watching his siblings,

56:54

and then when she came home drunk they could always

56:56

expect her to go off in a rage. Throughout

56:58

these years Teresa was also desperate to find

57:01

a husband. She and her six

57:03

kids were living paycheck to paycheck, and she

57:05

really wanted to find someone that would support

57:07

her spending habits, but it wasn't easy. The

57:09

men in town weren't necessarily jumping to marry

57:11

a woman with six children, so Teresa had

57:13

to turn on the charm, and eventually she

57:15

would find someone to put under her spell.

57:18

His name was Chet Harris, and he would

57:20

go on to be Teresa's fourth and final

57:22

husband. Chet Harris was

57:25

a wealthy former journalist with a

57:27

drinking problem. He was also 59

57:29

years old, and Teresa

57:31

was still in her 30s. But

57:34

she didn't care because he had money, and

57:37

just days after meeting him, Teresa

57:40

convinced Chet to marry her. Soon

57:42

after she was also able to convince

57:45

him to take out a second mortgage,

57:47

so they could buy a new home. Chet

57:50

even paid to have the house renovated,

57:53

but during the build Teresa discovered

57:55

something about her new man that

57:57

sent her into a rage. In

58:00

his belongings, she found a collection

58:02

of explicit photos he had of

58:04

his ex-wives. And

58:06

Chet didn't even seem to care when

58:09

Teresa started fuming. He

58:11

had problems of his own, and

58:13

he was definitely no angel. On top

58:16

of his drinking problem, Chet

58:18

also had a pornography addiction

58:20

that caused many fights. Teresa

58:23

was so angry with him, she

58:25

would even sleep with a gun under her

58:27

pillow just to scare him. Chet

58:30

was terrified of her. He

58:32

knew, without a shadow of a doubt,

58:34

that Teresa would kill him if she

58:36

had the chance. He

58:39

also knew that she would likely get away

58:41

with it, just like she did

58:43

with her first husband, Clifford. Now,

58:46

Teresa's children were not big fans

58:48

of Chet. According to

58:50

them, he was a mean man that often

58:53

abused them. They said that

58:55

Chet really loved to scare the children

58:57

any chance he could. Which

58:59

isn't necessarily abusive in and

59:01

of itself, but he had

59:03

this sick thing where he loved to see

59:06

the look of fear on their faces.

59:09

He also called Teresa's children

59:11

horrible names like Coward and

59:14

Unintelligent. He even called

59:16

Sheila a dog. It

59:18

was obvious that he didn't like

59:20

her kids, but interestingly enough, he

59:23

really got along with Teresa's daughter Susan.

59:26

He thought Susan was intelligent,

59:29

and he really enjoyed their conversations.

59:32

The two would often talk about

59:34

literature and politics, and it

59:36

was clear that Susan was very smart. And

59:39

she was. In school,

59:42

her teachers discovered that Susan was

59:44

about four years ahead of the other

59:46

children her age, so she

59:48

was put in accelerated classes. Susan

59:52

was beautiful, just like her mom,

59:55

but she was also painfully shy and

59:57

insecure due to the years of

59:59

physical. and emotional abuse. But

1:00:02

with her new stepdad, Susan found

1:00:04

some peace. She finally

1:00:07

had an adult that respected her, someone

1:00:10

she looked up to, and

1:00:12

soon enough, Teresa began looking

1:00:14

at Susan not as a daughter,

1:00:16

but as a threat. Seeing

1:00:18

Chet and Susan Bond sent

1:00:20

Teresa into a jealous rage. Even

1:00:24

further, Chet would talk

1:00:26

to Susan about Greek mythology and

1:00:28

the occult, and in

1:00:30

Teresa's religious mind, he

1:00:32

was corrupting her daughter. After

1:00:35

just three months of marriage, in November of 1976, Teresa

1:00:39

would file for divorce. Unlike in

1:00:41

all of her previous marriages, she told the

1:00:43

judge that Chet was a womanizer and an

1:00:46

abuser. She stated in an affidavit for her

1:00:48

court proceedings that he forced her to pose

1:00:50

for nude photos, and when she refused, he

1:00:52

threw them out. Which wasn't the

1:00:54

case. She also stated that Chet had attempted

1:00:57

to choke her, and because of this, she

1:00:59

filed a restraining order against him. Teresa

1:01:01

Knorr was a manipulative woman that always got

1:01:03

what she wanted. She took so much

1:01:06

money from Chet in the divorce that she left

1:01:08

and broke. And it seems like after this, Teresa

1:01:10

was finally over trying to find a man. She

1:01:13

realized over the years that they only seemed

1:01:15

to add chaos to her life. After her

1:01:17

divorce, she also lost credit within the

1:01:19

social circles of her community, and it seemed as

1:01:21

though she fell off the map completely. So

1:01:24

it's here where she decides to sell her home

1:01:26

and move into a small apartment across town. By

1:01:29

then, her oldest son Howard had moved

1:01:31

into a place of his own. He

1:01:33

was an adult now and tired of

1:01:35

his mother's abuse. But this

1:01:38

only made Teresa more aggressive

1:01:40

with her other children. Her

1:01:42

daughters, Sheila, Susan, and Terry would

1:01:44

get beat almost daily. And

1:01:47

Teresa would force her sons to hold

1:01:49

the girls down while she repeatedly beat

1:01:52

them with the paddle board. It's

1:01:54

also around this time when Teresa became

1:01:56

more of a recluse. Not

1:01:59

only did she never leave the house,

1:02:02

but none of her kids were allowed to

1:02:04

leave either, unless they were going to school.

1:02:07

Teresa also got rid of their house phone

1:02:09

because she didn't want any calls coming in,

1:02:11

and it's here where we

1:02:13

really start to see a mental decline.

