The plot to kill Carmela Knight, a 39-year-old mother of two, was thought to be a masterfully executed murder-for-hire scheme, but ultimately led to the downfall of her husband and the hit man hired to carry out the crime.
In 2018, a judge convicted David Knight and Graham MacDonald of first-degree murder in Carmela's death. The case involved a complex undercover operation in which a police officer befriended MacDonald, who unwittingly confessed to the crime in exchange for a large sum of money and a job in Florida.
The police operation, known as a "Mr. Big" sting, involved undercover officers creating a fictitious criminal organization to befriend MacDonald and elicit a confession. Over the course of three months, MacDonald became friends with the officers, who were posing as a criminal and his mentor, and eventually confessed to the murder.
Court heard that MacDonald had choked Carmela to death with a ratchet strap, staged the scene in the garage, planted cocaine in her purse, set her body on fire, and fled the scene. The hit man's confessions, recorded by the undercover officers, were a key piece of evidence in both men's trials.
Knight had hired MacDonald to kill his wife after she discovered his affair and demanded a divorce. The couple's children were just two years old at the time, and Carmela had filed an emergency family court motion for sole possession of the marital home just days before her death.
The jury heard that Knight stood to gain a large sum of money from Carmela's life insurance policy, which was worth $850,000. In a desperate attempt to make her death look like a suicide, Knight had staged the scene in the garage, wrapping a tourniquet around Carmela's arm and leaving a syringe nearby.
The Court of Appeal has upheld both men's convictions, finding no errors were made by either judge at their trials. They will serve an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.
Carmela's grieving mother, Franca Agosta, was quoted as saying, "He was supposed to love and protect Carm, not murder her. He had no mercy for Carmela and the court should have no mercy for him."
