Victim's mom, accused's wife seek reconciliation

SONORA -- The mother of the murder victim and the wife of one of the accused stood talking Monday morning on the steps of Tuolumne County's 110-year-old courthouse.

It's something you don't see too often, if only because someone -- usually an attorney or a family member -- will try to keep such folks apart under the circumstances. Understandably, emotions run high and things can get ugly.

Theirs was a conversation, not a confrontation.

Debra Knight is heartbroken by the senseless death of her son and frustrated by the justice system. She wants to know the whereabouts of 23-year-old Carl Knight, killed in April in a fight in Jamestown, his body allegedly dumped off the Jacksonville Bridge into the depths of Lake Don Pedro.

So, in that most unusual moment, she talked at length with Melissa Slawinsky, whose husband, 28-year-old Robert Slawinsky, and brother-in-law, 26-year-old Paul Slawinsky, are charged with killing Knight. The two men are being held in lieu of $1 million bail each in the Tuolumne County jail.

On the night of April 6, Carl Knight went to the Slawinsky home, in an area of Jamestown known among locals as "the ghetto." A fight ensued, and Knight died.

"(Knight) shouldn't have come up to the house," Melissa Slawinsky said, proceeding to tell Debra Knight what she knew about the incident while claiming others were involved but are not being prosecuted.

"Nobody knows the true story -- not even the attorneys," said Slawinsky, adding that she has not been subpoenaed to testify.

Some of those interviewed allegedly told authorities that the Slawinskys threw Knight's body into the lake that night after the fight. But searches of the area by Tuolumne County sheriff's deputies produced nothing. Nearly three months later, his body hasn't surfaced.

Recently, Melissa Slawinsky said she went to the lake and stared at it.

"I just stood there," she said. "None of it made sense."

Because the Slawinskys refused to waive their rights to a speedy trial, the case could to go to court as early as Wednesday. Prosecutor John Hansen is seeking a delay until July 16, and a ruling should come this afternoon. The Knight family is hoping Gene Ralston, a renowned environmental consultant from Idaho, will be able to use his advanced sonar detection equipment to find Knight's body in the reservoir. That could give the prosecution stronger evidence in the murder case and the family the opportunity for a proper burial.

Fast forward to the meeting between Debra Knight and Melissa Slawinsky, which happened after a brief hearing Monday. They seemed to genuinely feel for each other and the mess this case has made of all of their lives. They spoke with what could best be described as constrained compassion.

"I'm sorry you have to deal with what you have to deal with," Slawinsky told Knight, promising to question her husband during her next visit about how the brothers disposed of Knight's body. "You need that closure."

Closure, as in simply being able lay Carl Knight to rest.

"We want a place where Carl's daughter and family can come and pay their respects," Debra Knight said.

She's lost a son, and her children have lost a brother. Carl Knight's 3-year-old daughter, Lily, lost her father.

"There's three kids who will be growing up without their dads," Slawinsky said, including her 3-year-old son and year-old daughter.

Not so fast, Debra Knight retorted, since a plea deal conceivably could reduce the charges against the Slawinsky brothers. Knight's family, in fact, claims the district attorney's office has been disingenuous with them. The Knights say they suspect a deal already is done and that the Slawinsky brothers will serve no more than six years each.

Hansen, the prosecutor, said the defense offered to plead their clients out to manslaughter charges.

"We specifically rejected that," he said Monday.

Members of the Knight family, claiming no faith in the justice system, said they no longer care if the Slawinsky brothers spend another day in jail if they would just lead investigators to Carl's body.

"One of my nightmares is a family member looking up from the abyss and saying, 'I'm here.' I will let the (expletives) walk if they'll show me what they did with him," said Duke Knight, Carl's uncle.

"I understand exactly where they're coming from," Hansen said. "But we have to deal with the facts we have."

Those facts, Hansen said, led to an open murder charge -- not a get-out-of-jail-free card.

The facts are that because of a series of bad choices on all parts, one young man is dead. Two others are in jail. Two families are shattered.

And on the courthouse steps, two women -- the mother of the victim and the wife of the accused -- tried desperately to make sense out of something that never will.

Jeff Jardine's column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays in Local News. He can be reached at jjardine@modbee.com or 578-2383.