1:02:16

Teresa gained a lot of weight. She

1:02:19

hardly ever showered and she would wear the

1:02:21

same clothes for days on end. Neighbors

1:02:24

would hear screaming coming from their unit

1:02:27

almost every night. According

1:02:29

to her children, Teresa would

1:02:31

get drunk and sometimes lick the

1:02:34

edges of serrated steak knives. With

1:02:37

blood dripping down her face, she

1:02:39

would then throw the knives at

1:02:41

them, evaluating her aim. Her

1:02:44

children lived in constant fear of their

1:02:46

mother, and she threatened to kill them

1:02:48

all the time. One

1:02:50

evening, her youngest daughter, Terry, was sitting

1:02:53

in their apartment when her mother

1:02:55

walked in in a drunken rage. The

1:02:58

kids usually didn't even do anything to

1:03:00

upset their mom. Teresa

1:03:03

would just be in a bad mood, and

1:03:05

she direct her anger towards one of her

1:03:07

daughters. On this night,

1:03:09

Teresa grabbed a .22 and aimed

1:03:12

it at her daughter, Terry, telling

1:03:14

her, quote, I shot once,

1:03:16

I can do it again. Horrified,

1:03:19

Terry tried to get away from her

1:03:21

mom, and in response,

1:03:24

Teresa chased her throughout the house

1:03:26

and pressed the .22 right up against

1:03:29

her forehead. She pressed

1:03:31

it so hard, Terry woke up

1:03:33

the next morning and could see a circular

1:03:35

bruise from where her mom had pressed

1:03:37

the gun. It seemed as

1:03:39

if Teresa would go through periods of remorse. After

1:03:42

weeks of severe abuse, she would take her children

1:03:44

on trips or give them nice gifts. But

1:03:47

these periods of remorse were always short-lived,

1:03:49

and soon enough, the cycle of abuse

1:03:51

would continue. As her kids left

1:03:53

their rooms dirty or left a dish out in

1:03:55

the kitchen, Teresa would beat them, unlock them in

1:03:57

their room for days. And as her mental

1:03:59

health was health not worse, Teresa would also

1:04:01

scream Bible scriptures at them. The

1:04:04

kids knew that when their mom pulled out the Bible, they

1:04:06

were about to get the beating of a lifetime. Teresa

1:04:09

was also known to take scripture and twist

1:04:11

their meanings to support her reasoning for beating

1:04:13

her kids. She was falling deep

1:04:15

into the fire and brimstone type religion. And

1:04:17

after a while, Teresa believed that they had a

1:04:19

witch living in their home. And

1:04:21

that witch was Susan. Like

1:04:24

we mentioned, Teresa's ex-husband Chet had

1:04:26

a special relationship with her daughter

1:04:29

Susan. Susan loved to

1:04:31

learn about different subjects. And

1:04:33

while Chet was still living with them, she

1:04:36

would often listen intently as he

1:04:38

talked about the occult and Greek mythology.

1:04:41

Teresa always hated that Chet and Susan

1:04:44

had a special relationship. And

1:04:46

now, months later, as she's mentally

1:04:48

declining, Teresa wholeheartedly

1:04:50

believed that Chet was a

1:04:53

demon and that her daughter Susan

1:04:55

was a witch. And

1:04:57

from then on, Susan would

1:04:59

face unimaginable torture at the

1:05:01

hands of her mother. She would

1:05:03

get beat almost daily. Her

1:05:05

mother would withhold food and

1:05:08

put out cigarettes on Susan's skin. Teresa

1:05:11

even pulled her out of school, the

1:05:14

one place where Susan felt any sort

1:05:16

of peace. In an

1:05:18

early 1980, 15-year-old Susan had finally had enough. One

1:05:23

night while her mother was sleeping, she

1:05:26

decided to run away. However,

1:05:28

she wouldn't make it very far. The

1:05:31

police eventually brought Susan in, and

1:05:34

she begged them not to bring her back

1:05:36

home. Susan told

1:05:38

the officers about the abuse she

1:05:40

and her siblings faced every single

1:05:42

day. She told them

1:05:45

about the beatings, the cigarette burns,

1:05:47

everything. But the police

1:05:50

didn't listen. They brought

1:05:52

Teresa into the station and listened

1:05:54

to her side of the story. And

1:05:57

like always, Teresa turned on the charm.

1:06:00

Dressed in designer clothing, with her

1:06:02

hair and makeup perfectly done, Teresa

1:06:05

told them that Susan was a troubled

1:06:07

child who was prone to lying, and

1:06:10

from there, Susan was released

1:06:12

back to her mother. On the

1:06:15

way out of the station, Teresa

1:06:17

kept a smile on her face. They

1:06:20

got back into the car and as soon

1:06:22

as they drove off, Susan

1:06:24

watched as her mom's funeral, gradually

1:06:27

faded into a look of fury. Once

1:06:30

back at their home, Teresa called all of the siblings

1:06:33

into the living room. She then told each of them

1:06:35

to punch Susan in the stomach as hard as they

1:06:37

could. So down the line, they

1:06:39

each approached their sister and punched her. If

1:06:42

they didn't do it hard enough, Teresa would make

1:06:44

them do it again. One thing

1:06:46

important to note about this is that her siblings

1:06:48

didn't want to partake in the abuse. They

1:06:51

had to. If they wouldn't, their

1:06:53

mother would abuse them. But Teresa's

1:06:55

punishments were so severe that children did whatever

1:06:57

they could to avoid it. But

1:07:00

following this, Teresa directed almost all of

1:07:02

her anger towards Susan. At

1:07:04

night, she would handcuff her to the bed. She

1:07:06

didn't want her daughter to try and run away again. And

1:07:09

she was convinced that Susan would try to

1:07:11

sneak out and perform witchcraft. It didn't matter how

1:07:13

many times Susan told her mom that she wasn't

1:07:15

a witch, she just didn't believe it. During

1:07:18

the day, Teresa would beat Susan and she

1:07:20

wouldn't stop beating her until her daughter was screaming

1:07:22

at the top of her lungs from the pain.

1:07:25

Then Teresa would give her sedatives throughout the day to

1:07:27

keep her quiet. Teresa

1:07:29

also blamed Susan for her weight

1:07:31

gain. I'm not really sure

1:07:34

what her reasoning was for that,

1:07:36

but she was incredibly jealous of

1:07:38

her daughter. Susan

1:07:40

was beautiful with a nice figure and

1:07:43

her mom couldn't stand it. At

1:07:46

dinner time, she would handcuff Susan to the

1:07:48

table and force her to eat

1:07:50

large amounts of food. She

1:07:52

would put all of these plates in front of her,

1:07:55

filled with macaroni and cheese

1:07:57

or mashed potatoes, and she

1:07:59

wouldn't let Susan leaves the table

1:08:01

until she finished all of it.

