CRIME TIME: Dateline airing Pickering murder-for-hire episode

Article content

David Knight would do nearly anything for the new life he desperately craved.

Article content

And murder wasn’t out of the question.

Article content

The Pickering man decided he was going to bump off his wife Carmela, 39, whose demand for a divorce threatened the sun-kissed future he desired.

On Sept. 15, 2014, emergency authorities were called to the couple’s burning Pickering home. Inside, firefighters found Carmela.

An autopsy later revealed that she died from blunt force trauma and strangulation. The fire was a red herring.

Now, the disturbing case is getting the true crime treatment from NBC’s Dateline in an episode called Fire and Ice, airing Friday at 10 p.m.

The episode is described thus: “Firefighters make a grisly discovery while responding to a fire at the house of Carmela and David Knight in a Toronto, Canada suburb. As a family searches for answers, investigators launch an elaborate undercover sting that reveals a devious murder-for-hire plot and the ultimate betrayal.”

Article content

David Knight offered hired killer Graham MacDonald $100,000 and a job in Florida if he murdered Carmela. But cops later flipped MacDonald and the sting took shape.

MacDonald was convicted of first-degree murder in 2018.

At trial it emerged that Knight had been living a double life punctuated by a girlfriend in Florida. Jill Hartman testified Knight told her that he was divorced when they first met at a St. Petersburg watering hole in 2012.

David Knight began visiting Florida on a frequent basis and it didn’t take his long-suffering wife Carmela much time to figure out her husband was having an affair.

She wanted a divorce, custody of their children and support.

RECOMMENDED VIDEO

Durham Regional Police homicide detectives suspected MacDonald was the killer and orchestrated a Mr. Big sting the greedy hitman couldn’t resist.

A victim impact statement from Knight’s mother, Franca Agosta, brought many spectators in the courtroom to tears.

“All Carm wanted was a divorce. Carmela was robbed of being at her sons’ graduations, their weddings, robbed of becoming a grandmother,” Agosta said at the time, her voice cracking with emotion. “She will never be forgotten. She’ll be loved forever.”

Both MacDonald and David Knight were convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole for 25 years.