Keep bracing yourselves… The worst is yet to come. I am an all or nothing kind of girl. When I do these videos, I include everything. The following account is the complete report by crime scene investigator Detective Senior Constable Peter Anthony Muscio who was the first officer on the premises after the initial discovery of John Price’s body. In cases such as this, it is the detective’s job to piece together the facts first hand from the evidence at the murder scene before anyone else touches a thing; and believe me, what he saw that day with his own eyes is something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.

“About 10am, Wednesday the 1st of March, 2000, in company with Detective Sergeant Neil Raymond, I attended the premises at 84 St Andrews Street, Aberdeen in relation to an alleged homicide. There I spoke to a number of police including duty officer Graham Furlonger, Detective Sergeant Bob Wells and Senior Constable Michael Prentice. The premises is a single storey, three bedroom dwelling which faces generally south onto St Andrew Street. The premises was built towards the eastern side of the block leaving a grassed area on the western side where three vehicles were parked. These vehicles consisted of a white Toyota 4WD, a white Ford sedan and a white Toyota Landcruiser utility. There were two galvanised steel garden sheds in the rear yard, one at each rear corner. There was also a brick barbeque against the eastern boundary. The dwelling had a full length verandah across the southern side and a smaller verandah central to the rear of the premises. My attention was drawn to a piece of cooked meat on the rear lawn in front of the white Ford sedan. I made an examination of this piece of meat and collected it for further testing. During my examination I took a series of photographs of the premises and the piece of cooked meat on the lawn.

“I entered the premises to conduct a cursory examination with Detective Sgt Raymond. I walked in through the rear door and into the kitchen. Once inside the kitchen I saw a large section of what appeared to be human skin hanging from the top architrave of the doorway leading into the lounge room. This piece of skin extended from the top of the doorway right to the floor and appeared to be an entire human skin. Looking through this doorway into the lounge room I could see a headless and skinless human body. I walked east along the hallway and looked into the entry foyer and saw an extreme amount of blood pooled on the floor. There was also a large amount of blood smearing over the eastern wall of the entry. I walked further east along the hallway and noticed some blood staining leading from the main bedroom. In this bedroom I noticed more blood staining however only moderate amounts. I then left the scene and had a discussion with Sergeant Raymond and other investigating police outside the scene. I then re-entered the premises and made a more detailed examination.

The rear door of the premises opens into the laundry, off the western side of this is the kitchen dining room. The laundry contained a stainless steel tub in the north east corner and a washing machine further south along the eastern wall. There was a built-in cupboard in two separate wooden louvred doors in the southern wall of the laundry. On the western wall of the laundry was a cavity sliding door that gave access to the dining room and kitchen. The room was divided into two sections with the kitchen being the western end and the dining room being the eastern end. The dining room contained a wood and steel dining room table which had three matching seats placed around it. There were items of clothing draped over the backs of each of the three chairs. On the dining room table was a tool bag, some clothing, a small blue folder, an electronic toy gorilla and some prescription medicine boxes.

I noticed blood staining to the shoulder area of a blue shirt which was draped over the chair on the western side of the table. The medication on the table consisted of three boxes of Felodur ER 5mg of which two were empty. This medication normally contains 2 strips of each containing 15 tablets, however there was only one full strip containing 15 tablets. There was also one empty box of Prinivil 20 tablets. An empty box of Dapa-Tabs was also on the table, this medication when full contains 90 tablets at 2.5mg. The fourth chair of the set was against the northern wall under the bench portion of the breakfast bar. I took a series of photographs of the dining room. The kitchen was in the east portion of the room. It consisted of a kitchen bench with overhead cupboards along the eastern wall. About central to this bench was an electric cooktop which had a baking dish and an aluminium boiler on it. A long the southern wall was a wall oven and further east was a two door built-in pantry and a freestanding fridge. Along the northern wall was another bench which incorporated the sink and further east was a breakfast bar that protruded from the northern wall south into the kitchen and divided the kitchen and dining room.