1:08:04

Every last bite. There

1:08:06

were times when Susan would sit at the table

1:08:09

for hours crying, begging

1:08:11

her mom to let her get up. But

1:08:14

she wouldn't let her. If Susan

1:08:16

refused to eat all of the food, her

1:08:19

mom would then force feed her, shoving

1:08:21

the food down her throat. There

1:08:24

were times when Susan ate so much

1:08:26

food, she would throw up at the

1:08:28

dinner table and from

1:08:30

there, Teresa would make her

1:08:32

eat her vomit. The youngest

1:08:34

daughter, Terry, were called one time where

1:08:36

her mom shoved a metal spoon in

1:08:39

her mouth so forcibly it chipped

1:08:41

her tooth. Life inside of

1:08:43

their household was hell and it soon

1:08:45

began to take a toll on Susan.

1:08:48

One night in 1983, she

1:08:51

was so fed up with the abuse, Susan

1:08:54

started mumbling to herself. Hearing

1:08:57

this, Teresa was convinced even further

1:08:59

that her daughter was a witch.

1:09:02

So she cornered her and

1:09:04

began yelling at the demon she thought was

1:09:06

inside of her. Teresa screamed

1:09:08

that the demon was causing her to

1:09:11

gain weight and Susan was

1:09:13

to blame. From here,

1:09:15

Teresa ordered her sons to restrain

1:09:18

their sister. The boys grabbed

1:09:20

Susan by the arms and started leading

1:09:22

her towards a bedroom when all of

1:09:24

a sudden they heard a loud gunshot.

1:09:29

There was a brief silence that filled the

1:09:31

air. No one really knew what

1:09:33

was going on, but then

1:09:36

Susan let out a

1:09:38

scream. There, in her chest,

1:09:40

was a gunshot wound. In

1:09:43

feet away, Teresa was still holding

1:09:45

the smoking gun. After seeing

1:09:47

what she had done to her daughter, she

1:09:50

quickly ran to Susan's side, filled

1:09:52

with remorse. Teresa

1:09:54

and her sons then put Susan

1:09:56

in a bathtub. While

1:09:58

the bullet missed all vital organs,

1:10:01

she was very much in danger,

1:10:04

so Teresa did what she could to help.

1:10:06

While Susan laid screaming, her mother put

1:10:09

her finger inside of the bullet wound.

1:10:12

There was an entry wound, but there was

1:10:14

no exit wound, meaning

1:10:17

the bullet was still lodged inside of

1:10:19

her body. Teresa was

1:10:21

filled with regret. She

1:10:24

even looked Susan in the eyes and said,

1:10:26

I'm so sorry. To

1:10:28

which Susan replied, I forgive

1:10:30

you, you know I love you. After

1:10:33

shooting her daughter in the chest, Teresa

1:10:36

refused to take Susan to the

1:10:38

hospital. She knew that if

1:10:40

she did, she would go to jail. Now,

1:10:43

because the bullet missed all vital

1:10:45

organs, Susan didn't die right

1:10:47

away. But she was

1:10:50

in rough shape. Her mother

1:10:52

kept her in the bathtub for a whole

1:10:54

month. While she did what

1:10:56

she could to nurse her back to health, Susan's

1:10:59

siblings were horrified. They

1:11:02

wanted to tell the police about what

1:11:04

happened, but they were scared. They

1:11:06

saw what happened to their sister when she

1:11:08

tried to report the abuse. And

1:11:11

they didn't want to face the same fate, so

1:11:14

they kept their mouth shut. Perhaps

1:11:16

their sister sat in the bathroom for a

1:11:18

month with a bullet lodged

1:11:21

inside of her. Now,

1:11:23

during the day, Teresa was working at a

1:11:25

healthcare facility caring for the sick and elderly,

1:11:27

which is a scary thought. And

1:11:29

while she was gone, her other children would

1:11:32

look after Susan, but eventually she somehow recovered

1:11:34

from her injuries. The wound healed up and

1:11:36

she could move around again. The

1:11:38

only problem was that the bullet was still lodged

1:11:40

inside of her. It actually sat in

1:11:42

her back, just below her shoulder blade, and

1:11:45

it would remain there for about a year. Throughout

1:11:47

that time, Susan was on her best behavior. After

1:11:50

being shot by her mother, she wasn't willing to

1:11:52

test the waters, so she did just what she

1:11:54

was told. But it still didn't stop

1:11:56

her mother's abuse. In fact, every night, Susan

1:11:58

was forced to go to the hospital. to sleep on

1:12:00

that cold hard ground. She was still

1:12:02

being handcuffed to the dinner table every night, but

1:12:05

because of her injury, she had lost a ton of

1:12:07

weight. Teresa even forced Susan into sex

1:12:09

work, which she actually enjoyed because it meant she

1:12:11

didn't have to be at home with her mom.

1:12:14

But of course, Teresa would take all the money

1:12:16

that she earned. Now, one would

1:12:18

think that after shooting your daughter in the chest,

1:12:20

you'd be a little more careful, but

1:12:23

that wasn't the case for Teresa. In

1:12:26

the summer of 1984, Teresa threw a

1:12:28

pair of scissors at Susan like a

1:12:30

dart, and the blade stuck

1:12:33

into her back, and

1:12:35

it was here where Susan started planning

1:12:37

her escape. She

1:12:39

desperately wanted out. She

1:12:42

wanted to leave home and never see

1:12:44

her mom again. That very night,

1:12:46

Teresa came home drunk, and

1:12:49

Susan noticed that she was in a good

1:12:51

mood, something that rarely ever

1:12:53

happened. But anytime it

1:12:55

did, the kids took advantage of it.

