Michelle Knotek: Victims, Sentence, and 2022 Release

Michelle “Shelly” Knotek is a convicted murderer from Raymond, Washington, who tortured and killed vulnerable people living in her rural home over more than a decade. In 2004 she pleaded guilty under an Alford plea to second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter for the deaths of two boarders, Kathy Loreno and Ronald Woodworth, and was sentenced to 22 years. She was released on parole in November 2022 after serving just over 19 years.¹

Knotek lived on a property near Raymond, a small town in Pacific County, with her husband David Knotek and their three daughters, Nikki, Sami, and Tori. Over the years the couple took in boarders and relatives. Behind closed doors, Michelle subjected the people under her roof to escalating physical and psychological abuse, and her own daughters were tormented as well — forced to sleep outside, stripped naked in cold weather, and sprayed with a garden hose for minor perceived infractions.²

The Victims

Kathy Loreno

Kathy Loreno was a 36-year-old hairdresser who moved into the Knotek home in the late 1980s or early 1990s, initially to help care for the couple’s children.³ She had come to the Raymond area with her mother after her father died in an accident on a movie set, and she moved in with the Knoteks after a falling-out at home.⁴

Once inside the household, Loreno was beaten, starved, forced to ingest salt and medications, and confined in the laundry room. She died from the abuse.³ Investigators placed her death around 1994, though one witness believed it happened as early as 1991.⁴ David Knotek burned her body and scattered the ashes.⁵

When Loreno’s mother, Kay Thomas, filed a missing person report in 1994, Michelle told Pacific County deputies that Loreno had moved to California with a boyfriend. The lie held for nearly a decade.⁴

Shane Watson

Shane Watson was the Knoteks’ 19-year-old nephew, who came to live with them after a falling-out with his family. Before his disappearance he had photographed Kathy Loreno’s injuries, making him a witness to the abuse.⁶ David Knotek later confessed to shooting Watson and burning his body.⁷ The Knotek children were told he had moved to Alaska to become a fisherman.²

Ronald Woodworth

Ronald Woodworth, 57, moved into the Knotek home around 1999 or 2001. The appellate court later described the treatment he suffered as “virtually identical” to what Loreno had endured.³ He was forced to do chores in his underwear and to jump from the roof of the two-story home onto gravel, and his wounds were doused with boiling water and bleach. Denied medical care, he died from his injuries in 2003.² David Knotek buried his body in the backyard.⁶

How the Killings Were Uncovered

The deaths went undetected for years because Michelle Knotek used lies and threats to keep her family quiet. After Loreno died, she warned her daughters that they would all go to jail if anyone found out.⁸ The girls later said they saw the boarders being mistreated but did not intervene out of fear, and because when their mother was focused on punishing someone else, she left them alone.

The breaking point came in August 2003, after Woodworth’s death. Tori Knotek, then 14, told her older sisters that their mother “needs to be stopped.” The three met in Seattle and contacted the police.⁸ Michelle and David were arrested at their home on Monohon Landing Road on August 8, 2003, with bail initially set at $5 million each.⁹ Investigators recovered human remains believed to be Woodworth’s from the backyard, and David told a Pacific County deputy that he had burned the bodies of Loreno and Watson and scattered the ashes.⁵

Charges and Sentence

Prosecutors initially charged Michelle Knotek with two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Loreno and Woodworth.⁹ Those charges were later reduced after prosecutors determined the evidence was insufficient to sustain them.¹⁰

On June 18, 2004, she entered Alford pleas in Pacific County Superior Court to one count of second-degree murder for Loreno’s death and one count of first-degree manslaughter for Woodworth’s. An Alford plea lets a defendant concede that the evidence would be enough to convict while still maintaining innocence. Prosecutors and defense counsel had negotiated a recommended sentence of nearly 17 years, but Judge Mark McCauley took 40 days to weigh whether to accept it.¹⁰

At the plea hearing, Kay Thomas, Loreno’s mother, told the court: “I suppose it’s better than nothing. It’s something, but nothing could ever be enough for a mother whose daughter is dead.”¹⁰

On August 19, 2004, the judge rejected the recommendation and imposed the top of the standard range: 164 months for the murder count and 102 months for the manslaughter count, to run consecutively. The total was 266 months, or roughly 22 years, plus 24 months of community placement upon release.³

Knotek later moved to withdraw her plea, arguing it had not been knowing, intelligent, or voluntary and raising claims about her attorneys, her mental competence, the factual basis, and the trial judge. In 2006 the Washington Court of Appeals, Division 2, affirmed the denial of that motion, finding that the plea colloquy had been thorough and that she had understood the sentencing ranges and the consecutive structure.¹¹

David Knotek’s Role

Michelle did not act entirely alone. Her husband David pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for shooting Shane Watson, along with unlawful disposal of human remains and rendering criminal assistance for burning and burying bodies. On August 26, 2004, he was sentenced to 179 months, just under 15 years.⁷

The Daughters Speak Out

In 2017, Nikki, Sami, and Tori Knotek approached true-crime author Gregg Olsen, worried about their mother’s approaching release. The result was If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood, published in December 2019.¹² Nikki called her mother “a ticking time bomb” and said she never knew when her mother would “go off.” The sisters said they were not afraid for themselves but wanted to warn others, believing their mother could hurt someone again.⁸

Release in 2022

Michelle Knotek was released on parole from the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor on November 8, 2022, at age 68. She had served just over 19 years of her 22-year sentence, and was reported at the time to be in poor health.¹

News of the release drew an intense reaction in Raymond and across Pacific County, with residents posting comments such as “Evil is out and amongst us” and “She should have been locked up forever.” A Facebook post announcing her release was shared 185 times and drew 143 comments within days. She was not expected to return to Raymond or elsewhere in Pacific County, and her whereabouts since have not been publicly reported.¹

1
Chinook Observer. Raymond Murderer “Crazy Shellie” Released From Prison
2
Oxygen. Michelle Knotek’s Daughters Warn She’s Still a Danger as Prison Release Nears
3
FindLaw. State v. Knotek
4
Daily Astorian. Investigators Dig for Bones, Answers
5
Seattle PI. Blood, Hair Samples Are Sought From Raymond Couple
6
KOMO News. Murder Charges Filed Against Raymond Couple
7
Daily Astorian. Raymond Man Sentenced to Prison in Torture Deaths Case
8
New York Post. Kids of Murderer Michelle Knotek Warn Their Mom Could Kill Again
9
Chinook Observer. Couple Charged With Murder
10
Seattle Times. Woman Enters Alford Pleas in Torture Deaths
11
vLex. State v. Knotek, 149 P.3d 676
12
Bookreporter. If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood