Gregory McKnight: The Vinton County Killer
Overview
Gregory B. McKnight is a convicted serial killer responsible for the murders of three people in Ohio between 1992 and 2000. His violent acts began in his teens and escalated after his release from a juvenile facility. In 2000, he murdered two young adults, burying their bodies on his rural property in Vinton County. The discovery of his crimes brought to light a history of violence and led to a death sentence, a penalty that has been the subject of numerous legal challenges, including allegations of racial bias. McKnight remains on death row in Ohio.
Early Life and First Murder
Gregory B. McKnight was born on November 14, 1976, in Queens, New York. In his early adolescence, his family moved to Columbus, Ohio. By age 15, McKnight was involved with a troubled peer group and had begun a descent into criminal activity.
In 1992, at the age of 15, McKnight committed his first murder. During a robbery in Columbus, he shot and killed a man. Due to his age, he was tried and convicted in juvenile court. He was sentenced to serve time at the Circleville Youth Center. After five years, in 1997, he was released at the age of 20. The name of his first victim has not been publicly disclosed in available records.
Following his release, McKnight married a woman named Kathryn, who had been an employee at the youth center where he was incarcerated. For a time, he seemed to be attempting a normal life, finding work and living in rural Ohio.
The Murder of Gregory Julious
In early 2000, Gregory Julious, 20, was living with his girlfriend, Dana Bostic, in Chillicothe, Ohio. McKnight became acquainted with Julious through a mutual friend. On the afternoon of May 12, 2000, Bostic returned home from work to find McKnight and Julious in her kitchen. She left for about an hour, and when she returned, both men were gone. Julious had left behind all his personal belongings, including his clothes and identification.
Later that evening, after Bostic paged McKnight, he called her back and put Julious on the phone. Julious told her he was in Columbus with a friend of McKnight's and that they were going to a party. Bostic later described the conversation as "very unusual" and noted that Julious abruptly ended the call. It was the last time she ever spoke to him.
McKnight had murdered Gregory Julious. He later dismembered his body and buried the remains in various locations on his property in Vinton County, including in a cistern and a root cellar. Some of the remains were also burned in an attempt to destroy evidence.
The Murder of Emily Murray
In the fall of 2000, McKnight was working as a kitchen hand at the Pirate's Cove, a restaurant in Gambier, Ohio, near the campus of Kenyon College. One of his coworkers was Emily Murray, a 20-year-old junior at the college who worked part-time as a waitress.
On November 3, 2000, Emily worked her last shift at the restaurant, having decided to quit the job. She clocked out at 3:07 a.m. McKnight had clocked out just minutes earlier. Emily was last seen by the bartender shortly before 3:30 a.m. She then vanished.
For over a month, Emily Murray's disappearance was a mystery. The search for her came to a grim end on December 9, 2000. Vinton County Sheriff's deputies went to McKnight's rural trailer near Ray, Ohio, to serve him an indictment for an unrelated burglary. There, they discovered Emily's Subaru Outback parked behind the trailer. After obtaining a search warrant, they entered the trailer and found bloodstains leading to a spare bedroom. Emily's body was found wrapped in a carpet. She had been shot once in the head.
The Victims
- Unnamed Man — In 1992, in Columbus, Ohio, a man was shot and killed by a 15-year-old Gregory McKnight during a robbery. His identity has not been publicly released.
- Gregory Julious, 20 — On May 12, 2000, Gregory was last seen leaving his girlfriend's Chillicothe home with McKnight. He was a tall young man, described by a forensic anthropologist as being between six feet and six feet, six inches.
- Emily Murray, 20 — A junior at Kenyon College, Emily was murdered on November 3, 2000. She was a philosophy major with aspirations of becoming an Episcopal priest and was known for her kind and joyful spirit.
Investigation and Capture
The discovery of Emily Murray's car at Gregory McKnight's property was the break in the case that led to his capture. On December 9, 2000, when deputies went to his trailer to serve an indictment for a burglary that occurred on October 11, 2000, they spotted the missing woman's vehicle. McKnight had committed the burglary with two accomplices, identified in court documents as "Trevor" and "Quan," stealing several firearms.
After securing a search warrant for the property, investigators uncovered the horrific extent of McKnight's crimes. Inside the trailer, they found Emily Murray's body. A wider search of the property then led to the discovery of the skeletal remains of Gregory Julious. Forensic analysis, including dental records, confirmed the identity of the remains. It was determined that Julious had also been shot.
McKnight and his wife, Kathryn, were initially arrested. However, Kathryn was later released after investigators determined she was not involved in the murders. Gregory McKnight was charged with the murders of Emily Murray and Gregory Julious.
Trial and Sentence
Gregory McKnight's trial began on October 1, 2002, in Vinton County. The case drew significant attention, partly due to a pre-trial ruling by Judge Jeffrey L. Simmons that the county could not afford the cost of a death penalty trial. This decision was later reversed, and the prosecution proceeded with seeking the death penalty for the aggravated murder of Emily Murray.
The prosecution presented evidence linking McKnight to both murders, including the discovery of the bodies on his property and forensic evidence. Due to the state of Julious's remains, the exact cause of death was difficult to determine, and prosecutors did not seek the death penalty for his murder. However, for Emily Murray's murder, the evidence was clear that she had been shot in the head.
On October 10, 2002, after less than an hour of deliberation, the jury found Gregory McKnight guilty of all charges: aggravated murder, murder, kidnapping, aggravated robbery, receiving stolen property, and complicity to burglary.
On October 25, 2002, Judge Simmons sentenced McKnight to death for the aggravated murder of Emily Murray. He also received consecutive sentences for the other charges, including 15 years to life for the murder of Gregory Julious, 10 years for kidnapping, and 10 years for aggravated robbery. Emily Murray's parents, in a statement before the sentencing, expressed their opposition to the death penalty, stating that their daughter "would regard it as a tragedy and an abomination if another human being were put to death in her name."
Appeals and Allegations of Racial Bias
Gregory McKnight's case has been marked by numerous appeals. In 2005, the Supreme Court of Ohio upheld his convictions and death sentence. A significant aspect of his appeals has been the argument of racial bias. McKnight is Black, and his victims, Gregory Julious and Emily Murray, were Black and white, respectively.
His attorneys argued that the prosecutor's decision to seek the death penalty only in the murder of the white victim, Emily Murray, was evidence of racial bias. The aggravating circumstance that made Murray's murder a capital offense was the kidnapping charge. McKnight's lawyers questioned why a kidnapping charge was not also pursued in the case of Gregory Julious, given the similar circumstances of his disappearance.
In 2020, McKnight's legal team sought a new trial based on allegations that white jurors had used racial slurs during the 2002 trial deliberations. These claims were based on interviews with some of the jurors conducted in 2017. The appeals on these grounds have been complex and have been argued in both state and federal courts.
As of the latest available information, Gregory McKnight remains on death row at the Ross Correctional Institution in Ohio. In 2015, he briefly volunteered for execution but later withdrew his request. There is currently a long-term hold on executions in Ohio due to issues with obtaining lethal injection drugs.