1:12:57

So Susan approached her mom and said,

1:12:59

I want to move to

1:13:02

Alaska. I want to start my

1:13:04

life there. And if you let me

1:13:06

leave, I will go and you'll never

1:13:08

have to see me again. Teresa

1:13:10

thought about it for a second. For

1:13:13

most parents, the thought of never seeing

1:13:15

your child again would be

1:13:17

heartbreaking. But for Teresa, it

1:13:20

actually sounded kind of nice. The

1:13:23

only problem was, the

1:13:25

bullet was still lodged in Susan's

1:13:27

back. The last thing

1:13:29

Teresa wanted was for Susan to go

1:13:31

to the authorities and have her

1:13:34

arrested for attempted murder. So

1:13:36

she told her daughter that she could go

1:13:39

under one condition. You have

1:13:41

to let me extract the bullet, she

1:13:44

said. The thought of

1:13:46

her mom performing a surgery on

1:13:48

her was terrifying, but not as terrifying

1:13:50

as having to live under her

1:13:52

roof for one more day. So

1:13:56

Susan agreed. That

1:13:58

night she took some sedatives. and

1:14:00

drank a full bottle of whiskey to numb

1:14:02

the pain. She then laid

1:14:04

down on a blanket while Teresa

1:14:06

retrieved a sharp knife. From

1:14:09

here, her mother pressed the knife into

1:14:11

her back and began cutting

1:14:14

away at her skin and muscle. She

1:14:16

then attempted to find the bullet, but

1:14:19

after a few minutes, she couldn't

1:14:21

find it, so she handed

1:14:23

the knife to her 15-year-old son,

1:14:25

Robert. He had to

1:14:28

dig his fingers deep inside of his

1:14:30

sister's back, until he

1:14:32

eventually found it and pulled it out.

1:14:35

Teresa was pleased with how the

1:14:37

amateur surgery went about, but

1:14:40

hours and hours would pass and

1:14:43

Susan still hadn't woken up. She

1:14:45

wouldn't wake up until about 24 hours

1:14:48

later, and when she did,

1:14:51

it was clear that something had gone

1:14:53

horribly wrong. Susan's eyes

1:14:55

were yellow. The skin

1:14:58

on her back was dark black, and

1:15:01

she had no control over her bowels.

1:15:04

She also couldn't even speak, but

1:15:06

occasionally she would let out these

1:15:09

piercing screens. Something

1:15:11

clearly went wrong during the surgery,

1:15:14

but Teresa was not about to take her

1:15:16

to the hospital. She tried

1:15:18

to give Susan some antibiotics, but nothing

1:15:20

seemed to work. For

1:15:22

days, she laid on the floor in

1:15:24

diapers, rolling in and out of

1:15:27

consciousness. The other Nord

1:15:29

children were forced to watch in horror,

1:15:31

as Teresa told them that they were not allowed to

1:15:34

help her or call for medical

1:15:36

aid, so they were forced

1:15:38

to simply walk over their sister's

1:15:40

dying body. And as the

1:15:42

days went on, Teresa was

1:15:44

finally tired of trying to save

1:15:46

her, so she turned to

1:15:48

her kids and said, we gotta get

1:15:51

rid of Susan. She's going to die

1:15:53

on us. We're going to have

1:15:55

to kill her. That night on

1:15:57

July 16th, 1985, Teresa

1:16:01

took all of the photos she had

1:16:03

of Susan and burned them. She

1:16:06

then grabbed all of Susan's belongings and put them

1:16:08

in the trunk of her car. From

1:16:11

there, she ordered her sons,

1:16:13

William and Robert, to pick Susan

1:16:15

up and put her in the back seat. And

1:16:18

for the next few hours, they

1:16:20

drove around in complete silence. Susan's

1:16:23

brothers had propped her up in the seat

1:16:26

so that she looked normal to anyone

1:16:28

driving by. But in

1:16:30

reality, Susan was bound,

1:16:32

wearing a diaper, and she

1:16:35

was dying. Teresa had been

1:16:37

trying to find a secluded place to dump

1:16:39

her dying child, and

1:16:41

eventually, they ended up in

1:16:43

Squaw Valley. Once the car

1:16:45

came to a stop, Teresa ordered

1:16:47

her sons to carry Susan over to

1:16:49

a spot in the woods, just

1:16:52

off the road. Sixteen

1:16:54

and fifteen-year-old William and Robert

1:16:56

were horrified, but they

1:16:59

listened to their mother's orders and

1:17:01

placed their sister on the ground with

1:17:03

her belongings. Teresa

1:17:05

then pulled a gallon of gasoline

1:17:08

out of the trunk, and like

1:17:10

a pile of trash, she poured

1:17:12

it all over Susan's body. She

1:17:15

then handed her sons a match and

1:17:17

said, light her up. There

1:17:20

was a coldness to her voice that sent

1:17:22

a shiver down their spine, and

1:17:24

from there, they did what they were told.

1:17:27

The flame was thrown down onto Susan's

1:17:29

body, and over the next few

1:17:31

minutes, she burned alive

1:17:34

on the side of Highway 89. By

1:17:37

the time the two civilians found Susan's body

1:17:39

on the side of the road, Teresa and

1:17:41

her sons were long gone, and on the

1:17:43

way home that night, she threatened them, saying,

1:17:45

if you ever tell anyone about this, you'll

1:17:47

be next. On that drive,

1:17:49

a bird also crashed into the windshield of

1:17:51

their car, and in response, Teresa turned to

1:17:54

her sons and said, that bird was a

1:17:56

sacrifice. God thinks we did a good thing. That

1:17:59

night, after the They returned home, Theresa made her

1:18:01

daughters clean up the mess from Susan's

1:18:03

botched surgery, and from there they acted

1:18:05

as if nothing ever happened. But

1:18:08

Theresa was paranoid. She would often

1:18:10

wake her sons up in the middle of the night, screaming

1:18:12

at them to keep her secret. And

1:18:14

they would. The body on the side of the

1:18:16

road of Highway 89 was a huge mystery to

1:18:18

investigators. No one knew who she

1:18:21

was or who killed her, and for nearly

1:18:23

a decade, Susan Norr was simply referred to

1:18:25

as Jane Doe 487384. Meanwhile,

1:18:28

her mother, Theresa Norr, would now

1:18:30

direct her abuse towards her other

1:18:32

daughter, Sheila. It

1:18:34

is pretty typical for child abusers

1:18:37

to single out one child and

1:18:39

direct all of their anger towards them.

1:18:42

In this story, Theresa had picked

1:18:44

Susan, the daughter she thought

1:18:47

was possessed by the devil. But

1:18:49

now that she was dead, Theresa had

1:18:51

to choose someone else. And

1:18:54

unfortunately, the finger landed on her

1:18:56

20-year-old daughter, Sheila. It

1:18:59

was obvious to everyone that Sheila was

1:19:01

her mother's new target, and

1:19:03

the severe abuse started immediately

1:19:05

after her sister's death. In

1:19:08

the winter of 1984, Theresa

1:19:10

began telling the other siblings that

1:19:12

Sheila was possessed by a demon.

