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Thomas Knight

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Thomas Otis Knight was a serial killer originally sentenced for the murders of his former boss Sydney Gans and Gans' wife Lillian. Knight committed two more murders, one after a prison escape and one of a guard on death row, before he was eventually executed.

History[]

Knight, the second of nine children, grew up in a broken home in a family with mental illness. His father drank too much, beat the children, and once raped Knight's sister while Knight was a witness. knight accumulated a theft and burglary record throughout his preteen and teenage years of his childhood. When Knight was committed to the Northeast Florida State Hospital at age nineteen, he was diagnosed with paranoid personality disorder and multiple substance intoxications.

Knight's first arrest for murder was after he planned to rob his former boss, Sydney Gans. On July 17, 1974, Knight took Sydney hostage with a rifle, carjacking him and forcing him to find Sydney's wife Lillian so Knight could take her hostage too. Knight forced the couple to drive to a downtown Miami Bank, where Sydney was forced to withdrawal $50,000 while Lillian and Knight were still in the car. Although Sydney returned with the money and they all left, Sydney discreetly tipped off the bank, who called the FBI, who notified the Miami Police Department. The police followed the Ganses and Knight, but lost the vehicle until it was found near an empty construction sight. Knight escaped into a nearby forest, having shot Sydney and Lillian, Lillian still in the car and Sydney not far from it, and mad off with the money. Police arrested him hours later.

Knight was awaiting trial at the Miami-Dade County Jail, when on September 19, he was one of eleven inmates to escape in a jailbreak, as well as one of three inmates still on the run while the rest were arrested shortly thereafter. Knight subsisted on armed robberies and heists, with at least one accomplice, but he came the focus of a strong manhunt when on October 21, he shot up a liquor store, killing William Culpepper and injuring A.V. Norton. Knight became an FBI Most Wanted fugitive, eventually being tracked to a rooming house at New Smyrna Beach. In spite of him being heavily armed, Knight surrendered to arrest when he was met by FBI SWAT at the site on New Year's Eve. He was sentenced to death for killing the Ganses in 1975.

Knight's final murder is of a correction's officer, Thomas Burke, while Knight was on death row. Knight was furious the prison denied his mother visitation unless Knight shaved his beard, so on October 12, 1980, when Burke escorted Knight to the showers, Knight shanked him to death with a sharpened spoon. Knight received another death sentence for Burke's murder in 1983. Knight has been recognized as one of Florida's figureheads for capital punishment. Nevertheless, Knight was on death row for less than forty years due to a lengthy history of appeals and rulings in his case. Knight converted to Islam on death row and took the name Askari Abdulah Muhammad. On January 7, 2014, Knight died by lethal injection, the first inmate in Florida to be executed that year.

Modus Operandi[]

The majority of Knight's murders were committed by shooting. His motives were typically robbery, starting with a primarily targeted he knew, his boss Sydney Gans. He took Sydney hostage, then made Lillian join and forced them to drive the car. Sydney was ordered to withdrawal from the couple's account while Lillian remained a hostage. Even in spite of the local police and FBI being alerted, Knight killed the couple with shots to their necks, then abandoned them in their car. During his time as a fugitive, Knight subsisted off of spoils from armed robberies and stuck-ups, eventually shooting two store employees, killing one, out of impulse. Knight's final murder, that of prison guard Richard Burke, was out of projected rage against the prison, stabbing him with a shiv modeled from a sharpened spoon.

Known Victims[]

  • 1960-1966: Numerous victimless thefts and burglaries
  • 1974
    • July 17, Miami, Florida: The Gans family robbery-murders: (both abducted from Miami Beach at gunpoint and robbed of $50,000; later shot in their necks)
      • Sydney Gans (Knight's former boss; found near his abandoned car)
      • Lillian Gans (Sydney's wife; left in her abandoned car)
    • September-December: Numerous victimless armed robberies
    • October 21, Cordele, Georgia: The liquor store shootings:
      • William Culpepper (shot three times)
      • A.V. Norton (attempted, but survived; shot twice)
    • October 12, 1980, Florida State Prison, Bradford County, Florida: Officer Richard Burke (stabbed with a shiv)

On Criminal Minds[]

  • Season Six
    • "Coda" - While never directly mentioned or referenced in the franchise, Knight appears to be the inspiration for the episode's unsub, Bill Thomas - Both are murderers and abductors who targeted couples, held them captive and forced them to drive around, ordered them to withdrawal tens of thousands of dollars, killed their murder victims by shooting, and were the subjects of manhunts involving the FBI.

Sources[]

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