Lynne Knight Murder – The Killer Found After More Than Three Decades

Watch “Dateline: Secrets Uncovered” on Thursday at 8/7c on Oxygen to learn more about the Lynne Knight Murder and how police and prosecutors were able to connect Bradford to the crime.

Knight had significant incisions on her neck caused by a homemade garrote and had been stabbed more than a dozen times. 

The instrument that had been used to strangle Knight was discovered close to the body and seemed to be crafted from two pieces of wood and wire.

Even with such hints, it took investigators more than three decades to compile the proof required to catch her killer.

The autopsy report – How was she murdered?

Knight made a career out of serving others, taking care of newborns in the neonatal unit.

Shortly after completing nursing school, the 28-year-old relocated to California from her native Canada and adapted swiftly to the sunny lifestyle near the coast.

There she ran with 32-year-old Richard Frank, the editor of a local newspaper that was independent.

Before Frank quit the relationship, the two had a lengthy and intense dating history.

She had her ex-boyfriend Joe over for supper on the night she was killed, and the two enjoyed a meal and some wine.

He departed the apartment at around 11:30 p.m. and Knight went to bed. After only a few hours, she died.

Later, an autopsy would reveal that she had been stabbed to death. 

Two distinct semen samples were discovered inside her body by the medical examiner, but at the time, police lacked the DNA technology to determine who the samples belonged to.

The police investigation revealed the ugly truth 

Police started looking into Knight’s male friends, starting with the ex-boyfriend, Joe, whom she had dinner with the night before she was killed.

He was brought in to be questioned, and over the course of the interview, he openly cooperated with the detectives.

The investigators also interviewed the other men in Knight’s life, including Richard Frank, but they all came across as helpful and committed to finding her perpetrator.

Richard Frank, though, does recall that just a few months before Knight passed away, Douglas Bradford, her ex-boyfriend, had a disagreement with her.

The police remember Bradford as well and received a letter from her sister informing her that she had ended her relationship with him and that he would no longer attend the wedding.

The case would go unsolved for years—and then decades—because investigators were unable to obtain the evidence.

Investigators didn’t collect the evidence they required until cold case Det. Jim Wallace gave the case a fresh look.

Wallace gave the handcrafted garrote another look and started to wonder why the wire joining the two wooden rods had been doubled.

He came to the conclusion that the murderer had doubled the wire to increase its strength and must have used tools he had on hand.

Bradford’s mother, Norma, revealed to the detectives that she had always loved to paint. 

Her home was adorned with her own works of art, which Bradford and his father skillfully strung on the walls using the same thin wire that was used to build the garrote.

Who was Lynne Knight’s murderer?

Police served two separate warrants on Bradford: one for the house he is currently living in and the other for the house he previously shared with his parents.

Robert Shapiro, a well-known lawyer who had successfully defended O.J. Simpson, would be retained by Bradford to represent him in court.

Still, even Shapiro’s abilities wouldn’t be sufficient to free Bradford from responsibility.

He was ultimately found guilty of killing Knight in August 2014.

“It’s been a long journey. For 35 years of it always being there, to finally be able to—to let her go and dance with mom, then that’s real satisfaction,” Wigmore, Lynne’s sister said of the closure.