1:19:16

She would force her sons to grab Sheila

1:19:18

by the arms and restrain her while

1:19:20

she beat her with a paddle. Theresa

1:19:23

also started making her daughter get down

1:19:25

on her knees and stare

1:19:27

at the floor for hours. If

1:19:30

she moved, she would be kicked and punched

1:19:32

by her mom. Sometimes,

1:19:34

Theresa would even tie her to the

1:19:37

ground with bedsheets, realizing

1:19:39

that she was now the main subject

1:19:41

of her mother's abuse. On

1:19:43

top of losing her sister, Sheila

1:19:46

fell into a deep depression. She

1:19:48

even tried to open up to her mom about

1:19:50

the way she was feeling, and in

1:19:53

response, Theresa grabbed

1:19:55

a gun, handed it to her

1:19:57

daughter, and said, If you're so

1:19:59

depressed, I'm not going to do it. than just kill

1:20:01

yourself. And honestly for

1:20:03

her, it didn't sound like a bad

1:20:05

way to go. Sheila took the

1:20:07

gun from her mother and held

1:20:09

it to her temple. And

1:20:11

she just kept telling herself that

1:20:13

whatever happens in the afterlife will

1:20:16

be far better than this life on

1:20:18

earth. And with that, she

1:20:20

pulled the trigger. However,

1:20:23

there were no bullets and the gun.

1:20:26

Teresa had taken them out. By

1:20:29

this point, there was no rhyme or

1:20:31

reason to the abuse. And

1:20:33

with each day, Teresa was growing more

1:20:35

and more cruel. One

1:20:37

day Teresa realized she had gotten a sexually

1:20:39

transmitted disease. And she was known to sleep

1:20:41

around a lot, so it's not uncommon for

1:20:44

people with a lot of sexual partners. But

1:20:46

in Teresa's mind, her daughter was the one

1:20:48

who gave it to her because they shared

1:20:50

a toilet. That day, Sheila was just

1:20:52

minding her own business when her mother stormed into

1:20:54

the room and started screaming at her to admit that

1:20:56

she had given her an STI. Sheila

1:20:59

did what she could to try and convince her mother

1:21:01

that she didn't, but it was just no use. Later

1:21:04

that night, Teresa approached her sons and ordered

1:21:06

them to throw Sheila in the linen closet.

1:21:09

Sheila kicked and screamed and did everything she

1:21:11

could to escape, but her brothers were stronger.

1:21:14

Teresa made the boys tie her wrists and ankles

1:21:16

with bandages, and from there she was thrown into

1:21:18

the dark closet. That night, the

1:21:21

siblings could hear Sheila's screams echoing throughout the

1:21:23

home. So Teresa just turned up the volume

1:21:25

on the TV to drown it out. She

1:21:28

also stuffed towels under the door to muffle

1:21:30

her daughter's begging. For days, Sheila

1:21:32

remained in that closet. She couldn't eat,

1:21:34

she wasn't given any water, and she

1:21:36

couldn't even use the bathroom. Tied

1:21:39

up in that dark, cramped closet, Sheila

1:21:43

begged for someone to help her. She

1:21:45

held her urine in for as long as she

1:21:47

could, but eventually, after

1:21:49

hours of screaming, she

1:21:52

just had to relieve herself right there.

1:21:55

And then to make matters worse, she

1:21:57

had to sit in it for days. And

1:22:00

I can't help but think about what was

1:22:02

going through Sheila's mind. Months

1:22:05

earlier, she watched as her mother shot

1:22:07

her sister in the chest. She

1:22:09

then watched as Susan slowly died on

1:22:11

their living room floor. And

1:22:14

her mother didn't seem to care at all. And

1:22:16

now, here is Sheila, tied

1:22:19

up in that closet, soaked

1:22:21

in her own urine and feces.

1:22:24

For days, no one would even open the door

1:22:26

to check on her. And all

1:22:28

she could do was cry and scream. But

1:22:31

it fell on deaf ears. It's

1:22:33

heartbreaking to think about 20 years

1:22:36

earlier, when Sheila was just

1:22:38

a baby, her mother was doing

1:22:40

the same thing. Like we

1:22:42

mentioned, Sheila would be crying on the floor,

1:22:45

reaching up towards her mom, just

1:22:47

wanting to be held. But

1:22:49

Teresa would look down at her baby

1:22:51

and roll her eyes in disgust. 20

1:22:55

years later, not much has changed. But

1:22:58

instead of begging for love and

1:23:00

affection, Sheila was now begging for her

1:23:02

life. She had been in

1:23:05

that closet for about a week, soaked

1:23:07

in her own bodily fluids, with

1:23:10

no sunlight, food, or water.

1:23:13

The closet was so small, she couldn't

1:23:15

even stand up to stretch her body out.

1:23:18

And to make matters worse, it

1:23:20

was summertime. Teresa would

1:23:22

turn off the air conditioning in

1:23:24

the home, and the temperature inside

1:23:27

of that closet was unbearable. There

1:23:30

was also no airflow, and

1:23:32

Sheila could feel herself slowly dying.

1:23:35

One morning, Teresa had left the home to go

1:23:37

to the store. So the

1:23:40

youngest daughter, Terry, took this opportunity to

1:23:42

help her sister. She

1:23:44

ran over to the closet and opened the door.

1:23:47

And when she did, Sheila

1:23:49

was in far worse shape than she

1:23:52

even realized. Upon

1:23:54

opening it, her older

1:23:56

sister fell to the ground, completely

1:23:58

drenched in sweat. Her

1:24:01

hands were still tied behind her

1:24:03

back and she was only wearing

1:24:05

socks and underwear. The

1:24:08

smell inside of the closet was

1:24:10

horrible from all of the

1:24:12

urine and feces. And

1:24:14

more than anything, Sheila just

1:24:16

wanted some water. It

1:24:18

had been days since she had anything to

1:24:21

eat or drink and Terri

1:24:23

wanted to help her but she was

1:24:25

nervous. Teresa had told

1:24:27

the other siblings not to give Sheila

1:24:30

anything to eat or drink. But

1:24:33

Terri could tell by looking at her sister

1:24:35

that she was going to die. She

1:24:37

also knew that if her mom came home and

1:24:40

saw her helping Sheila, she

1:24:42

too would be thrown in the closet. Teresa

1:24:45

was going to be home at any moment.

