Kriti Mehrotra
When Carmela Knight was found brutally murdered in the garage of her suburban Pickering home in Ontario, Canada, on September 15, 2014, all her loved ones were left shattered to the core. The 39-year-old mother of two was beloved by the entire community, as per NBC’s ‘Dateline: Fire & Ice,’ so no one could have ever imagined she would eventually face the fate she did. It thus also took officials a while to identify her assailant as her estranged husband, David Knight, whose motives were ascertained to be financial gain and desire to start anew with his mistress, Jill Hartman.
Jill Hartman Was Unaware That Her Boyfriend Was a Married Man
It was in 2012 that Jill Hartman first came across David Knight at a watering hole in her base of St. Petersburg, Florida, and felt an instant connection with him that was definitely reciprocated. According to her accounts, he had claimed to be a devoted yet divorced father of two from Ontario, Canada, who worked in construction, which led them to start dating long-distance. In fact, she believed they were in a full-fledged relationship by the time the fall of 2014 rolled around because he not only used to visit her often but was also making plans for their future together.
Jill candidly testified in court in 2018 that she considered her involvement with David to be that of “boyfriend and girlfriend, but I don’t know how serious. He lived there (Canada), and I lived here.” However, she added that he was inquiring about construction sites in the hopes of launching a new business near where she resided in Florida in late 2014, indicating he soon planned to relocate. This was backed by his cell phone records as well as testimonies from two of his business partners, which also iterated that the couple was indeed still in a relationship at the time of Carmela’s murder.
When Jill appeared in an Ontario, Canada, courtroom in 2018 via video link from a courtroom in Pinellas County, Florida, the entire ordeal was quite daunting and strange for her. That’s because all she knew from when they met in 2012 to February 2015 was that she was happily dating a construction professional and a father of two who seemed to have a good work-life balance. She had no idea he was not only leading a double life by having a wife in his homeland but had also orchestrated a murder-for-hire scheme to get rid of her for good in September 2014.
Related
Jill Hartman Prefers to Lead a Quiet, Private Life Today
David was arrested on charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and arson in connection with his estranged wife’s death in February 2015, and that’s when Jill learned the truth. She also later learned that Carmela knew about her and that her affair with David was the reason the mother of two had filed for divorce, whereas David’s mismanagement of finances was the reason she had filed for custody. The hearing for the latter was scheduled to take place just three days after her murder, which is part of why officials suspected her husband of 15 years to have a hand in the killing in the first place.
In the end, with all the evidence as well as Jill’s testimony, David was convicted and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years. With the verdict, his mistress was glad to finally have the situation behind her, so it appears that she currently leads a quiet life well away from the limelight. We can only assume she is still based in St. Petersburg, Florida, where she has hopefully since found true love and is thriving in every sense of the term.
