Paul John Knowles
There was a two hour special tonight on this guy. He was an infamous criminal who went on a kidnapping and murder spree in the southeast in 1974.
Knowles kidnapped and murdered a Florida State Trooper, among many others. Police figure that Knowles murdered at least 18 people.
Are any of y'all familiar with this case?
Knowles kidnapped and murdered a Florida State Trooper, among many others. Police figure that Knowles murdered at least 18 people.
Are any of y'all familiar with this case?
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I was a rookie Deputy in '74, but remember the BOLO's for Knowles all over Georgia.
After he was captured, a South Georgia Sheriff, (sorry, I forget his name or the county) and GBI Agent Ron Angel interviewed Knowles, who told them he would show them where some bodies were.
Seems like on the ride in the country, Knowles tried to escape, reaching over the front seat to grab the Sheriff's pistol. GBI Agent Angel shot Knowles DRT!0 -
That's right he was shot by Ron Angel.
Well I have a little insight into the case.
As you know the State of Georgia is divided up into judicial regions. I believe there are ten regions. In each region there is a State District Attorney who is in charge of all prosecutions within that region. He is a sort of super DA.
Knowles was being held in Milledgeville and Macon due to 2 murders he had committed in Milledgeville. This is in the Oconee region.
About 6 months after Knowles was killed I was dating a girl whose father happened to be the Oconee Region DA. He would have personally tried Knowles for murder.
So I went over for Sunday dinner and got to talking to this DA. I asked him about the Knowles case and the steam blew out of his ears.
He told me that the death of Knowles was a set up. He had specifically told the cops that if Knowles were ever transported, he would be shackled at the waist and feet, and would be in a car with a cage. There would be no guns in that car.
That car would be preceeded by one cop car, and followed by another cop car.
So when Knowles died, both cops in the car were armed, there were no other cop cars in sight, and there was no cage. Knowles was not shackled by a waist chain, he was handcuffed in front, and somehow he "picked the lock."
This DA was angry because it would have been the biggest trial of his career.
He flat told me that Knowles was murdered.
If you saw that documentary last night, by the way, two hour show, very well done, they interviewed a Florida State Trooper supervisor and he was very "disappointed" that Knowles had been killed. He said there was a lot of information they could have gotten from Knowles had he lived longer.
Knowing what I know, I could tell that this Florida cop also thought that the death of Knowles was fishy.0 -
I agree, the circumstances surrounding Knowles' death is 'fishy' to say the least.
"This DA was angry because it would have been the biggest trial of his career."
That, my friend, says a lot. Seems to me your DA friend wasn't unhappy because Knowles is dead, he's unhappy because he didn't get his name in the lights and papers!!
Had Knowles not been killed, he'd probably still be sitting on Death Row.
'Mama always said if you can't say something good about the dead, not to say anything'
Knowles is dead ...... GOOD!0 -
Seems to me your DA friend wasn't unhappy because Knowles is dead, he's unhappy because he didn't get his name in the lights and papers!!
You are at least half right, yep, the DA would have been on the Huntley Brinkley show.
Also I think he wanted to get a lot more info from Knowles.They said on this show that they are pretty sure that he committed 18 murders but that the total might have been higher.
As you may recall, Knowles was driving up I75 when he saw a Florida trooper writing a business man a speeding ticket.
Knowles pulled over and kidnapped the trooper and the businessman. What a wild man!
He drove them up to south Georgia, took them into the woods. Then he had them stand facing each other, there was a pine tree in between them. Knowles handcuffed them together with 2 handcuffs, so that they were handcuffed around the tree. They couldn't walk off because the tree was between them.
Then he had them lie face down on the ground and he shot them both in the head with the trooper's .357
I think it was this heinous murder of the trooper that motivated Ron Angel to shoot Knowles.
I have to agree with you, rebel, he might be sitting on death row still today, so, good job by Ron Angel.
I would like to have had a tape recorder in that death car, I bet Angel had a little talk with Knowles before he shot him in the head.0
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