1:24:48

So Terri grabbed the first drink she

1:24:50

could find, which was beer. She

1:24:53

quickly opened it and held it to her

1:24:56

sister's lips. Sheila

1:24:58

took a few sips but

1:25:00

then suddenly they heard the sound of their

1:25:02

mother's car in the driveway. So

1:25:04

Terri shoved Sheila back inside of the

1:25:06

closet and shut the door on

1:25:09

her dying sister. Sadly,

1:25:11

the door wouldn't be

1:25:13

opened for several more days. No

1:25:16

one could ever quite recall just how

1:25:18

long Sheila was tied up in that

1:25:20

closet. Robert Jr.

1:25:22

said that it was definitely for weeks

1:25:24

on end. But

1:25:27

the main thing the siblings remember from that

1:25:29

time was the awful stench.

1:25:32

By then, Sheila couldn't even

1:25:34

cry anymore. She was

1:25:36

too weak. Terri

1:25:38

said that one of the last things she heard

1:25:41

from the closet was her sister

1:25:43

hallucinating. She heard

1:25:45

Sheila mumble, there's a light above

1:25:47

me. I'm going to crawl

1:25:49

towards it. Then soon after,

1:25:52

they all heard a loud thud. Everyone

1:25:55

knew that Sheila was likely dead. For

1:25:58

the next few days, there was no sound or

1:26:00

movement coming from the closet, but

1:26:03

still, no one even opened

1:26:05

it to check on her. Days

1:26:08

later, on June 24, 1985, the stench

1:26:10

from inside the closet became unbearable, so Teresa

1:26:17

finally ordered her sons to open the

1:26:19

closet door. Upon

1:26:21

doing so, they all watched

1:26:23

Asheela rolled out of the closet onto

1:26:26

her backs. She

1:26:28

was still half naked, tied

1:26:30

with her hands behind her back, and

1:26:33

she was scanning bones from not eating

1:26:35

for weeks. And there

1:26:37

was a vacancy in her eyes. Sheila

1:26:40

Gay Sanders had died from

1:26:43

starvation and dehydration. Her

1:26:45

brother William would later say that her legs

1:26:47

and feet were black, with

1:26:50

a pine-comb-like pattern from where the

1:26:52

blood had settled. And

1:26:54

it was the most horrific sight they had ever

1:26:56

seen, but there was no

1:26:58

time to grieve. Teresa quickly

1:27:00

hit her sons on the back of the

1:27:02

head and ordered them to pick

1:27:04

Sheila up. William and

1:27:07

Robert tried their best to be careful with her

1:27:09

body, but it was difficult.

1:27:12

Her rotting skin was stuck to the closet

1:27:14

floor. Her face had

1:27:16

also begun to rot, and

1:27:18

as the brothers moved her, they couldn't

1:27:21

help but notice that their sister's nose

1:27:24

had decomposed. But

1:27:26

Teresa was unfazed. She

1:27:28

simply grabbed a cardboard box and

1:27:31

ordered her sons to place her inside of it.

1:27:34

She had lined the box with pillowcases so that

1:27:37

Sheila's body fluids would be soaked up. She

1:27:40

also made sure to remove any hairs from the

1:27:42

pillowcases so it wouldn't be traced back to her.

1:27:44

And with that, William and Robert placed their sister

1:27:46

inside and then carried the cardboard box to the

1:27:48

trunk of their mother's car. From there,

1:27:51

Teresa ordered Terry to stay behind and clean up

1:27:53

the mess in the closet while she and her

1:27:55

sons left to dispose of Sheila's body. Terry

1:27:58

was only 14 years old at the time. And

1:28:00

her two older sisters had been brutally murdered by

1:28:02

their mother. And as she knelt

1:28:05

down on the closet floor and cleaned up

1:28:07

the remnants of Sheila's decomposition, she couldn't help

1:28:09

but think that she was most likely next.

1:28:12

Meanwhile, Teresa, William, and Robert were driving

1:28:14

around Truckee County, trying to find a

1:28:16

good place to dump Sheila's body. They

1:28:18

ended up stopping near a secluded campground,

1:28:20

and from there, they discarded her body

1:28:22

like trash. They didn't even end up

1:28:24

setting her on fire like they did

1:28:26

with Susan. But still, just

1:28:28

hours after Sheila was dumped, her body

1:28:30

was discovered. The man named Elmer

1:28:32

Barber had been cleaning up trash around his

1:28:34

campground when he suddenly happened upon a large

1:28:37

cardboard box. Curious, he decided

1:28:39

to look inside, but he found an

1:28:41

image that would be forever ingrained in his mind.

1:28:44

Soon after, Elmer and his wife Hazel found

1:28:46

themselves leading a half a dozen police officers

1:28:48

down to the location of the box. Detectives

1:28:51

could tell that the victim had clearly faced a

1:28:53

tragic and painful death, but no

1:28:55

one suspected that this was a child abuse case.

1:28:58

And just like her sister Susan, Sheila

1:29:00

would go unidentified for years, and

1:29:03

for now, she was known as Jane Doe 660-785.

1:29:08

Within less than a year, William and

1:29:10

Robert had been forced to participate

1:29:12

in unspeakable acts. Helping

1:29:15

their mother dispose of their two

1:29:17

sisters' bodies is something no 17 and 18

1:29:21

year old should ever have to experience. And

1:29:24

after the ordeal with Sheila, they

1:29:26

were done. By then,

1:29:28

they were adults and they no longer

1:29:30

wanted to participate in their mom's abuse.

1:29:34

So they left home and severed ties.

1:29:37

And it's around that time when

1:29:39

Theresa became overly paranoid. Even

1:29:42

though Terry had cleaned the floor of the closet,

1:29:44

the smell of decomposition wouldn't go

1:29:46

away. It had seeped into

1:29:49

the floorboards, leaving a dark

1:29:51

black stain. Theresa was terrified

1:29:53

that the neighbors would smell it and

1:29:55

alert the police. So she came

1:29:57

up with a plan. and

1:30:00

purchased a gallon of gasoline and then

1:30:03

ordered her daughter, Terri, to douse the

1:30:05

apartment and set it ablaze. She

1:30:08

even told Terri that if she did this for

1:30:10

her, she would let her move out

1:30:12

as well. And in

1:30:15

Terri's mind, this was the best possible

1:30:17

outcome. She could finally be

1:30:19

free from her mother's grasp. So

1:30:22

at around 3am, she poured

1:30:24

the gasoline throughout the apartment, lit

1:30:26

a match, and within seconds,

1:30:28

their home went up and flamed. But

1:30:32

as it turns out, Teresa's clan would

1:30:34

fail. Soon after the

1:30:36

fire started, neighbors would quickly

1:30:38

alert the fire department, and

1:30:41

within minutes the fire was contained. The

1:30:44

closet hadn't even been damaged.

