NBC’s “Dateline: The Wire” details the murder of Canadian-born Lynne Knight, 28, in Torrance, California, in August 1979. She was brutally murdered inside her home while she was a nurse at a nearby hospital. It took the police about three decades to assemble enough proof to apprehend the offender. We have all the details you need whether you’re looking for more information about the crime or the identify of the perpetrator. This is all the information you require!
How Did Lynne Knight Die?
Deborah Lynn In Wetaskiwin, Canada, on January 1, 1951, Marie Knight, sometimes known as Lynne, was born to Lillian Kononuk Knight. Midway through the 1970s, she relocated to Torrance in Los Angeles County, California, and settled into a small studio apartment attached to someone’s garage on Enza Avenue. The 28-year-old dealt with the tiniest patients, the most defenseless preterm babies, at a hospital called Little Company of Mary.
Richard Frank, one of Lynne’s ex-boyfriends, called her “beautiful, extremely extroverted, boisterous, almost tomboy kind of girl.” She excelled at outdoor sports like racquetball, scuba diving, marathon running, and more. Therefore it came as a shock to the neighborhood when, at three in the morning on August 30, 1979, a blood-curdling scream could be heard coming from Lynne’s tiny flat. Torrance Police detectives visited her home to check on her welfare after one of her neighbors dialed 911.
In addition to having more than 15 stab wounds, Lynne also had one of her breasts mutilated, according to her post-mortem reports. She died from bleeding to death after the attacker severed her femoral artery. The severe incision around the corpse’s neck as it lay in bed, however, was the mark that was the most horrifying. When the coroner moved the body, the police also discovered the murder weapon, which was a makeshift device built from wired-together pieces of what appeared to be a broom or mop handle.
Who Killed Lynne Knight?
Former Torrance Police Lead Detective Gary Hilton recalled that since serving in Vietnam, he had not seen a homemade garrote like this. The crime scene was thoroughly examined by the investigators, who discovered plenty of evidence suggesting the murderer was someone who knew the victim. With the exception of a few personal belongings like Lynne’s wallet, her keys, and one specific item of jewelry—a necklace with a pendant—the offender had not taken anything from the flat. Police reports state that the officers discovered the broken clasp, the pendant, but not the chain.
The wedding invitation for Lynne’s sister Donna Wigmore was discovered in pieces in her apartment’s garbage can by the police. The excessive violence indicates the killing was inspired by “something personal,” as opposed to break-ins or home invasions, which would not go to such lengths to kill someone. Following Lynne’s screams, the neighbors who were questioned by the police revealed that several of them had seen a “lender young man with black, curly hair” fleeing down the driveway and into the street while carrying what appeared to be a little bag.
The victim’s corpse included remnants of two semen samples, according to police findings. Nevertheless, forensic technology had not advanced sufficiently for the authorities to be able to determine who they belonged to. The investigators spoke with Lynne’s friends, coworkers, friends, and ex-boyfriends. The young Nurse allegedly had a large number of male acquaintances and lovers, the most of them were athletes and sportsmen, and referred to them as “her sweethearts.” They spoke with Richard Frank, one of her ex-boyfriends, to find out why they broke up after dating “quite extensively for a couple of months.”
Nonetheless, Richard and Lynne resumed their relationship around the end of the summer of 1979 after reuniting while water skiing. She cooked Joe Giarrusso Chinese food for dinner on the day of the murder, according to information obtained by the investigators. He claims that they had some wine after dinner and then left because Lynne had an early shift the next morning at the hospital. She was turning in for the day as Joe left the house at 11:PM on August 29, according to Joe, who told the police that was the last time he saw her.
The fact that Joe had multiple cuts on his fingers led the detectives to initially suspect him. He said he had nothing to do with the murder, though, and said it was because he dropped a test tube at work. Additionally, Joe stated he was in bed with his ex-girlfriend at the time, and both of them were found to be honest on a polygraph. After concluding that his description did not match the picture provided by the witnesses, the investigators eventually eliminated him as a suspect. They also excluded Richard and Lynne’s other lovers after each of them had convincing justifications.
Nevertheless, Richard told the police about a new suspect: Douglas Gordon Bradford, a previous boyfriend of Lynne’s who had dropped by her flat to return a lamp he had taken. He had yelled insults at her and thrown the light over their heads during a heated dispute. Donna also recalled getting a note from Lynne saying she had ended things with Douglas and that he would no longer be attending the wedding.
Douglas was questioned by the detectives, and throughout the questioning, he made a number of strange claims and offered a poor alibi about being sailing by himself at the time of the murder. Even still, it took the authorities over three decades to amass sufficient evidence to charge him. When Douglas was a Cal State Long Beach engineering student in 1979, his parents’ home and Douglas’ home were both searched using search warrants by a detective from the Cold Case Unit.
In order to find the same wire that was used to build the improvised garrote for the murder, the police investigated the homes in 2007. The experts on the program estimated that sales of this highly unusual sort of wire made up between 1% and 6% of all picture wire sales. Despite the fact that the majority of the evidence was circumstantial, Douglas was detained by the police in May 2009, found guilty, and given a sentence of 26 years to life in prison in December 2014. Douglas, who is currently 71 years old, is a prisoner at the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo County.