As mentioned earlier I saw what appeared to be a complete human skin or pelt hanging from the top architrave of the door separating the dining room and the lounge room. On closer examination I could distinguish black curly hair at the top, a nose and part of the mouth and ear. About halfway down the pelt I could see a clump of short black curly hair consistent with pubic hair. I could not recognise any other particular features as it continued to the floor. The edges of the pelt were incised indicating to me that it had been removed with a sharp instrument. There were also a number of distinct stab wounds to the pelt, about a metre down from the top. The pelt was attached to the architrave by a stainless steel meat hook. The hook was pierced through the top of the head area of the pelt and then hooked over the architrave on the lounge room side of the door. The skin appeared to vary in thickness from approximately 1 to 4 centimetres. I noticed a blood trail leading from the lounge room into the kitchen towards the kitchen cooktop in the vicinity of the aluminium boiler. The boiler was on the right side rear element, which was at the time turned off. When I lifted the lid to the boiler I noticed it was warm to touch.

The pot was full of liquid and on the surface I could identify a skinned human head and a number of cooked vegetables. On the northern side of the aluminium boiler I saw a baking dish which was sitting across the right front side element. Inside the baking dish I saw an amount of liquid and the remains of baked vegetables. Just to the right or northern side of the cook top I saw two prepared meals. Each of the meals consisted of two pieces of cooked meat, baked potato, baked pumpkin, zucchini, cabbage, yellow squash and gravy. Underneath each of the meals was a torn section of kitchen paper with a name written on it. The word “Beaky” was written in blue ink pen on one of the pieces while the word “Jonathon” was on the other. The pieces of meat appeared on the plates were similar to the piece I collected from the rear lawn.

On the section of the kitchen bench across the northern wall were a number of items of interest. On the western end of the bench I saw a green electric jug with blood staining about the handle. In the sink I saw an orange coloured vegetable peeler and the vegetable peelings from potato, pumpkin, zucchini and onion. On the eastern side of the sink I saw a cream coloured microwave dish containing cooked cabbage leaves and a clearish liquid. In front of the microwave dish I saw a brown coloured coffee cup that was sitting on a wooden cutting up board. Inside the coffee cup was a teaspoon and a small quantity of thick brown liquid similar to gravy. There was also the residue of the gravy type substance on the cutting up board. Just to the right of the cutting up board was a yellow handled “Swibo” knife and two forks. The handle of the knife was blood stained.

On the eastern side of the breakfast bar I saw a small black handled knife which was blood stained and four empty medication blister packs. One blister pack was labelled “Luvox” and had 15 tablets missing, two blister packets labelled “Aropax” and had ten tablets missing from each packet and the blister packet labelled Promethazine had 20 tablets missing. I saw a blood stained grey coffee cup which contained a white fatty substance. There was also an empty “Tooheys” brand beer stubby, a packet of Winfield red cigarettes and a black wallet belonging to the deceased on the bench. On the western side of the breakfast bar I saw a “Norton” brand “bench stone” sharpening stone.

On the southern side of the cooktop on the bench against the western wall of the kitchen was a microwave oven. In front of the microwave was the remains of a roll of paper towel and a blue plastic lid. This lid fitted on the microwave dish that was on the kitchen sink. I also noted that the microwave door was open and the courtesy light was on. On the cork tiled floor of the kitchen at the south west corner of the kitchen bench I saw a blood stained bare footprint. This footprint was from a right foot of a person and at the time the person was standing adjacent to the kitchen bench with the right foot facing north.

I noticed blood staining to the fridge on both the handle of the door to the fridge section and the eastern side of the unit. The staining to the door handle contained some ridge structure and was in a position consistent with opening the door with bloodied hands. There were also smears on the eastern face of the fridge, and lower down, staining from droplets of blood that had come in contact with this surface.

As mentioned earlier the lounge room was off the southern side of the kitchen/dining room, the two rooms being separated by a cavity sliding door. On the eastern side of the lounge room was an opening of 1.6m wide which gave the access to the front entry of the premises. The lounge room contained a single seat lounge chair in the south east corner and further west against that wall was a three seater lounge suite, and another single lounge seat in the south west corner. From this corner, north, against the western wall was a slow combustion heater and another single lounge chair. Along the northern wall from the north western corner was a large wooden display cabinet, a smaller display cabinet, the doorway to the kitchen/dining room and single lounge chair in the north eastern corner.