1:30:47

But somehow, the

1:30:49

first responders didn't notice the

1:30:51

decomposition soaked into the floorboards.

1:30:54

Across town, Teresa was waiting for her

1:30:57

daughter in a hotel room. After

1:30:59

Terri set the apartment on fire, she

1:31:02

slipped out of a window and made

1:31:04

her way over to meet her mom. This

1:31:07

was the moment she had been waiting for, for years.

1:31:11

Now, Terri was only 14 years

1:31:13

old, but she was determined to find

1:31:15

a better life for herself. So

1:31:18

she took her sister Sheila's ID

1:31:21

so that she could pass as an adult. And

1:31:24

from here, she moved to Salt Lake City,

1:31:26

far away from the life she used to know.

1:31:30

Now on the run after burning down their

1:31:32

apartment, Teresa wanted to get away from Sacramento

1:31:34

as well. She ended up in

1:31:36

Reno, Nevada for a period of time, and

1:31:38

from there she started a new life without

1:31:40

her kids. For years, she

1:31:42

stayed under the radar as detectives in

1:31:44

Sacramento worked tirelessly to identify their two

1:31:47

Jane Does, but it wasn't easy. The

1:31:49

first Jane Doe, Susan Norr was so

1:31:51

badly burned, so finding out who she

1:31:53

was was a nearly impossible task. Then

1:31:56

a year later, they had their second Jane

1:31:58

Doe, Sheila Sanders, who was badly decomposed as

1:32:00

well. Both of the girls' cases

1:32:03

would remain unsolved for years, as their mother

1:32:05

continued on with life as if nothing ever

1:32:07

happened. By 1991, Teresa's son Robert Jr.

1:32:10

was in prison. He had shot and killed a

1:32:12

bartender in Las Vegas during an armed robbery and

1:32:14

was sentenced to 16 years in prison.

1:32:17

After her son went off to prison,

1:32:19

Teresa decided to relocate to Salt Lake

1:32:22

City. And interestingly, that's where her daughter

1:32:24

Terri had relocated to as well, though

1:32:26

neither of them knew that they were living in the same city.

1:32:29

But upon moving, Teresa also decided to change

1:32:31

up her appearance. She cut her hair

1:32:33

short and sometimes wore a blonde wig.

1:32:36

She even converted to Mormonism, and like she

1:32:38

always did throughout her life, she dressed in

1:32:40

the nicest of clothes and did her best

1:32:42

to look presentable. Now in her

1:32:44

mid-40s, Teresa Nora looked like a lovely

1:32:46

woman. If you were to have seen

1:32:48

her walking down the street, you would never have

1:32:51

known that she was a sadistic monster who murdered

1:32:53

her two children. She even started

1:32:55

applying to jobs as an at-home nurse

1:32:57

for the elderly. Eventually, the Sullivan family

1:32:59

came across her resume and they were

1:33:01

thoroughly impressed, and they ended up hiring

1:33:03

her to care for their 86-year-old mother

1:33:05

Alice. According to Alice's family, she was

1:33:07

a wonderful nurse who took her job

1:33:10

seriously. They loved Teresa and considered her

1:33:12

to be family, but little did they

1:33:14

know Teresa was about to be exposed

1:33:16

for being the monster that she was.

1:33:19

By 1993, Terri Nora was living

1:33:22

in Salt Lake City, and

1:33:24

she was struggling. For years, she

1:33:26

had been trying to cope with

1:33:28

the dark secrets she had been

1:33:30

holding onto. After watching her two

1:33:32

sisters get murdered by her mother,

1:33:34

Terri was understandably broken.

1:33:37

She had developed a drinking problem,

1:33:39

and it was hard for her to

1:33:41

find companionship. At one point, she

1:33:43

even told an officer about what happened to

1:33:45

her when she was younger, but the

1:33:48

story was too outlandish for

1:33:50

her to be taken seriously. Terri

1:33:52

had also spoken with a therapist about

1:33:55

her childhood, but they too dismissed her. So by 1993,

1:33:57

Terri was she

1:34:00

kind of accepted the fact that her mother

1:34:02

would never be caught. But

1:34:04

then one day, she turned on the

1:34:06

TV and started watching the

1:34:08

popular true crime show America's

1:34:11

Most Wanted. It was

1:34:13

her first time watching it. And

1:34:15

at the end of the program, John

1:34:17

Walsh urged the viewers to call their

1:34:20

tip line if anyone had knowledge of

1:34:22

a crime. So immediately, Terry

1:34:24

grabs the phone and dials the

1:34:26

number on the screen. After

1:34:29

telling them what happened to her sisters,

1:34:32

Terry was given a number of

1:34:34

the Sacramento Police Department and

1:34:36

from there, she called them

1:34:38

to report about what happened to her

1:34:40

two sisters. Eventually, Terry

1:34:42

was put in contact with

1:34:45

Officer John Fitzgerald, the

1:34:47

man who worked her sister's cases, all

1:34:50

those years back. And as

1:34:52

you can imagine, he was elated

1:34:54

to hear that the two unsolved John

1:34:56

Doe cases were finally about

1:34:58

to be solved. After

1:35:01

Terry gave her statement to the police, she was

1:35:03

shocked to find out that her mother had been

1:35:05

living just 25 miles away from her all this

1:35:07

time. And soon enough, investigators would

1:35:10

be knocking at Teresa's doorstep with a

1:35:12

few questions. At the time,

1:35:14

she had actually been living with 86-year-old

1:35:16

Alice Sullivan as her full-time live-in nurse.

