Viswa Vanapalli
Carmela Knight was found murdered in her home in Ontario, Canada, in September 2014. Soon after, the authorities believed that her estranged husband, David Knight, had something to do with it. But it took an undercover investigation to finally understand that Carmela’s killing resulted from a murder-for-hire plot. NBC News’ ‘Dateline: Fire and Ice’ delves into this very case and explores how David was involved. So, if you’re curious about the same, we’ve got you covered.
Who is David Knight?
By the time Carmela Knight was found murdered, she had filed for divorce from her husband, David Knight. They had two sons together, and he had moved out of the family home when the incident occurred. The authorities learned that he had begun an extramarital affair with a woman from Florida named Jill Hartman; they met at a bar in Florida in 2012 and started seeing each other shortly after.
Carmela found out about the affair and eventually filed for divorce a few months before her death. Testimony revealed that David was unhappy about the separation and reacted to it angrily. Furthermore, a friend of Carmela’s stated that he had a disturbing conversation with her a few days before the murder. On September 13, 2014, two days prior, the friend mentioned that Carmela talked about being concerned with David’s behavior and feared that he might try to kill her. In addition, Carmela had called the authorities several times in the time leading up to her death.
In a call during the early morning hours of August 29, 2014, she told the police that David had destroyed furniture at her home in the middle of the previous night. When the police arrived, David was asleep in the house and denied doing anything. On the contrary, he alleged that Carmela took a computer. A couple of weeks before that, Carmela had been staying at her mother’s house and noticed that the motion sensors at her house had gone off. She called the police and expressed concern about David possibly trying to scare her.
The authorities also learned that Carmela and David were due in family court just days after she was murdered; she planned to seek custody of their sons. Further testimony revealed that David falsely accused his estranged wife of being a negligent parent and of drinking, gambling, and seeing a boyfriend. However, despite all of this, it appeared like David wasn’t the killer because he had an air-tight alibi. He was with his son at an ice hockey rink, helping with the kid’s practice.
Eventually, the police were led to Graham MacDonald, an acquaintance of David. A complex undercover operation had the police befriending Graham in hopes of coaxing a confession out of him. It worked because he told an undercover officer that David promised $100,000 in exchange for killing Carmela. The police also monitored Graham’s consequent meetings with David, with the undercover officers picking him up and dropping him off. After one meeting, Graham told the police David paid him $5,000, and later, he claimed that David gave him Carmela’s rosary.
After the murder, David made preparations to move to Florida. David was in discussions about buying a construction company and getting vaccination records of his sons; he wanted them to study in Florida. Furthermore, in December 2014, David had a private jet ready to get to Florida. But the police stopped him and took away his passport. After that, he even inquired about applying for a British passport.
David Knight is Serving His Life Term
David stood trial in October 2018 and denied having anything to do with Carmela’s murder. He claimed that the $5,000 that Graham had was stolen from his coat and tried to explain away other implicating evidence. In February 2019, a jury found David, then 46, guilty of first-degree murder, arson, and conspiracy to commit murder. In April 2019, he was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years for the murder. The prosecution also called for concurrent sentences of 20 years for the conspiracy and six years for the arson. From what we can tell, David is serving his sentence at a correctional facility in Ontario.
Read More: Where is Graham MacDonald Now?