The skinless and headless body of a person now known to me as John Charles Price was in a supine position with his legs protruding into the entry foyer, from knees down. There was a substantial amount of blood smeared over the carpet around the body. As mentioned earlier there was also an extreme amount of blood pooling on the floor of the entry foyer. In this blood pool and staining were marks where the body of the deceased had been dragged about one metre from about the middle of the entry foyer onto the carpet in the lounge room. The deceased was laying on his back with his legs crossed at the feet, the left ankle was on top of the right. His left arm was extended and out from the body at an angle of about 45 degrees. Under the left wrist of this arm was an empty plastic 1.25 litre Shellys Club Lemon Squash bottle. The right arm was also extended and lying alongside the body. On the floor, adjacent to the right arm of the deceased was a blood stained 31 cm yellow plastic handled knife. The blade of this knife was 17.5cm long. The body was virtually devoid of skin and flesh, exposing the muscles and some organs. There were a number of wounds present on the body, one of the most obvious being a stab wound to the left side of the chest which extended into the chest cavity.

As stated the body had been skinned in a manner that leads me to believe that the person responsible would have had skill in this area. From the blood staining on the carpet I was able to determine that the deceased had been skinned prior to being decapitated. there was a definite outline of the head in the blood staining on the carpet. Examination of the neck region of the deceased indicated that the head had been removed very carefully and cleanly with a sharp instrument. On the seat of the single lounge chair in the north east corner of the room (adjacent to the shoulders of the deceased) was a black handled honing steel (sharpening stone) and an opened packet of Winfield Blue cigarettes. I also noticed bloodied hand prints on the back and arms of this chair. On the northern wall on the western side of the door to the kitchen was a small display cabinet. Lying on this cabinet was a broken picture frame containing a picture of the deceased. Lying on top of the picture frame was a blood stained watch. To the west of the photograph, still on top of the cabinet, was a blood stained hand written note together with another broken picture on top of it. Apart from being blood stained it had small pieces of flesh on it.

The note was poorly written and contained very basic spelling mistakes. It read:- “Time got you back Johathon for rapping (raping) my douter (daughter). You to Beck for Ross — for Little John.’ ‘Now play with little Johns Dick John Price.’ (These allegations were baseless.)”

Detective Muscio also said; “I remember walking down the hallway and at about shoulder height there were all these blood splatter marks on the walls. To me, it’s indicative of each attack… He’s absolutely fighting for his life. The bloke’s just had a bonk (sexual intercourse) in the bed when he wakes up, then stab, stab, stab. He’s getting up, there is arterial spurting on the robe and the bed, and on the doorway there’s a bloodied handprint or swipe on the western side of the door near the dressing table, and blood around the light switch. It looks like he’s tried to turn the light switch on. And then all down the hallway they’re (bloody handprints) everywhere. And he’s almost made it, he’s opened the front door, the screen door is shut, there is blood staining, trajectory again, flicking out across the front door, he’s almost made it… but he wouldn’t have survived. He would have been absolutely horrified, terrified — probably terrified more than horrified — trying to get out and all the time being stabbed.”

Staying true to my all or nothing pledge, here is what the autopsy revealed:

The victim was dead when he was skinned. A razor sharp knife had been inserted just under his collarbone and sliced horizontally across the top of the body, from shoulder to shoulder, right under the clavicles. It was a straight, clean cut, anatomically precise. Then the knife was turned and cut down the chest and over the stomach to the pubic hair line and made into a T with another straight line. Tracing the knife tip around his pubic area and careful not to cut his penis or genitals, the killer cut down the front of John Price’s thighs, over the knees and to his feet. The killer then moved up the body, held his arms up and cut down the back of each one and across the top of the victim’s head. The killer then peeled the victim’s skin off, including his head, his hair, his face and all the way down the length of the body to the feet exposing the victim’s intestines. The entire skin was in one piece including hair, face, ears, nose, mouth, genitals and complete stab holes and dripping in blood. Hanging from the S-hook in the doorway, the feet were dragging on the ground. The killer then removed the victim’s head clean at the C3-C4 junction, right at the top of the shoulders using a very sharp knife. The cut was precise and clean. The killer would have been covered in warm, sticky blood. According to forensic pathologist Dr. Timothy Lyons, who performed the autopsy, the whole procedure would have taken about 40 minutes.

Once Knight woke up in hospital, she claimed to have no memory of the night before. Katherine Knight was quickly charged with his murder.