1:35:19

When Teresa opened the door that day to

1:35:21

see a detective on the doorstep, all of the

1:35:23

color flushed from her face. We're looking for

1:35:25

Teresa Noor, he said, but the lady

1:35:27

in front of them had been going by

1:35:29

Teresa Cross. Teresa hesitantly let the detectives inside

1:35:31

and was reluctant to tell them that she

1:35:33

was indeed the woman they were looking for.

1:35:36

When she was shown the warrant for her arrest,

1:35:38

she calmly told the detectives that she needed to

1:35:40

make a phone call first. She needed

1:35:42

to make sure Alice, her patient, was being

1:35:45

taken care of before she left. And

1:35:47

from there, she dialed Bud Sullivan, Alice's son.

1:35:50

When she told him that she was being arrested,

1:35:52

Bud was shocked. Teresa had been nothing but a

1:35:55

blessing to their family. And Teresa

1:35:57

acted confused as to why the detectives were

1:35:59

even there. But when it was time

1:36:01

to place her under arrest, she didn't act like

1:36:03

an innocent woman. In fact, Teresa even

1:36:05

tried to make a run for it out

1:36:07

the back door, but the officers were able

1:36:09

to quickly apprehend her, and as she was

1:36:12

placed in cuffs, she yelled out, I

1:36:14

feel like a sacrificial lamb being led to the

1:36:16

slaughter. Teresa Noor was

1:36:18

charged with two counts of murder,

1:36:21

and the town of Salt Lake City was

1:36:23

about to learn that a monster was

1:36:26

living among them. But

1:36:28

interestingly enough, as detectives were

1:36:30

unveiling Teresa's past, they

1:36:32

came across another murder in her

1:36:35

family. If you remember

1:36:37

from earlier, Teresa had an older

1:36:39

sister named Rosemary. After

1:36:41

the two moved out of their childhood home,

1:36:44

they had lost touch. But

1:36:47

in 1983, Rosemary had been

1:36:49

found strangled to death off a dead-end

1:36:51

road in Placer County. Investigators

1:36:55

would later find that Teresa couldn't

1:36:57

have been responsible for her sister's

1:36:59

murder, but it was eerie that

1:37:01

one single family could be met

1:37:03

with so much tragedy. Sadly,

1:37:06

Rosemary's murder would never be

1:37:08

solved. But luckily,

1:37:10

Susan and Sheila would finally

1:37:12

get the justice they deserved.

1:37:15

After Teresa was arrested, investigators

1:37:18

quickly located both William and

1:37:20

Robert and placed them under

1:37:23

arrest for their part in the

1:37:25

murders. Now William and

1:37:27

Robert would end up getting lighter

1:37:29

sentences for testifying against their mother,

1:37:32

and for many people, including

1:37:34

the prosecutor, they actually

1:37:36

viewed them as victims. Even

1:37:40

though they were adults when they participated

1:37:42

in the crimes, it was

1:37:44

very clear to everyone that they were

1:37:46

terrified of their mother, and

1:37:48

they did whatever they had to do to

1:37:50

avoid her abuse. Teresa's

1:37:53

oldest son Howard spoke to the

1:37:55

Fresno Bee, and he

1:37:57

really painted a picture of what life was

1:37:59

like in their home. He

1:38:02

said, quote, I want people to understand

1:38:04

that it's not my brother's fault.

1:38:06

They were children at the time and she

1:38:09

had total control over them. She

1:38:11

was crazy, but she was the adult.

1:38:14

End quote. Robert was

1:38:17

already serving time for that second degree murder

1:38:19

charge, but because he helped with his mother's

1:38:21

murder case, he would only be charged with

1:38:23

accessory after the fact. He also got a

1:38:25

three year prison sentence, but it was to

1:38:27

be served concurrently with the jail time he

1:38:29

was already facing, so he wouldn't get any

1:38:31

additional prison time. Williams' attorney

1:38:33

managed to get his murder charges dropped as

1:38:35

well. His attorney told the court that William

1:38:37

had been raised in a cage and tortured

1:38:40

by the zookeeper, which was an accurate representation

1:38:42

of their lives. William was given

1:38:44

a three year suspended sentence, which meant that he didn't

1:38:46

actually have to go to jail. Instead, he

1:38:48

was put on five years probation and was ordered

1:38:50

to go to therapy for the PTSD he had

1:38:53

faced over the years. Years later,

1:38:55

William Norwood would be interviewed for the show

1:38:57

Wicked Attraction, where he said, They asked me,

1:38:59

why didn't you come forward? And the obvious

1:39:01

clear answer was, look what happened to the

1:39:03

people who did. He goes on

1:39:05

to say that Susan herself had been in

1:39:07

the hands of child protective services, had told

1:39:09

the story and was dismissed. Afterward,

1:39:11

she was placed back in the hands of Teresa

1:39:14

and sent to her grave. He went on to

1:39:16

say of his mother, I never saw

1:39:18

any sign of remorse for my mother ever. And

1:39:20

this is the face of my torturer. After

1:39:24

finding out that her sons would be

1:39:26

testifying against her, Teresa decided to make

1:39:28

a plea deal. She would

1:39:30

plead guilty to both of her daughter's

1:39:32

murder in order to take

1:39:34

the death penalty off the table. Her

1:39:37

trial began on June 29 1994, when officers

1:39:39

escorted Teresa into

1:39:43

the courtroom. Her ex husband

1:39:45

Bob Norr screamed from the

1:39:47

row of onlookers. With

1:39:50

tears running down his cheeks, he

1:39:52

screamed out, I hope you burn in

1:39:54

hell for what you did to my kids. A

1:39:57

bailiff ordered him to be quiet. and

1:40:00

the former Marine sat quietly in his

1:40:02

seat for the remainder of the day.

1:40:05

However, outside of the courtroom, he

1:40:07

had a few more words. Bob

1:40:10

Noor made it clear that he wanted

1:40:12

Teresa dead, and he

1:40:15

told reporters, quote, My

1:40:17

daughter's in her grave and will

1:40:19

be there forever. Why

1:40:21

should she be able to live out the rest of

1:40:23

her life? William Noor

1:40:25

would later say that he was completely caught

1:40:27

off guard when seeing his mother in

1:40:30

the courtroom. He was so

1:40:32

anxious at the sight of his mom, he

1:40:34

actually had to leave the courtroom due

1:40:36

to distress. In

1:40:38

the video of the court hearing, you

1:40:41

can see him watching his feet and

1:40:43