Bio

David Knotek was born in 1952 and grew up in the Pacific Northwest, graduating from Raymond High School in Washington State in 1971. During his early life, he was a well-liked, handsome, and popular young man who friends remembered as a "Regular Joe" with a pleasant disposition and a great sense of humor. He initially passed a test to enter the priesthood but chose a different path, enlisting in the U.S. Navy where he served for five years during the Vietnam War era and learned the heavy construction trade. 

Upon returning to civilian life, David worked for a local Weyerhaeuser mill and later found steady employment as a construction worker. However, his personal background was also shaped by a deeply traumatic childhood; he grew up under a highly abusive mother who subjected him to severe physical punishments, isolation, and mind games, a painful dynamic of psychological grooming that heavily mirrored the tactics his future wife would later use against him.

David's life shifted drastically in 1987 when he married Michelle "Shelly" Knotek. Almost immediately, Michelle targeted David's deeply ingrained psychological vulnerabilities, systematically isolating him from his extended family and subjecting him to relentless verbal and physical abuse. Observers and high school acquaintances noted a jarring transformation during this period, watching the once-confident and easygoing construction worker morph into a paranoid, heavy-drinking, and entirely withdrawn man who constantly seemed to be looking over his shoulder. 

His daughters later recalled that David was effectively a broken man without the backbone to stand up to his domineering wife, leaving him entirely compliant when Michelle began converting their rural Raymond farmhouse into a torturous holding ground for vulnerable boarders and family members. Controlled by fear and psychological dependency, David ultimately transitioned from an abused husband into an active criminal accomplice, culminating in his 2003 arrest and subsequent 15-year prison sentence for second-degree murder and the destruction of human remains.

Murder Story

The crimes connected to David and Michelle Knotek became public in August 2003, after the couple’s daughters told authorities that their parents had abused, tortured, killed, and concealed the bodies of people who had lived in the family home. Police searched the property and found human remains. David and Michelle Knotek were arrested on August 8, 2003.

One of the victims was Shane Watson, Michelle Knotek’s nephew and David’s step-nephew. Shane moved into the Knotek home when he was a teenager. According to reports and court summaries, Shane disappeared after Kathy Loreno’s death. David later admitted that he shot Shane Watson and burned his body. Prosecutors charged David with first-degree murder in Shane’s death, while also charging him with rendering criminal assistance and unlawful disposal of human remains in connection with Ronald Woodworth’s death.

Kathy Loreno Thomas, a 36-year-old hairdresser and family friend, also lived with the Knoteks before disappearing in 1994. Prosecutors alleged that Michelle Knotek abused Loreno and that David helped dispose of her remains after her death. David reportedly told police that Loreno’s body had been burned. Michelle later entered modified guilty pleas related to Loreno’s death.

Ronald “Woody” Woodworth, 57, was another vulnerable adult who lived with the Knoteks. Witnesses described him being forced to do painful chores and suffering severe abuse. After Woodworth died in 2003, David buried his body in the yard after Michelle told him that Woodworth had killed himself. David later showed police where Woodworth’s body was buried.

In February 2004, David Knotek pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the shooting death of Shane Watson. He also pleaded guilty to unlawful disposal of human remains and rendering criminal assistance. The plea deal reduced the original first-degree murder charge and required him to cooperate with authorities.

On August 26, 2004, David Knotek was sentenced in Pacific County Superior Court to 179 months in prison, just under 15 years. Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporting stated that he had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Watson’s death, unlawful disposal of human remains, and rendering criminal assistance. His wife Michelle had already received more than 22 years in prison for her role in the deaths of Kathy Loreno and Ronald Woodworth.

David Knotek is currently free and living as a private citizen, having been paroled from prison in 2016. After completing approximately 13 years of his 15-year sentence at the Monroe Correctional Complex, he successfully fulfilled his state supervision requirements.