To the outside world, the Knotek family who lived in a rural farmhouse in Raymond, Washington, appeared to have it all.

The charming matriarch Michelle 'Shelly' was always willing to open up their home to those in need & her husband David was also more than happy to oblige.

Not only did they welcome in their teenage nephew Shane when his family could not care for him. But also friends & acquaintances facing difficult times could find refuge there too.

From the outside, Shelly looked like the very definition of kindness & compassion however in reality this was far from the case ....

Because behind the doors of their home a very different, far more deadly kind of reality existed. At the centre of it all was Shelly whose carefully crafted warm persona could vanish in an instant.

Thus revealing a woman who was manipulative, extremely sadistic & capable of extraordinary cruelty to all around her. The depths of depravity her torture methods went to go beyond even the scenes of a horror film .

The people she claimed to love would become trapped in her twisted web & before they had time to escape would be subjected to a nightmare of psychological & extreme physical abuse, systematic prolonged torture, & ultimately, murder......

Her twisted crimes were only uncovered in 2003 thanks to her brave daughters finally breaking away from their evil mothers control & exposing the four deaths that she & David were responsible for to the world .......

This is episode 180: (1/2) A House of Horrors - The Wicked Crimes of Michelle Knotek

**Crime Talk Time Stamp: 9 minutes 20 seconds

Sources: Book - If You Tell by Gregg Olsen / Wicked Attraction Season 3 ep2 / All that's interesting / Wikipedia / New York Post /

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