Stuart Knowlton - Petoskey High School

Stuart Willis Knowlton was born to Emery Charles Knowlton (1903 -1976) and Helen Leora Bolester (1929 - 1975). He had siblings Winifred Alice, William, and another brother. He also had half-siblings Donald, Walter, John, Burdette Donald Stafford, and a half-sister. On May 29, 1964, Stuart married Janice Marie Burdick in Emmet County, Michigan. They had a daughter, Mirenda Susan Knowlton, and a son. However, Stuart and Janice divorced on February 3, 1984, in Ramsey County, Minnesota when Stuart was 52 and Janice was 42. See their newspaper wedding announcement at Stuart Willis Knowlton Marriage. Unfortunately, Stuart is notoriously remembered as the murderer who killed 6-year-old Cassandra "Cassie" Hansen and threw her body in a dumpster. On November 10, 1981, Stuart abducted Cassie from Jehovah Evangelical Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, while she and her family were attending a Christmas program with her younger sister. Cassie went to use the restroom and was abducted from the stairwell leading to a church bathroom. Police found the child's body the next day in a dumpster. Stuart was a sexual predator, and he confessed his crime to massage therapist Dorothy Noga on November 11, 1981. She then went to the police and became a key informant in the case. At times, she attempted to record their conversations. However, Stuart became enraged and went to Noga's workplace, where he viciously attacked her with a knife - stabbing her 32 times. Noga managed to stumble away and call for help. She survived the attack, and the crime was later solved with her help. “The paramedics told us that there’s absolutely no way in the world that this woman ever should have lived,” retired St. Paul Police Officer Jim Groh said. She did, and the crime was later solved with her help. Stuart was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. When he was up for parole almost 17 years later, Cassie's family fought to keep him locked up. Stuart died of natural causes in prison in 2006. See Stuart Knowlton - Murderer of Cassandra Hansen (age 6) and Minnesota Supreme Court Decision State v. Knowlton 1986 Case for more details. And for complete details about Stuart's life of crime and what ultimately happened to him and his other victims, see Forensic Files Now.